Lego was this week named the best toy of the past 100 years - and 17 years ago the famous plastic bricks took centre stage in Newcastle. In 1987 the Lego World Show, a huge exhibition made its appearance in the town. The event was staged in Fenwick's store in Northumberland Street and traced space travel from Jules Verne to the Space Shuttle of today. The huge centrepiece of the show was made with more than a million Lego bricks depicting a planet of aliens and robots. The exhibition was seen by more than 250,000 children during its month- long stay in Newcastle. Although the company was formed in Denmark in 1932 and became Lego in 1934, it wasn't until 1949 that the first sets of Automatic Binding Bricks came on the market. The actual Lego brick of today wasn't invented until 1958 - only they did not have tubes on the inside of the brick. In 1954 the word Lego was officially registered in Denmark. In 1958 the stud-and-tube Lego brick that we know today was patented. The bricks got what Lego called clutch power and stability from the tubes that had been added underneath the brick. During the 60s the Lego company forged ahead. Lego wheels were invented in 1961 and the Lego System of Play included 50 sets and 15 vehicles. The Lego Duplo brick came on the market in 1969. Lego's biggest-selling product up to date has been the Lego Family, released in 1974. The firm never stood still and every year saw a new advance until we saw the introduction of the Legoland mini figure in 1978. They had moveable arms, legs and printed faces. Baseplates and roadplates were also introduced this year which allowed for entire towns to be built. Since then we have had baby sets, the mosaic and technic series, outer space Lego Wild West sets, Bionicals, a CD-ROM and many more. | 
Tyne Bridge Publishing
