A History of LEGO ®

There can be no one who is not familiar at least on some level with the colourful world of LEGO ® building bricks – they are a feature of most childhoods in the western world. Brilliantly simple, capable of making a whole world of different things, LEGO ® is as popular today as it ever has been, both with children and adults, many of whom build incredible detailed and elaborate models of almost anything you can think of. Then there is the world of Brickfilms – recreating classic movies, movie scenes and music videos with LEGO ® bricks and minifigures (minifigs). LEGO ® has even been used in art (including controversially LEGO ® concentration camps) and to make an illustrated bible.

LEGO ® was created in Denmark after the end of the second world war by a former carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen who had founded a company making wooden toys in 1932. The LEGO ® name came along in 1934 and is commonly thought to have come from the Danish phrase 'leg godt' which is usually translated as 'play well'. The company started making plastic toys in 1947 and the first design of plastic brick was produced in 1949, released into a world that was unprepared for plastic toys – many retailers thought that plastic for toys would never catch on and the future was still wooden!

These early bricks were not the same as we see today and were based largely on the design of bricks produced by the UK company Kiddicraft. It was not until 1958 that the design of bricks that we know today was developed and it was 1963 before the right material was found for their manufacture (ABS plastic). The bricks are manufactured to exacting tolerances to ensure that they will lock together well enough to be usable and stable as building blocks and yet not be too difficult to pull them apart. It is reported that they are made to a tolerance of 2 micro metres, and only 18 bricks out of every million fail exacting quality control checks. Somewhere in the region of 2 billion bricks are produced each year.

Themed Sets - Star Wars, Harry Potter etc. in LEGO ®

The result of all this is a remarkable play system, capable of building almost anything that the user can imagine. Over the years many specialist parts have been introduced to supplement the basic brick designs ranging from roof tiles to propellers, jet engines and space craft parts. Latterly, LEGO ® have been producing themed sets as well as the basic bricks, covering everything from Harry Potter to the perennially popular Star Wars universe. There are and have been castle themes, space themes, wild west cowboys, pirates, Vikings and dinosaurs as well as the licensed sets – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Avatar, Batman and recently Spongebob Squarepants.

LEGO Mindstorms - LEGO Branches Out

LEGO ® have also branched out beyond the core building bricks to include their Mindstorms range including motors gears and wheels , plus the PC programmable NXT and RCX units. These are frequently used in hobby robotics development and competitions. The very successful Bionicle range is another example of the company's diversification. There is also the recent and very well regarded foray into the world of video games including the very successful LEGO ® Star Wars games.

LEGO on eBay, LEGO Sets

Have a look round our site to see the diversity of products from LEGO ® and to perhaps pick up some bargain minifigures (minifigs), LEGO ® bricks in bulk or that themed Star Wars or Harry Potter set to complete your collection – eBay is the best place to do all these things! The ability to buy LEGO ® bricks by the kilo is a great way to cheaply expand your stocks for all your projects, or maybe you want to find a few bricks of a specific type? Have a look through the listings in the shop to see what can be found. If your children are new to LEGO ® bricks, why not get them a few kilos to go along with the themed sets – they'll love it!