HOW To Train Your Dragon author Cressida Cowell has rubbed shoulders with A-listers at the Oscars and Cannes — but only David Tennant has left her truly star-struck.

The writer — whose best- selling books were inspired by her childhood summers on a remote Scottish isle — has seen her characters transformed into a £900million film franchise.

7 The 50-year-old author was born in London, the daughter of Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham Credit: Getty Images - WireImage

And although she’s shared the red carpet with the stellar cast of the animated movies — including Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jay Baruchel and Cate Blanchett — it’s Doctor Who legend Tennant who left her in awe.

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Cressida, who has penned 12 books in her dragon series, says: “David has a small part in the films voicing Spitelout Jorgenson but he’s actually done all our audio books for us from the very beginning.

“He does every character, going from a Scottish accent to Irish and American within seconds. It’s amazing. We were so lucky to get him as it was before he did Doctor Who, but he’s been so loyal he has come back to do them ever since. I actually get to sit in the studio and watch him doing it. One time he broke off and said, ‘I think you made a bit of a mistake here.’

“He’s so smart, he spots even the tiniest discrepancy. He’s such a very bright guy and a brilliant actor.

“But because the books were inspired by this little isle in Scotland, I really wanted the narrator to be Scottish too.”

The 50-year-old author was born in London, the daughter of Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham, but their summers were spent on a tiny family-owned island off the west coast of Scotland.

7 Cressida Cowell has rubbed shoulders with A-listers at the Oscars and Cannes — but only David Tennant has left her truly star-struck Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

And it was there that a young Cressida began to dream of dragons and Viking invaders.

7 Cressida Cowell has rubbed shoulders with A-listers at the Oscars including Scot Gerard Butler, left Credit: Getty Images - FilmMagic

She explains: “There was no telly. We spent most of our time foraging for food. We would take the boat across to Mull and stock up at the supermarket every two weeks, but the other times we were fishing for mackerel or catching lobsters.

“I was considered head of entertainment so I would write and then perform stage plays — you had to because, let’s face it, it does sometimes rain in Scotland.

“But I also wrote stories about dragons and stories about Vikings when I was there. I also went looking for dragons in caves because I knew the Vikings believed in them.”

7 Hollywood hero Jonah Hill Credit: Fame Flynet

However, it was only when Cressida had her first child in her early 30s that she put both stories together.

Her books, featuring the adventures of the Viking boy Hiccup and his hunting dragon Toothless, were immediately snapped up by Hollywood giants DreamWorks Animation — founded by movie mogul Steven Spielberg — in a three-film deal.

The first one was released in 2010 and nominated for two Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, losing out to Toy Story 3 and The Social Network.

Its 2014 sequel became an even bigger worldwide hit than the original, and the third comes out in 2019 featuring the voice of Bridesmaids funny girl Kirsten Wiig.

7 Author writing stories on Scots isle as child

The mum of three says: “What I love about the movies is they made all the older characters Scottish and the younger ones American, a bit like expat communities in the States. It’s so nice that they kept the Scottish element as parts of Scotland were once Viking territory.”

But Cressida believes the success of the stories is because she made the books so personal.

She explains: “If you put things that are true in a book then it resonates with people.

“My stories came about as a response to that incredible Scottish landscape and out of the personal relationship with my father.

“People have relationships with their fathers who they love very much, but when they try to communicate, they can’t.

“So, yes, it’s extraordinary to see my characters up there on a cinema screen because they all feel very personal to me.”

7 How to Train Your Dragon has become a smash hit

However, Cressida believes that one of the best parts of the films is they help bring through a new generation of young readers. The author will be at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall tomorrow as part of World Book Day.

Cressida will be in Scotland to help the charity — which has distributed 13 million £1 book tokens to primary children across the UK — celebrate their 20th anniversary. She says: “The movies have been so important to me because you reach an audience through the films that then come to the books.

“They might not necessarily be from a book-reading family, but they know the characters so they’ll give the books a try.

“It helps children be creative as they send me drawings of their own dragons from all over the world.

“But that’s what I love about World Book Day — it gets books into the hands of every primary school kid in the country.”

Cressida, who lives in London with husband Simon and their children Maisie, Clementine and Alexander, will also make a return voyage to her dad’s tiny isle at Easter.

7 The movies have made the author a rich woman Credit: Getty Images

She says: “It’s so unspoilt that part of the world. There is still no mobile coverage on the island. You’ve got to go on a boat out to sea to get a signal. It’s harder to take my teenagers because they are constantly connected so they don’t like it. I didn’t like it as a teen either.

“But for little children and adults it’s paradise. And when I return it’s so nostalgic for me now because it’s all muddled up with the How To Train Your Dragon books. And I still do a lot of painting there as I illustrate all my the books too.”

Cressida — whose final instalment in The How To Train Your Dragon series came out in 2015 — also reveals the isles inspired her new adventure book The Wizards Of Once. She says: “It features a girl and a boy from opposite tribes — one is a wizard and one is a warrior.

“It’s a fantasy set in the Iron Age and it’s about magic. So it’s still inspired by the Scottish islands and the prehistoric communities which occupied islands like Orkney.”

She adds: “It’s amazing where my books have taken me.

“I have ended up at the Oscars and I went to opening of the second movie at the Cannes Film Festival.

“I love being on the red carpet and it’s lovely to meet the actors like Gerard Butler, but at heart I am a book writer.

“Although I have to admit, seeing David Tennant recording a whole book in pretty much one take is just incredible to watch.”

For more info on Cressida go to www.cressidacowell.co.uk

matt.bendoris@the-sun.co.uk

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