72 TOY TALK
This month in Toy Talk: extraordinary feats of toy construction, an Atlantic rower celebrates his return and a TV presenter and a Downton Abbey cook feature in our Starspotting gallery...
TOYTALK
TOY GUINNESS WORLD RECORD OF THE MONTH
LONGEST PLASTIC TOY TRAIN TRACK
The longest plastic toy train track measured 2,221.514 metres (7,288 feet 5.01 inches) and was assembled by Thomas & Friends Team Japan 2011 at Fuji Q Highland, in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan, on July 28th 2011. Thomas was the character-train used for this event. It took two hours, 53 minutes and 36 seconds to travel the track. 10,575 pieces of plastic train track were used for this record.
corporate.guinnessworldrecords.com
The BTHA has confirmed that Nick Austin and Alan Bennie, founders of Vivid Imaginations, will be presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards in June at the annual Industry Day. Inaugurated in 1996, the BTHA’s Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals in honour of their outstanding contributions to the toy industry. Roland Earl, director general of the BTHA, said: “Nick and Alan have been driving forces in the toy industry together since their days at Matchbox. It is particularly fitting that Nick and Alan should receive this richly deserved award in the year of Vivid’s 20th anniversary. The Association is delighted to be able to honour them both at the Industry Day later this year.” The Vivid duo could also have appeared in our Starspotting section, as here they are pictured with Virgin’s Richard Branson.
A HERO’S WELCOME
Flair’s Atlantic rower Andrew Brown was honoured for his achievements at the recent Toy Industry Awards night, picking up a special accolade from Vivid chairman Nick Austin. Brown raised £135,000 for The Toy Trust and Help a Capital Child following the closest finish the organisers of the race have ever seen. Brown came in just 29 minutes behind English duo, Toby Iles and Nick Moore, on Saturday January 14th, having rowed for 40 days, nine hours and 44 minutes. He now holds the world record for the fastest ever solo crossing of the Atlantic. His colleagues at Flair helped him celebrate his return to work with a special cake in the shape of his boat JJ. “During the challenge I lived with my boat, talked to my boat and at times felt married to my boat, but at no time did I believe that it would come to me eating her,” Brown said.
MARCH 2012 A MONSTER CHALLENGE
A team of people with disabilities and health conditions from Royal British Legion Industries have assembled a life-size Monster Truck entirely out of K-Nex parts. The RBLI teamed up with American- based touring property, Monster Jam, and US toy firm K’Nex to build the ambitious structure (pictured) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the world famous Grave Digger monster truck and the 20th anniversary of K’Nex. It took the RBLI assembly team 1,000 hours to connect close to a
quarter million K’Nex pieces. To watch videos of the truck being built head to
www.rbli.co.uk.
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