These celebrities are so respected - not just for their considerable talents, but for their winning personalities - that they have woven themselves into the fabric of British society.
They have achieved that rarest of honours - National Treasure status - a distinction worth more than any knighthood or damehood, because it is conferred upon them by the common people.
These distinguished characters from the worlds of TV, film and music, are pictured here long before they became National Treasures, when they were just starting out in their respective fields, or even earlier.
These are some of the earliest photos of them, in one case aged just six, along with details of their early careers and how the breakthroughs which helped establish them as household names.
Some of the famous faces pictured are almost unrecognisable in these early images, while others look like they’ve hardly changed.
How many of the stars in this retro gallery can you recognise from these early photos? And which other British celebrities do you think have earned National Treasure status?
13. Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is pictured here in 1984, aged 24 or 25, with Robert Lindsay and Frank Thornton, her co-stars in the West End musical Me and My Girl. Thompson was a member of the Cambridge Footlights troupe, alongside the likes of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery. In 1987, she won acclaim for her work on the BBC series 'Tutti Frutti and 'Fortunes of War', for which she won a BAFTA Award. In 1992, she won the best actress Oscar for her role in Howards End. Three years later, she wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility, winning the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, and she remains the only person to have won Oscars for both acting and writing. | Getty Images Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive
14. Dawn French
Dawn French, pictured here in 1980, aged 22 or 23, two years before she made her TV debut on Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents series. She is best known for her work with Jennifer Saunders, whom she met at drama school in 1977, and for playing the title role in the 90s comedy series The Vicar of Dibley. | Getty Images Photo: AJ Barratt/Avalon
15. Billy Connolly
Sir Billy Connolly is pictured here in July 1974, aged 31. The Scottish comedian, often referred to as the Big Yin, first worked as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards before becoming a folk singer. Having started out singing songs with a comic edge, even topping the charts in 1975 with the single D.I.V.O.R.C.E, he began focusing on comedy. The move paid off, and he has been named the UK's greatest stand-up in many polls. | Getty Images Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive
16. Michael Palin
Sir Michael Palin is pictured here in December 1972, aged 29. The comedian, writer and documentary maker began his career in TV working on programmes including the Ken Dodd Show and The Frost Report, before making his name as a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus. His most famous sketches with the comedy troupe include the Dead Parrot, the Lumberjack Song, and the Fish-Slapping Dance. He went on to travel the globe for documentary shows including Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole and Sahara. | Getty Images Photo: Michael Putland