Lego Coming from the Danish words 'LEg
GOdt' meaning play well, Lego seems to have been around for
ever - but not in Britain.
It was seen at the Brighton Toy Fair
for the first time in 1960 - and the blocks took Britain by storm,
massively outselling the Loopyloop (whatever that was) which the
pundits had thought was going to be the hit of the year.
Lego model kits weren't available until the mid-sixties,
but the bricks sold by the bucketload.
It was just as well for Lego, as its wooden toy
warehouse had just been destroyed by fire.
Production of wooden toys was discontinued, and
the decision was made to concentrate exclusively on plastics.
And they're still going today. The British Association
of Toy Retailers has named Lego as the toy of the century and it
has even taken the 2001/2002 toy of the year award, for its brightly
coloured action figure Bionicle.
