Google the word trainspotter and Francis Bourgeois is the first name to appear. Now he’s set to become even more famous, with a presenting role on Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour confirmed.
The 25 year old host the series alongside fellow influencers James Engelsman and Thomas Holland when it returns later this year, with the trio taking over from Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
“The saying ‘big shoes to fill’ spring to mind,” Britain’s biggest trainspotter since Corrie’s Roy Cropper declared as the news was announced. “Well, in this case it’ll be like Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies. It’ll be a little awkward at first, perhaps blister-inducing, but will overall be an interesting watch.”
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Francis Bourgeois takes over on The Grand Tour
Earlier today (February 5), it was confirmed that the 25 year old would be taking over from Clarkson and co when the Amazon Prime series returns later this year. Clarkson, Hammond and May exited the series at the end of 2024.
The episodes will see the trio cross the Angolan desert in track cars, explore Malaysia’s bright car culture and test America’s latest performance cars in California.
For his part, Francis might just be the perfect signing for the show. He’s a qualified mechanical engineer with experience at Rolls-Royce, with Amazon promising he will bring a “unique, infectious energy to the team” with his “profound technical knowledge and ability to identify a car’s make solely by the sound of its engine”.
James and Thomas will be known to petrol heads for their YouTube car review channel Throttle House, with the pair working together for almost a decade. Speaking about Francis joining the duo, James quipped: “Who knew that all this time, the one ingredient that was missing was a Francis Bourgeois? Let the car adventures commence.”
Francis Bourgeois’ real name and why he changed it
Born Luke Magnus Nicolson in North London in 2000, Francis is a trainspotter, influencer, model and author. He can now add presenter of The Grand Tour to his CV.
He and his younger brother, Benjamin, were raised near Willesden Junction by their parents, Jenny and Seamus, an NHS care worker and fashion photography teacher. “That proximity to such an important railway hub paired with the fact that my parents didn’t drive at the time meant that I had some really intense exposure to railway action,” he told The Times.
However, after being mocked for his hobby as a teen, he suppressed his love of trains and sold his trainsets to help him fit in better. “Being a train enthusiast at secondary school is difficult. Gym memberships and trendy clothes took precedence at that point, regrettably,” he said previously, adding: “Through loneliness, really, I wanted to try and make more friends, as you do. I didn’t really wear my railway passion on my sleeve.”
Thankfully, it didn’t stay hidden for long, though. Luke soon adopted the pseudonym Francis Bourgeois for his social media videos. And, according to Wikipedia, the new name helped him “feel a bit more protected” while filming videos. He quipped that it also has “a bit more of a ring to it”.
Explaining the origins of his new name, he told how “Francis” reflects his love of France’s railways. “Bourgeois”, meanwhile, was inspired by a visit with his father to a Louise Bourgeois exhibition.
However, he admitted that he never thought it would take off in quite the way it has… “I didn’t think it would get to a point where anyone would know me by it. It’s not a character. But I quite like it now – when someone shouts Francis it’s not so overwhelming – I know what to expect,” he told The Guardian.
‘You’ve made a big difference’
Now, trainspotters stop him in the street to thank him for making trainspotting cool and helping to “stop the bullies”.
He told The Times recently: “I’ve had messages from parents and from younger enthusiasts saying: ‘Thank you, you’ve made a big difference.’ I was at a diesel gala and this chap came up to me and he’s like: ‘Thank you so much. I’m not bullied at school any more.’ He gave me this big, blubbering hug.”
TikToks in lockdown and his rise to fame
Francis charmed TikTok fans when he resumed his childhood trainspotting hobby during lockdown. He began sharing videos of his outings, and now has 3.3m followers on the social media platform. His YouTube has nearly 200k subscribers, while 2.6m people follow him on Instagram.
One particular video showed the enthusiastic train fan getting so excited about a class 377 locomotive passing him that he fell out of his chair. That clip has racked up nearly 7 million views by itself. Viewers loved how he managed to save his Percy Pigs sweets even as he tumbled out of his chair.
“I felt as though I was just finding my core self again and these videos, I realised, were such a reconnecting factor to my passion. I was letting the pressure out from all those years,” he told The Times this year.
Francis owns a 1980s train worker’s uniform which he treasures and sometimes wears in his videos. He is also much-loved for the unique filming angles he uses due to a wide-angle face camera accessory he frequently straps to his head.
Francis added: “I love to show how awesome trains can be as well as trying to make you smile, laugh and just try and bring joy.”
Book deals and a trip to space?!
His fame grew so much that stars including Joe Jonas wanted to film videos with him. He also went on to host a five-episode digital series in 2022 and 2023 called Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois. It starred the likes of Tom Daley, Aisling Bea, Chloe Burrows, Jesse Lingard, Sam Ryder and AJ Tracey.
Thanks to his huge platform and his online fame, Francis also landed a book deal. He published The Trainspotter’s Notebook in 2022.
Francis recently received praise for his Channel 4 series Mission to Space. It saw him undergo vigorous training to become an astronaut, helped by Tim Peake. However, seeing Francis being violently sick during a zero-gravity flight certainly wasn’t on our 2026 bingo card!
Neither was the youngster passing out during a rocket launch simulation. “I realised I needed a lot of work in getting my G-force capabilities up,” he quipped after filming.
Modelling career
Francis made his runway debut at London Fashion Week in February 2023. He modelled Bay Garnett’s Oxfam Fashion Fighting Poverty collection at an Oxfam GB x eBay show, which aimed to address poverty and promote sustainable fashion.
March 2022 saw Francis appear in Paul Smith’s What Makes You Happy? campaign. Before that, he was part of a team-up between The North Face and Gucci, playing the part of a train conductor in the Swiss Alps in the campaign video.
However, he has quipped that if all his new-found fame and fortune suddenly comes to an end, he has the perfect back-up plan: “I can always become a train driver,” he told The Times.
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Who is The Grand Tour star Francis Bourgeois’ girlfriend?
Francis has been with girlfriend Amy Linkin-Chandler since 2018. They met on a dating site in their late teens and stayed together through their university years. They went red carpet official at the NME Awards in 2022 and, for their fifth anniversary, he took her to Preston Park Station. And they say romance is dead!
These days, they live together in a flat in south-west London.
He told The Times last month: “We’re very emotionally in tune with one another. We are each other’s comfort teddy bears.”
But does she share his love of trains? It appears not, but she is “extremely tolerant” of his love for the locomotives.
“It’s not something that she feels, but she understands why I feel it. She’s extremely tolerant,” he said.
So tolerant, it seems, that she’s happy for a 60ft-long model railway to run through their sitting room, into the kitchen and on into the bedroom.
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So are you a fan of Francis? Will you be watching The Grand Tour? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.