LEGO Celebrates 50th Birthday January 28, 2008

Read more Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , Technology

Happy birthday LEGO. The wee multi-coloured bricks are celebrating 50 years of being built with, chewed on, thrown about and generally abused by kids [and some adults]. Unlike most of today’s toys, LEGO can take a horrendous amount of abuse and still make a damn fine spaceship. Just the kind of toys we like round at Gizmodo.

Often cited as one of the greatest toy inventions ever, LEGO bricks are still being bought in their millions today and have graduated to robots, USB sticks and even computer games. The brick – in its current form – was launched in 1958 and according to the company, pieces today will still fit with those launched 50 years ago.

There are 2,400 different LEGO brick shapes now and each requires precision manufacturing with moulds allowed a tolerance of no more than one thousandth of a millimetre, so that the bricks stay firmly connected. Here’s your history lesson for the day:

“The LEGO history began in 1932 in Denmark, when Ole Kirk Christansen founded a small factory for wooden toys in the unknown town of Billund in the south of the country. To find a name for his company he organised a competition among his employees. As fate would have it however, he himself came up with the best name: LEGO – a fusion of the Danish words “LEg” and “GOdt” (“play well”).”

Well done Ole. Here’s to another 50. -Martin Lynch