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James May's Toy Stories

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James May's Toy Stories
Presented byJames May
Narrated byJames May
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producersWill Daws
Stuart Cabb[1]
Production locationVarious
EditorIan Holt
Running time60 minutes
Production companyPlum Pictures
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release27 October 2009 –
Present

James May's Toy Stories is a television series presented by James May.[2][3] The series was commissioned for BBC Two from Plum Pictures.[3][4] The first episode, "Airfix", was shown on BBC Two at 8 p.m. on Tuesday 27 October 2009.[1]

May is best known for presenting BBC's Top Gear.

Background

May's interest in technology is known from his presentation of such programmes as James May's 20th Century and James May's Big Ideas. He credits much of the inventiveness of humans to the love of playing with toys and he has credited many technological developments to men playing in sheds.[5] He has shown his passion for toys in programmes he has presented including James May's Top Toys and James May: My Sisters' Top Toys and he has discussed his desire for children to get away from games consoles and play with real toys preferably with their parents.[2] May was quoted as saying:

For too long now we have regarded the great toys as mere playthings. It's time to use them to bring people together and achieve greatness. And I bet it'll be a right laugh as well.[2]

Original plans

The ambitious – world record breaking in many cases – projects included:[2]

  • Creating a Plasticine garden and entering it for the Chelsea Flower Show.
  • Attempting to build the world's first full-size house made entirely out of Lego bricks.
  • Attempting to build a full size model Spitfire from a giant Airfix kit.
  • Racing a Scalextric car against a taxi through a busy town centre.
  • Building a life-size bridge made entirely out of Meccano
  • Link two towns with the world's longest model train set.

Many of the plans involved significant engineering problems, so the programme makers searched for architects, designers and engineers to help them.[6] However, many more volunteers would be required as a labour force, the appeals for volunteers were distributed in local newspapers.

Plasticine garden

Plasticine garden centrepiece

The Plasticine garden was a garden at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show.

May designed a garden (Named "Plasticine Paradise") made entirely of Plasticine in the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show. He missed out on the official awards but was instead awarded a special "Plasticine Gold" Award for his efforts.[7] May refused to take credit for the garden, the largest of its kind, saying that 2,000 volunteers assisted with the venture.[8]

Lego house

The house nears completion

Publicity from the programme makers called for volunteers to help with the building project.[9] The response was overwhelming; on Saturday 1 August 2009 huge queues formed at the construction site, Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey. Some people started queuing at 4:30 am. 1,200 were given tickets to work on the project while another 1,500 people had to be turned away.[10][11]

Volunteers made standardised hollow blocks each made of 272 standard 8-pip Lego bricks: 12 bricks long by 6 wide and 8 bricks high.[12][13]

The house was completed on Thursday 17 September 2009. Overall, the construction project overran by one month.

The programme makers attempted to sell the house to the Legoland theme park in Windsor. However, the cost of dismantling and reassembling the house was estimated at £50,000 and this was simply too expensive; the deal did not go through.[14] Having spent one night in the house, May said:

I slept in it on Friday and had the best night's sleep for a long time. The bed was a bit hard but I slept like a brick. Knocking it down is just wrong on every level.

It's a lovely thing – it will break the hearts of the 1,000 people who worked like dogs to build it.

[15]

The house could not remain at Denbies because the space was needed for vines and there was no planning permission.[16] Despite attempts to save the house, dismantling the house began on Tuesday 22 September 2009. Before the demolition, on Sunday or Tuesday a Lego cat named Fusker after May's own pet went missing and is assumed to have been stolen by a member of the public – a few of whom had allowed to look round the house after filming.[17]

The 3.3 million plastic bricks used to build the house will be donated to charity.[16]

Scalextric

May re-created the banked track at Brooklands in Scalextric track. [18][19][20][21][22]

Meccano

He has also built a bridge made out of Meccano.[23][24][25]

In September 2009, May unveiled a life-size Meccano bridge 23 metres (75 ft) long – it was engineered by Atkins, the design and engineering consultancy. The bridge weighs about 1⁄2 tonne and took 20 people more than six weeks to build. It was situated in the heart of Liverpool's newly redeveloped pierhead. As the home to Meccano for more than 70 years during the running of the Binns Road factory of dreams until 1979, Liverpool is the ideal location for the impressive bridge. It is also believed to be a new world record for the biggest Meccano bridge ever built, with 100,000 individual parts – including 28,000 bolts.[26]

Model railway

May, who had previously identified the train set as his "absolute favourite"[27] attempted to build the world's longest model railway. The team hoped that a train would run successfully along the length of the track, built on the picturesque Tarka Trail - a disused railway line 37 miles (60 km) long acquired by the local council in 1990 and is currently used as an off-road cycle track.[28] May chose the site because he thought that people wanted to see a line rebuilt there and because of the dramatic scenery. May joined 400 enthusiasts to build the miniature railway stretching 10 miles (16 km) from Barnstaple to Bideford, in North Devon.[29]

The attempt was disrupted by vandals and thieves who interfered with the track. Coins were dropped onto the line causing short circuits and the battery and parts of the track were taken.[29]

Simon Kohler, marketing manager of Hornby model railways, said that the train which travels at just 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h) failed two miles short of Bideford station; but he also told BBC news:[30]

Even though the last locomotive gave up the ghost at Instow, we did link the track - in fact I finished it at about 2230 - so we'll just need to wait and see what Guinness make of it.

Credits

  • Series Editor: Ian Holt
  • Presenter: James May
  • Executive Producer: Will Daws
  • Executive Producer: Stuart Cabb[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James May's Toy Stories.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "BBC – BBC Two Programmes – James May's Toy Stories, Airfix". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  2. ^ a b c d "BBC – Press Office - BBC Two presents James May's Toy Stories". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  3. ^ a b "BBC2 lands first fruit of James May's Plum deal". Broadcast. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  4. ^ "Plum Pictures". Retrieved 20009-10-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ Dolling, Phil (2008). James May's Magnificent Machines: How Men in Sheds Have Changed Our Lives. Hodder Paperback. ISBN 978-0340950920. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "BBC in need of structural engineers". Institution of Structural Engineers. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  7. ^ "James May's Plasticine garden wins special award at Chelsea Flower Show". The Daily Telegraph. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  8. ^ James May on YouTube
  9. ^ "Lego house attempt for James May's Toy Stories". Get Surrey. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  10. ^ "Thousands give Top Gear's James May a helping hand with Lego brick house". Daily Mail. 1 August 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  11. ^ Rebecca Younger (3 August 2009). "Thousands turn up to build James May's Lego house". Get Surrey. Retrieved 8 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  12. ^ Rebecca Younger (19 August 2009). "James May lays first brick of Lego house". Get Surrey. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  13. ^ Rebecca Younger. "James May's Lego house reaches second floor". Get Surrey. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  14. ^ "May's Lego house faces demolition". BBC News. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  15. ^ "House that James built torn down". Mirror News. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  16. ^ a b "James May's Lego house knocked down". Daily Telegraph. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  17. ^ "James May's Lego house demolished". BBC News. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  18. ^ Vicky Eltis. "Top Gear's James May races Scalextric cars". Surrey Herald. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  19. ^ "Top Gear's May In Scalextric Record Bid". Sky News. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  20. ^ "James May attempts world record for Scalextric". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  21. ^ "May to attempt Scalextric record". BBC News. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  22. ^ "Brooklands and James May Toy Stories". Scalextric. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  23. ^ Stephen Kennett (10 August 2009). "James May walks across Atkins' Meccano bridge in Liverpool". Building. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  24. ^ "James May builds Liverpool bridge out of Meccano". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  25. ^ "Meccano bridge built for James May's TV series". University of Liverpool. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  26. ^ Jane Sheils (20 October 2009). "James May walks across Atkins' Meccano bridge in Liverpool". Building. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help); Text "quote" ignored (help)
  27. ^ James May's Top Toys on YouTube
  28. ^ "Recreational Infrastructure: Tarka Trail". Tarka Project. Tarka Country. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  29. ^ a b "James May's model railway record bid derailed by vandal attack". Mail on-line. Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)
  30. ^ "James May's model railway record bid derailed by vandal attack". Retrieved 4 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dateformat= (help)

General references

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