I must admit to watching and enjoying James May's Toy Stories. A simple idea - James looks at some more traditional toys and then "bigs them up" (his phrase, not mine I hasten to add).
It is partly his wry humour, partly the whole idea of the show and partly they were my toys as well!
He started by looking at Airfix kits and managing to get made a life size kit of a WW2 spitfire, which a group assembled and it actually held together! It was wheeled out at a ceremony which included some people who had actually flown spitfires. Is was quite emotional!
He also managed to convince the Royal Horticultural Society to be allowed to enter a garden at their show made of Plasticine flowers! My favourite had to be the Scalextric track that went round the whole of what was Brooklands racetrack, which meant it had to go across a road, through offices, along people's front gardens, over a pond and other obstacles! And it was educational! I learned that many people, including me, pronounced the brand name wrongly. We normally say Scalectrix but it's Scalextric (or is it the other way round??).
The latest programme was the Lego house which he spent a night in. But there did seem to be a big jump from when the first floor was just in, to it being actually completed. We saw nothing of the construction of the roof (which no doubt was not watertight!) or many of the Lego 'items' like the Union flag made out of Lego on a wall and a number of kitchen items. Having said that the series has been a joy to watch and I'm looking forward to the Christmas one where he builds a massive model railway. I still have mine, packed in boxes in the loft!
It is partly his wry humour, partly the whole idea of the show and partly they were my toys as well!
He started by looking at Airfix kits and managing to get made a life size kit of a WW2 spitfire, which a group assembled and it actually held together! It was wheeled out at a ceremony which included some people who had actually flown spitfires. Is was quite emotional!
He also managed to convince the Royal Horticultural Society to be allowed to enter a garden at their show made of Plasticine flowers! My favourite had to be the Scalextric track that went round the whole of what was Brooklands racetrack, which meant it had to go across a road, through offices, along people's front gardens, over a pond and other obstacles! And it was educational! I learned that many people, including me, pronounced the brand name wrongly. We normally say Scalectrix but it's Scalextric (or is it the other way round??).
The latest programme was the Lego house which he spent a night in. But there did seem to be a big jump from when the first floor was just in, to it being actually completed. We saw nothing of the construction of the roof (which no doubt was not watertight!) or many of the Lego 'items' like the Union flag made out of Lego on a wall and a number of kitchen items. Having said that the series has been a joy to watch and I'm looking forward to the Christmas one where he builds a massive model railway. I still have mine, packed in boxes in the loft!
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