LEGO is Britain's favourite toy

A survey conducted by Argos to celebrate its 35th birthday has found that LEGO is Britain's most popular toy with 56% of respondents rating it as their favourite.

A spokesman for Lego said: "The poll proves that Lego is a high quality toy that keeps being interesting to children and adults because of its creative possibilities. It's so simple but has so much potential."

LEGO has something of a cult following with over 500 Facebook groups dedicated to the plastic bricks. One of the largest "I don't care how old I am, LEGO is the best" has over 4,000 members.

To read more and find out what the top 10 toys are click here.

LEGO Album Covers

Can you identify 20 album covers made entirely from LEGO?



All of the scenes were created entirely from LEGO pieces - some are elaborate, multi-block creations while others feature just a single piece.

To see all 20 album covers click here

LEGO Olympicshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

HKLUG - the Hong Kong LEGO User Group - has created a LEGO model of the Beijing Olympics.



300,000 bricks and 4,500 mini-figures were used to construct the buildings which include the National Stadium, the National Aquatics Center (”Swimming Cube”), and the Olympic Village.
To see more pictures of this amazing sculpture click here.

LEGO Castle Giant Chess set

One of the best-selling products in the UK is the LEGO Castle Giant Chess set - even though it isn't actually on sale yet!


Released on 1st September, LEGO describe it as the ultimate LEGO chess set and go on to say:

"There’s never been a chess set like this one before! Now you can build the biggest and best LEGO chess board of all time, covered in incredible LEGO Castle details and complete with a dungeon, armory, and decorative dragon heads…and that’s just the board itself! Pieces include king, queen, good and evil wizards, witch, knights, dwarves, trolls, skeleton warriors and horses, castle turrets, rolling siege towers, and more. It’s the ultimate LEGO set for any chess player, collector, or LEGO Castle fan!"

The set includes:
Includes 31 minifigures, 2 giant trolls, 2 horses, 2 skeleton horses and 2 dragon heads.
Minifigures are ready for battle with armor, swords, shields, and other cool accessories.
It's a battle of good dwarves and knights vs. evil trolls and skeletons.
Build the 4 realms in the corners of the chess board - the skeleton realm, troll realm, dwarf realm and castle realm.
Measures 17" (43cm) squared.
Complete with a giant storage case, measuring over 24" (61cm) high, 20" (50cm) wide and 7" (17cm) deep.


The LEGO Castle Giant Chess set is available exclusively to pre-order from the UK LEGO Shop and costs £139.99.

LEGO Concorde

It may not be the biggest LEGO aeroplane in the world but this LEGO Concorde made by Ed Diment is still pretty impressive.


Funcionality has been built into the model; the landing gear can be stored inside the fuselage and the nose cone goes up and down.

See more pictures.

Sunday Mirror marks LEGO birthday

The Sunday Mirror has written an interesting piece celebrating LEGO's 50th anniversary with a nice gallery of images and a few bits of trivia.

LEGO designer builds replica lighthouse

Another LEGO construction from America. This time Duane Collicott from Michigan has built a model of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse on the Leelanau Peninsula.


It took Collicott 6 months to complete the 30 inch tall replica and about 6,000 bricks. He was commissioned to make it as part of the lighthouse's 150th anniversary and it will be displayed in the museum in the lighthouse's grounds.

Find out more about Collicott's other LEGO creations.

Pastor builds a LEGO church

A church made from more than 12,000 LEGO bricks has been built inside a church in Wisconsin, US.


The Rev. Stuart Dornfeld also added some recognisable characters to his LEGO congregation including SpongeBob SquarePants, Indiana Jones and Batman.

The church is 27 inches tall, 48 inches long and 17 inches wide and includes 30 pews, 15 stained-glass windows, two pianos and an organ. The altar has a tiny candelabra with flames. The preacher wears a robe made from a white sock.

Find out more including what inspired the pastor to create the LEGO church.

LEGO Egg Timer

Gizmodo has written a review about this cute LEGO egg timer.


The Verdict: It's cute. It's makes a wonderful tic-tock noise. It helps you do roasted lamb and chicken and Beef Wellington and cakes. It's Lego. Really, it can't get any better than that. I only wish it could do more than one hour.

New LEGO world record

On 27th June LEGO set a new world record for the largest number of mini figures ever built. Using Lego Star Wars Clone Trooper figures from the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie 35,310 figures were constructed in just 6 ½ hours.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a CG-animated film from LucasFilm animation hits the big screen on August 15th and LEGO will be launching a new range of vehicles and mini-figures based on scenes and characters from the film.

Read more.

LEGOLAND Live!

The top children's summer music festival is taking place at LEGOLAND, Windsor on 19th July. The event will feature Bob the Builder™, Fifi and the Flowertots™, Angelina Ballerina™, Fireman Sam™ and the Power Rangers.

Book your tickets now for LEGOLAND Live!

LEGO artist builds replica Trump Dubai Tower

Nathan Sawaya, a NYC artist, has built a replica of the Trump Dubai tower out of thousands of LEGO bricks. The tower stands 10 feet tall and will be opened on Monday in Columbus Circle. The actual hotel won't open until next year.



Read more and see more of Nathan's work here.

LEGO Superman Video

A video of the scene in Superman where Superman stops the plane from falling entirely created in LEGO.

LEGOLAND to open in Chicago

A LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is due to open in Chicago this summer. Based on the similar Discovery Centre in Berlin which attracts over 5,000 visitors a year, the 30,000 square foot attraction will feature a train-like dragon ride, adventure trail and play areas. It also will offer what the company is billing as a "4D cinema" presentation.

A number of replicas of famous Chicago attractions will also be included. Find out which ones here.

Watch the promotional video for LEGOLAND Discovery Centre.

LEGOLAND Viking Feast

LEGOLAND, Windsor is celebrating the longest day of the year with a Viking Feast over the summer solstice weekend. The event will feature activities including re-enactment of Viking battles, realistic encampments, and family entertaiment show, ‘Boris & Olaf’s Excellent Adventure’.

The highlight of the weekend will be a bonfire on Saturday 22nd June follwed by a live performance from Danish singer Camille Jones.

Book tickets for this exciting event now.

LEGO Dwarves' Mine

This year sees the 30th anniversary of LEGO castle, their range of medieval models. As a twist on the classic knights in armour characters, LEGO's Castle sets this year includes the Dwarves' Mine.


The Dwarves' Mine is a fantastic 575-piece vignette depicting dwarves who mine rare metals and make the knight's swords and armour.

However, they always have to be alert as the troll warriors and their giant troll could attack at any moment! This set includes 6 minifigures and plenty of other features and functions and costs £39.99 and available to buy from Amazon.

Artist Repairs Walls With LEGO Bricks

Artist Jan Vormann has repaired walls using LEGO bricks in Bocchignano, Italy, a village close to Rome. The work was done as part of a group project called 20 Eventi in which a group of artists created an open-air museum that spans four villages in the region of Sabina.


See more of Jan's work here.

Cardiff City's FA cup run created in LEGO

A Cardiff City fan has recreated the club's FA cup run on film using LEGO. Ashley Weaver spent more than 40 hours shooting two film with about 1,000 still photos.

The season ticket holder said he had studied footage of the games to make sure all the LEGO character's positions were accurate. Then he used a normal digital camera to take the stills altering the postions of the LEGO men slightly each time.

He moved the ball by attaching a piece of cotton to it which was wrapped around a pool cue hung from two music stands.

Watch the films:

Part 1



Part 2

LEGO Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is released on May 22nd. Here's a LEGO version of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

World's Tallest Lego Tower

Visitors to LEGOLAND, Windsor helped add the final bricks to the world's tallest LEGO tower.

The tower, standing just under 100ft tall and constructed of half a million bricks, beats the previous record held by a LEGO tower which was set in Toronto in August 2007.


Children built 20cm sections which were then hoisted into place by crane. The record attempt is now waiting for official verification by Guinness World Records.

See more pictures of the world's tallest lego tower.

LEGO Thriller

Michael Jackson's Thriller recreated with LEGO.

LEGO Speed Racer on sale

4 new LEGO products based on the Speed Racer film are now available to buy in the UK. the sets feature scenes from the film and cost £12.99 each.


LEGO Speed Racer is now available to buy from Amazon

Did you know?

Google founder Larry Page built an inkjet printer made out of LEGO while at university.

Source.

Interview with Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer

An interesting piece from Boing Boing featuring an interview with Bjarne P. Tveskov whose LEGO career began when he was just 17 and he saw an ad in a Sunday newspaper for designers for the Space LEGO product line.

LEGO Eiffel Tower

The LEGO Eiffel Tower was created by popular demand and it truly is a stunning model.



It was built from the real Eiffel Tower's original blueprints and is at 1:300 scale standing 108 cm high. The tower can be easily dismantled into 3 sections for easy transport and storage.

The LEGO Eiffel Tower can be bought from the UK LEGO Shop and costs £149.99.

LEGO wins Speed Racer rights

LEGO have added another Warner Bros produced franchise to their collection after winning the rights to produce four playsets based on Speed Racer. The sets will include key figures from the movie and will hit the shelves around April.

Sean Kenney Interview

BBC interview with Sean Kenney, a LEGO certified professional.

Listen here.

Google LEGO Logo

Google celebrated LEGO's 50th birthday today by having a special logo made up of LEGO bricks on its home page today.



The founders of Google have admitted to having a certain fondness for LEGO, Google's first servers were "modded" with LEGO and Google has LEGO art in its office.

Billund Woodworking and Carpenter's Shop

In 1916 Ole Kirk Christiansen purchased the Billund Woodworking and Carpenter's Shop and earnt his living making houses and furniture for farmers in the region. The workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire, started by Christiansen's sons, ignited some wood shavings.


Christiansen took the opportunity of what could have been a disaster to construct a larger workshop and expand his business even further renting out most of the space and using the rest for his own shop.

Unfortunately in 1932 he nearly went bankrupt due to the Great Depression and with a lack of carpentry jobs started producing toys, mainly wooden pull toys.

Happy Birthday LEGO

50 years ago LEGO was born although it could be said that the history of LEGO begins many years earlier back in 1891 when Ole Kirk Christiansen, founder of the Lego Group, was born. The woodworking shop "Billund Woodworking and Carpenter's Shop", which would eventually evolve into the LEGO group opened in Billund, Denmark.

LEGO is now one of the world's largest toy manufacturers and largest in construction toys with the world's children spending an estimated 5 billion hours a year playing with LEGO.