In 1928, Steamboat Willie sailed onto the silver screen, whistling a tune that heralded the arrival of synchronised sound in animation. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t Mickey Mouse’s first movie - that was a silent film called ‘Plane Crazy’ that doesn’t exactly paint Mickey in the best light - (think more tantrum-prone dare-devil than squeaky clean mascot.) Steamboat Willie was, however, the first Mickey Mouse movie to be distributed.

All in all, the cartoon took three months to complete and racked up a cost of $4,986 (or 89,927.90 in today’s money). Walt Disney performed the original voice of Mickey Mouse himself, but only because he was performing all the other anthropomorphic sounds in the first test screening himself.