On Mon, 8 Mar 2021 11:45:41 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 09:44:35 on
Mon, 8 Mar 2021, Trolleybus remarked:
On 7 Mar 2021 11:02:37 GMT, Marland
wrote:

Sigh. Youngsters.

When I were a lad it wasn't The Fat Controller and it certainly wasn't
Sir Topham Hat (who sounds, not coincidently, like a character from
Bridgerton).

It was The Fat Comptroller.

Notwitstanding:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1184_.jpg

I have some first edition Thomas books (plus the one with Gordon in the
tunnel: The Three Railway Engines, the first in the series) and the
person in question then was "The Fat Director".

Book 2 "The Fat Director"

Book 3 (James the Red Engine) Arghh - This one seems to be missing from
my collection. If someone has an original copy from the 50's
maybe they can look.

But by book 4 and onwrds it was "The Fat Controller".

Gordon was rehabilitated in number seven of the series (published 1953)
the forward of which says:

Dear Ian,

You asked for a book about Gordon. Here it is. Gordon has been
naughty, and The Fat Controller was stern with him.

Gordon has now learnt his lesson and is a Really Useful Engine
again.

I wonder if Andrew Lloyd Webber was a Thomas fan.

That seems odd. Have any fictional characters had more names?

Were there different editions, perhaps regional? My memories would be
from copies circulating in the 60s. I didn't have a clue what a
comptroller was. I still don't other than a vague idea it's more akin
to a chief accountant that an operations person.