Steve McQueen beaver finds love

A great beaver escapee, nicknamed Steve McQueen by his keepers after his numerous breakouts from his enclosure at Wallington in Northumberland, has found his soulmate.

Steve McQueen played Captain Virgil Hilts, who earnt the moniker “The Cooler King,” in _The Great Escape_.

The beaver named after him was eventually transferred to a Welsh farm, Cefn Garthenor, in April last year and met Doris, a female beaver, on a blind date.

In May, the pair welcomed their first kit and it's hoped that more will be arriving in the future.

A keeper at Cefn Garthenor said: “It was a blind date, so we’re glad it all worked out. Doris seems to be keeping Steve way too busy for him to have time or energy for an escape.”

Steve has a colourful background and was part of a family of four Eurasian beavers relocated from the River Tay in Scotland.

When their new home, a 24-hectare fenced enclosure on a tributary of the River Wansbeck, was damaged by a major storm, Steve made three successful bids for escape.

Unable to keep him contained, keepers decided to relocate him.

And for the moment at least, he seems a very happy beaver.

It's worth noting that McQueen's on-screen character, The Cooler King, was invented for the movie and does not appear as such in Paul Brickhill’s original book, which had no American motorbike‑jumping hero.

Brickhill’s account and wartime records show the Great Escape was planned and carried out by mostly British and Commonwealth officers.

The American “cooler king” figure was a Hollywood addition to attract greater audiences.

It was Flight Lieutenant Ken Rees, a Welsh RAF bomber pilot at Stalag Luft III, who was frequently described in the press as an inspiration for the “Cooler King” because he spent a lot of time in solitary and worked on the escape.

However, some believe American pilot William Ash inspired McQueen’s character due to his multiple escape attempts and frequent spells in solitary confinement.

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