Timothy John Staffell worked as a model maker for the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. As well as making the faces for most of the engine characters, he made models for the human characters and an early model of a truck.
In his earlier years, Staffell played bass guitar and was the original lead vocalist for the band "Smile", which he had formed with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Together the trio wrote songs such as "Earth", "Blag", "Doing All Right", "Polar Bear" and "April Lady". He later left to join bands "Humpy Bong" and "Morgan", and when Freddie Mercury and John Deacon joined "Smile", it was renamed "Queen".
"Doing All Right" can be heard on Queen's first album. In 2018, Staffell was invited to record his part of the song titled "Doing Alright ... Revisited" for the Queen biographical movie Bohemian Rhapsody along with his two former bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor. In the film, Staffell was played by Jack Roth, son of actor Tim Roth.
Trivia
- Staffell's favourite engine was Henry. He once said that he might have one of his faces he made somewhere in his house.
- In the remastered and restored versions of the first series, Staffell's surname is misspelt as "Staffel".