Billy Connolly's games are an annual event

The Scottish comedian, known as the Big Yin, traditionally invites a crowd of celebrity friends to join him at the Lonach Gathering and Highland Games in Strathdon.

This year's invitees are rumoured to include Sir Sean Connery, who has been in Edinburgh for the International Film Festival this week, and Dame Judi Dench.

Mr Connolly, who owns the 15-bedroom Candacraig House near Strathdon, starred alongside Dame Judi in the movie Mrs Brown, set on the nearby Balmoral Estate.

Traditional dress

The games were expected to attract about 12,000 spectators and featured a marching band as well as traditional Highland pursuits and athletics competitions.

They kicked off with a six-mile procession by about 150 local people, some playing the pipes, in traditional Highland dress.

As they made their way through the glen towards Strathdon, the marchers stopped at a number of houses along the way, including Mr Connolly's.

Billy Connolly and Dame Judi starred in Mrs Brown

As the games got under way, assistant secretary Graham Thomson refused to speculate on which big names would be in attendance.

But he insisted that any celebrities who did make it would be treated in the same way as any other visitor.

"We treat them as any other guest," he said.

"They are just left to do their own thing - that's why they like it.

"We are very happy to have them but they just blend in to the crowd."

Last year Mr Connolly and his wife Pamela Stephenson, author of the best-selling biography of her husband, Billy, brought actor Aidan Quinn and former Monty Python star Eric Idle to the games.