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Hamleys: Top 100 Toys of All Time (2025)
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00:00:01The oldest toy store in the world is a magical place
00:00:05and behind these doors lie the greatest toys of all time.
00:00:10From Barbie to Bookaroo, Tamagotchi to Transformers
00:00:14and Cabbage Patch to Clackers.
00:00:17They're just a taste of the toys
00:00:19to make Hamlet's hit list of the top 100.
00:00:24Ah, now you're talking.
00:00:26Thunderbird's Tracy Island.
00:00:28Off the go.
00:00:31It's like snot.
00:00:34I'm locked and loaded and ready to explode it.
00:00:37For one nostalgic night,
00:00:39six famous toy fanatics have been given the run of Hamlet's Toy Shop
00:00:43to play with some of the most iconic toys.
00:00:46It's a bit like being allowed into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory
00:00:49and you get to see how the magic's made.
00:00:58And get ready for a night of pure fun.
00:01:09I can't wait.
00:01:10From the toys that you always loved to the toys you always wished you had,
00:01:14they are all here.
00:01:16So, let your inner child run wild!
00:01:25I feel like all my dreams have come true.
00:01:28Fall in one.
00:01:29This is the best Christmas present I could ever have.
00:01:31One night of fun with the greatest toys ever.
00:01:36What could possibly go wrong?
00:01:38Oh!
00:01:51With more than 20,000 toys under one roof,
00:01:54choosing the hundred greatest of all time
00:01:56has kept the Hamlet's elves very busy.
00:01:59They've filled the store with retro classics,
00:02:01modern crazes and the very greatest games, puzzles and fads.
00:02:06Toys will always have magic.
00:02:08This is amazing.
00:02:10Being in this shop now, it's just heaven.
00:02:13Toys are everything.
00:02:15I love toy shops.
00:02:16Oh, they still make Polly Pockets.
00:02:18I think I got into collecting toys,
00:02:20partly because it's the stuff that I felt I deserved
00:02:22when I was a kid that I didn't have.
00:02:24Because I had very, very few toys.
00:02:27My first toy I remember was a My Little Pony ball
00:02:30and it was so exciting.
00:02:32It was the first thing I remember that was mine.
00:02:34The first toy that I loved was I had a doll called Bella.
00:02:38I just loved her so much.
00:02:40That's a showstopper.
00:02:43First to take a trip down memory lane
00:02:45are Jonathan Ross and his daughter Honey.
00:02:47These are much smaller than I remember.
00:02:49I feel like I might not get back up if I get on that.
00:02:52I would need to ride two of these.
00:02:53I would need one under each cheek.
00:02:55And where better to start a celebration of the toys we loved
00:02:59than with this classic from the 70s, the Space Hopper.
00:03:03These used to be massive, I'm sure.
00:03:04I feel like they were bigger.
00:03:05Yeah.
00:03:06They should make them bigger maybe because...
00:03:08Certainly for us.
00:03:09I suppose we're not really the target market.
00:03:12I don't think there's a way of doing this with any dignity.
00:03:17Agree to disagree.
00:03:19Selling 100,000 hoppers a month when it launched,
00:03:23no 70s childhood was complete without one.
00:03:26Or the trips to A&E that resulted from falling off it.
00:03:30I think if I get down I'll be able to get up again.
00:03:33Yeah, this will be up.
00:03:34Is it going to...
00:03:35Oop!
00:03:36That feels risky.
00:03:39Space Hoppers was originally a fitness product
00:03:42called the Swiss ball.
00:03:44The Swiss ball was actually invented by an Italian
00:03:47called Aquilino Cassani.
00:03:49And in 1968 he adapted his fitness product for fun.
00:03:54Yeah, you've got the gist of it.
00:03:56Oh my God!
00:03:57Oh she goes.
00:03:58How do you get to work?
00:04:00How do you commute to work?
00:04:02I'm a go!
00:04:07And according to this quirky French advert from 1979,
00:04:10the Space Hopper really was a mode of transport for us Brits.
00:04:14I'm a fan of Space Hoppers.
00:04:16Who isn't a fan of Space Hoppers?
00:04:18The problem is I think as an adult they need to make bigger Space Hoppers.
00:04:22So there's a real gap in the market for adult Space Hoppers.
00:04:26Business idea? Anyone watching?
00:04:28I've got a horrible feeling when I stand up
00:04:30it's still going to be attached.
00:04:32The Space Hoppers were really fun in the 70s and 80s,
00:04:37but then they were relaunched back in like 2018
00:04:40and I think the kids would be like,
00:04:41well it doesn't do anything.
00:04:43I've got to bounce myself, I don't want that.
00:04:45So I think it had its day and it was great,
00:04:47but it doesn't ever seem to be able to reinvent itself.
00:04:51It seems the Space Hopper is just too iconic for its own good.
00:04:55Oh!
00:04:56There we go.
00:04:57Oh!
00:04:58Okay.
00:04:59Lovely.
00:05:00If I've learned one thing here,
00:05:01it's to never get on the Space Hopper.
00:05:02No, I think my days of Space Hopping are done.
00:05:04From one odd-looking 70s playground icon to another,
00:05:11this classic from the top 100 comes from a time
00:05:14when toys didn't bother with being cute or cuddly.
00:05:17Do you know what these are?
00:05:19No.
00:05:20These are trolls, Aidan!
00:05:21In fact, they could be downright ugly.
00:05:24What the hell are these ugly things?
00:05:26Oh my gosh!
00:05:27They're not ugly!
00:05:28They're beautiful!
00:05:30I wasn't really into dolls, I'm not going to lie,
00:05:33but I loved trolls.
00:05:34And everyone had them at school,
00:05:35so if there's a troll that you didn't want anymore,
00:05:37you might swap a troll with your mate.
00:05:39As individuals, we want to feel part of something
00:05:42and what better way to feel part of something
00:05:44than to have the toy that everybody else has got,
00:05:46particularly your friends.
00:05:48The trolls that star in the recent movies
00:05:50have had quite the glow-up compared to their early ancestors,
00:05:53who were a vision from the fevered mind of Thomas Dam,
00:05:56a Danish woodcutter.
00:05:58He carved them for his daughter,
00:06:00presumably because he didn't like her very much.
00:06:02The original trolls from the 60s,
00:06:04the kind of Danish sort of ugly-looking traditional troll,
00:06:07was made really as a kind of touristy toy
00:06:10and it sort of caught on, I think.
00:06:12But Dam's wooden trolls were labour-intensive,
00:06:15so he switched to rubber.
00:06:17They hit the US in 1961 and troll mania took off,
00:06:21with sales hitting $2 million a year.
00:06:24Unfortunately, Thomas Dam hadn't properly copyrighted his troll
00:06:28and imitators flooded the market.
00:06:30The business suffered and the fad faded,
00:06:33but the troll didn't die.
00:06:35In the 80s, a different company bought the rights to them
00:06:37and then they brought out these trolls with different outfits
00:06:39and they became really collectible.
00:06:41The mass-market 1980s trolls don't have the same collector's value
00:06:45as the originals from the 60s,
00:06:47which can sell for hundreds of pounds.
00:06:49But the 1980s version spawned another generation in the early 90s.
00:06:54Battle Trolls!
00:06:56Big-haired dudes with bad attitudes!
00:06:58Trollminator!
00:06:59Young Trollula!
00:07:00Nunchuck Troll!
00:07:01And more!
00:07:02Battle Trolls!
00:07:03Yeah, they never had any pants on or anything like that.
00:07:08Look, a little bit cheeky.
00:07:10But they're gorgeous.
00:07:12While trolls embraced a relaxed attitude to underwear,
00:07:15there's another doll on our list of greatest toys
00:07:18who was always perfectly turned out.
00:07:20The original fashion icon
00:07:22and all-American beauty,
00:07:24Barbara Millicent Roberts.
00:07:26My Barbie doll is really, really...
00:07:29So, Barbie was a toy
00:07:31which was the dream child of a couple in the mid-1940s.
00:07:34Didn't come to fruition until 1959
00:07:37when they brought out their first doll.
00:07:40Barbie's inventor was Ruth Handler,
00:07:42the co-founder of Mattel.
00:07:44It all started really when they saw their daughter,
00:07:47not Barbie, Barbara,
00:07:49playing with some dolls in the 40s.
00:07:51And they then based their doll on a German doll.
00:07:55The German doll, Bilt Lily, was Barbie's genesis.
00:07:59And having named Barbie after her daughter
00:08:01when it came to choosing a name for the doll's love interest,
00:08:04Ruth Handler looked no further than her own son.
00:08:07Ken.
00:08:08Bit weird.
00:08:10I did really like Barbies.
00:08:11They went on real romantic journeys with Ken.
00:08:14And my brother had Action Man,
00:08:16so, you know, they also got romantically involved with Action Man.
00:08:18It was a pretty hectic time for Barbie at my house.
00:08:2260-plus years later,
00:08:24and it's estimated 140,000 Barbies are sold every single day,
00:08:29netting Mattel over a billion dollars a year.
00:08:32I had this.
00:08:34I'm pretty sure I've had this little pink car.
00:08:37I'm going to sound like a demon,
00:08:39but I had a Barbie and I cut all of her hair off.
00:08:41I stuck it to her arms and legs.
00:08:44I don't know what I was going for.
00:08:47But just four years later,
00:08:48a wholesome English rose made her debut,
00:08:51and she was set to challenge Barbie's dominance.
00:08:54What's going on here?
00:08:56Is that Cindy?
00:08:57Is that an old Cindy doll?
00:08:58I think this is Cindy.
00:08:59This must be vintage then,
00:09:00because no kid would recognise what that was.
00:09:02No.
00:09:03They wouldn't know that was a hairdryer.
00:09:04They'd think that was some sort of brainwashing machine.
00:09:06Cindy was lovely,
00:09:07because she was very wholesome and very British,
00:09:09and Barbie was quite American.
00:09:12I had a Cindy and not a Barbie.
00:09:14I can remember being a bit fascinated by that,
00:09:17because, you know, Barbie was the big thing.
00:09:19I think being told that you cannot have one,
00:09:22the thing you want,
00:09:23and you're going to get another version,
00:09:25is only going to increase your appetite
00:09:27for wanting it more and more.
00:09:29But in 1986,
00:09:30Cindy was bought over by Hasbro
00:09:32and given quite the makeover.
00:09:35Barbie, the American fashion doll,
00:09:36has been out on the town celebrating her pink jubilee
00:09:39with long-standing boyfriend, Ken.
00:09:41But who's this coming up the rear?
00:09:43It's a new-look Cindy with her steady pull,
00:09:46and her revamped image has turned Barbie
00:09:48against her long-standing playmate.
00:09:52Hasbro narrowed her waist.
00:09:54They made her eyes bigger.
00:09:56They made her face slimmer.
00:09:58So they kind of just made her look
00:10:00a little bit more like Barbie, basically.
00:10:03And Mattel weren't very happy about that.
00:10:06The two toy giants went to court,
00:10:07and in the end, Hasbro agreed to remodel Cindy
00:10:10to make her look less like Barbie.
00:10:12But Cindy's sales were already in decline.
00:10:15Her identity crisis had driven away loyal fans.
00:10:19By the late 90s,
00:10:21she was no longer a real contender
00:10:23in the fashion doll market.
00:10:25I've got nothing but respect for Cindy,
00:10:27but I hope the girls have worked it out.
00:10:29I was a Barbie girl.
00:10:31Credit where credit's due.
00:10:32That diva did what she had to do.
00:10:34Come on, let's have a go at the scooter.
00:10:37Go on, you can go on at first.
00:10:38No, I'm not going on. I'll break my neck.
00:10:40I actually can't remember how you scooter.
00:10:42Teach me how you do it.
00:10:43For one night only, six celebrities have been given the keys to Hamley's.
00:10:46I'm an expert on Hungry Hebbots.
00:10:47They've got their hands on some of the hundred greatest toys
00:10:50of the last 250 years,
00:10:51as selected by Hamley's experts,
00:10:52from the cute and cuddly to the downright dangerous.
00:10:54But will they measure up to their childhood memories?
00:10:56This is mad. We've got the whole place of outself.
00:10:57I like a toy where you're doing things like a pair of nines.
00:10:59It's just what a pair of nines.
00:11:00It's just a pair of nines and it's just a pair of nines.
00:11:04It's not a pair of nines.
00:11:06But what I love is I want to do with the two hundred and fifty ones.
00:11:11You know what your favorite,
00:11:13the two men are already.
00:11:15There's no lie.
00:11:16You know what, the two women are,
00:11:17it's just a pair of nines and a pair of nines.
00:11:20It's just a pair of nines and a pair of nines and a pair of nines.
00:11:24doing things like a pair of roller skates roller skate wheels were actually the starting point for
00:11:30the earliest toy scooters back in the 1910s by the 90s scooters had evolved into trick and stunt
00:11:37models inspired by bmx culture and in recent years e-scooters have taken the world by storm
00:11:45their popularity has endured as they're so easy to ride well that's the theory
00:11:50i don't think we should get a scooter no i don't know i think you shouldn't get a scooter yeah
00:11:58i'm all right you only that i don't know i don't even know how you've managed to do that
00:12:02i think it was my jeans they were too long oh my god luckily i didn't break anything
00:12:07let's get rid of these scooters there's absolutely no way i want it whatsoever come on
00:12:13while alison goes in search of a paw patrol plaster for her knee
00:12:17on another floor of families an altogether more sinister set of toys are fighting for
00:12:22intergalactic dominance and if you recognize this sound
00:12:29you know exactly who they are
00:12:35oh look these are the high-end transformer toys oh wow bumblebee and optimus point
00:12:40hey optimus how's it going no not you bumblebee that's it transform they're just going oh my god
00:12:50they are enthusiastic i love transformers because i love the toys that they grew out of
00:12:57and they kind of grew out of two japanese toys made by a company called takara which is the japanese
00:13:07word for treasure and they were the mikoro men uh and a range of toys called diacron sort of a
00:13:14transforming toy and they're beautiful hey optimus energon wow this morning stretch routine
00:13:29in japan toy companies would all compete to make these sort of robots that turn into cars or turn
00:13:35into cameras or turn into different things and that's where it all started from and somebody from
00:13:41hasbro went to japan saw these amazing toy lines like diaclone micro change in the early 80s and
00:13:47said these are amazing we should do something hasbro merged the two lines and a legend was born
00:13:53hey fine attack
00:13:58whoa transformers made their worldwide debut in 1984
00:14:03supported by a comic book and a cartoon series of one of the catchiest theme tunes of the mid-80s
00:14:08the transformers
00:14:14optimus prime megatron bumblebee and starscream quickly became household names originally selling
00:14:21for 11.99 in 2023 a box fresh optimus sold for over 30 grand bet you wish you hadn't played with yours now
00:14:30this is optimus prime this one is an original generation one transformer from 1984. this is the
00:14:35one that everybody wanted back in the day and if this was 1984 now this was unavailable anywhere
00:14:41okay let's put in bed to sleep hey prime transform
00:14:46whoa ready to catch whoa
00:14:53that's amazing
00:14:56that's pretty good isn't it these are really cool really cool
00:14:58transformers aren't the only japanese export to make the list of top toys
00:15:05pokemon gameboy and even sylvanian families are all japanese ideas that we've fallen in love with
00:15:13but next on our list is a toy that's got a very distinct american voice
00:15:17oh speak and spell and is very keen on good grammar
00:15:23okay this might be a bit hard for you yeah i don't know about this okay ski
00:15:32steve ski i think ski
00:15:36can you find a k there say it listen to the word and then try spelling it level a press go to begin
00:15:42say it speak and spell is a bit of a mansplainer the arrival of interactive toys in the early 80s was
00:15:52a massive shift really because we introduced power and lighting and noise into toys
00:15:58now spell color c-o-l-o-r wrong this is speak and spell from texas instruments
00:16:09spell with it say it say it i think a woman should voice this
00:16:15i think it's creepy yes say it why don't you just say it say it no say it speak and spell might feel
00:16:21less plaything and more passive aggressive english teacher but fast forward to the 90s and interactive
00:16:27toys are about to get a whole lot cuter oh gosh do you know what this is no i have no idea this is a
00:16:35tamagotchi it's a virtual pet in 1997 the world went mad for the latest japanese tech the tamagotchi
00:16:47it's 8 30 in london on an ordinary weekday morning but these people are setting out on a most
00:16:53extraordinary quest i've got four already crazy about this they're really nice and i would recommend
00:17:00them to anybody the reason for all the excitement is this a virtual pet which you have to care for 24
00:17:07hours a day that's playing with it feeding it even cleaning up its mess everyone had them at school and
00:17:14i was obsessed to the point where you wouldn't really work at school because it was more important
00:17:18to make sure that your tamagotchi was alive what you just go around school with that just go around
00:17:23school and you got you really oh god i gotta feed my tamagotchi what did you forget no it dies at the
00:17:30time i was teaching and young children would appear with these things and there'd be so many emotions
00:17:36that'd be involved and some of the children were absolutely beside themselves they're designed to be
00:17:42not just a toy but our constant companion tapping into a deep-rooted need for friendship but tamagotchi's
00:17:50also sparked a real desire to care for something there was kind of something quite thrilling about
00:17:55trying to keep it alive even though i definitely never successfully managed to keep mine alive for
00:17:58more than a couple of days and there's nothing worse than killing a tamagotchi the shame of it terrible
00:18:05but there's something about life and death again you know our toys often bring us really big concepts
00:18:10most children probably haven't had to face in that way but suddenly there was something that they
00:18:17understood about their role and what they had to do in order to keep it alive i mean huge so huge in
00:18:26fact that in the mid 90s tamagotchi bereavement became a thing with academic papers suggesting
00:18:32counseling to help people cope with the death of their virtual pet so in one minute and 27 seconds
00:18:40you'll probably have to take it to the toilet no you gotta give it a little bit of attention and
00:18:47you have a go at me for taking my phone to the toilet but you took this little thing to the toilet
00:18:51so yeah but it was my pet the tamagotchi as the granddaddy to a whole host of needy interactive toys
00:18:59certainly deserves its place on the top 100 list but by 1998 there was a new distinctly weirder kid on
00:19:06the block you've got the old talking furby which you uh feed and sleeps and you've got to look after it
00:19:17fabulous item furby was a robotic friend that could respond to touch light and sound
00:19:23more you play the more they do it spoke furbish an imaginary language that slowly morphed into
00:19:32english the more it interacted with its owner burby go ahead
00:19:43your best friend forever now so you'd like talk to them when you go to bed and everything but they
00:19:48don't shut up they come on forever so then you fall asleep and your mum would like come out and be
00:19:52like hating it parents may have hated them but kids couldn't get enough furby's one of the biggest
00:20:00craze of the 90s with over 40 million sold worldwide and now they're back riding a wave of nostalgia
00:20:07that's also seen tamagotches and speak and spell rebooted nostalgia is massive in the toy market
00:20:14so it's this new emerging category of kidults anybody 12 plus that are buying toys either for
00:20:20themselves or other adults and that market has become responsible for around one pound in every
00:20:27three pounds spent so it's not just complicated and technical toys that are appealing to kidults
00:20:32but it's the nostalgic ones
00:20:37but it's not just fuzzy robots that bring out our nostalgic side
00:20:40oh this looks good oh yeah no i like this is this your floor this is my floor yeah blasters
00:20:51side life has just um a a ball made out of foam that was created to be safe to play inside
00:20:59i think their marketing slogan was something like you can throw it and bounce it inside it's fine it won't
00:21:04break anything it'll be okay clearly not because an object traveling towards a vase if it hits
00:21:12is going to knock it over and it will break nerf sold over four million balls in the first year
00:21:18but they didn't release their first blaster for another 20 years the blaster ball
00:21:22look at this this is cool that's loaded don't try come on let's have a bite there's no one here
00:21:34i'm locked and loaded and ready to explode it it's been suggested nerf blasters are more than just
00:21:40toys they're tools for growth let the personal growth begin aiden come out come out wherever you are
00:21:48talk to the hankers are based on this thing
00:21:56why are you shooting that is such close range
00:22:01oh right that's enough now it's time
00:22:08i like this game
00:22:17six toy loving celebrities are on a mission okay this is it we are actually extreme sports
00:22:24people to play with some of the hundred greatest toys of all time as selected by hamley's experts
00:22:34god
00:22:36ultimate toy i think would have to be something physical
00:22:41how's that going yeah and you just have to get used to it i think
00:22:44wearing skate gliders isn't as simple as it looks you're not lifting up your heel
00:22:50you're just walking the first known roller skates were created by a belgian inventor
00:22:55in 1760 who crashed into a mirror when he debuted them
00:23:00nearly 250 years later kids were crazy for healers the trainer with a wheel in the hill
00:23:06but the fad faded after schools banned them for safety reasons
00:23:11it's a practice i think yeah but it's getting better it is getting better
00:23:18i'm doing it you're really getting it now
00:23:22i'm quite out of breath are you
00:23:24in 1983 the world was a dangerous place the cold war raged nuclear tensions were high and life was
00:23:36uncertain what we needed was the next toy from the greatest list of all time a toy to make us feel
00:23:42safe again something cute something cabbagey oh my god oh cabbage patch are horrible no they're not
00:23:50they're horrible look they're horrible look me in the eye and tell me that's not a beautiful creature
00:23:55it's not a beautiful creature look at that why did anyone ever like these i was obsessed do you
00:24:01remember how much i was obsessed i was feral for cabbage patch dolls i would just kind of look at my
00:24:06parents with gigantic doll eyes and be like i've got to get one i've got to get my hands on one
00:24:12and honey wasn't the only one obsessed in 1983 the quest to get a doll provoked scenes of mass
00:24:19hysteria in the usa i remember it being sort of on the news nightly about whether or not people could
00:24:26get hold of these cabbage patch dolls and how children were having meltdowns because they couldn't
00:24:31get them parents were having meltdowns a full-grown woman taking a doll out of a child
00:24:36it was a craze that was built on craziness i think it was perpetuated by parents to some degree
00:24:44i will get in there it felt like it was something different its backstory was kind of weird and wacky
00:24:53the story was that a young boy called xavier roberts discovered a magical land where a cabbage patch
00:24:59grew little children but the real xavier roberts was a doll's inventor and he came up with a very
00:25:05original concept to make them stand out it's america's most unusual hospital isolated in the
00:25:10georgia mountains yet attracting a hundred thousand visitors a year to watch babies being born cabbage
00:25:16patch babies keep your eyes on mother cabbage we have a little girl what made cabbage patch dolls so
00:25:24unique was that you weren't just buying a doll you were adopting it and every single one was an
00:25:30individual i solemnly promise i solemnly promise to be an understanding parent to be an understanding
00:25:36parent it costs 100 pounds to adopt your own nevertheless half a million young parents have
00:25:42persuaded their parents to pay up there was something about their kind of like cartoonish big cheeks
00:25:48and their little curly tufts of hair that just brought out a very young maternal instinct in me
00:25:54you can see why adopting then having the responsibility of looking after i mean these
00:25:59are all attributes that i think are quite appealing to parents who want to give their
00:26:04children the experience of all of these emotions you know how are you going to be responsible and look
00:26:10after this wonderful doll i still have her and i saw her the other day uh she's at my parents house
00:26:16and she's you know as beautiful as the day i laid eyes on her what if this is your grandchild i would
00:26:21disown it horrid but sometimes babies do look a bit like that don't they when they have like big
00:26:26big old cheeks yeah i think i had quite big cheeks but i'll be honest you did look like that when you
00:26:31were young meow other dolls making a top 100 list include baby alive who weed her nappy teeny tiny
00:26:41polly pockets lol dolls and who can forget the sass of the brats things have moved on since the cabbage
00:26:49patch it used to be that dolls were for girls and cars are for boys but now cars are for stand-up
00:26:54comedians too so this is my car it's a purple car and it's lucky this is mine it's a model one oracle
00:27:04year 2020 she knows about cars okay so you put that one there get ready
00:27:10race uh-oh mine won so hot wheels came along 1968 from toy manufacturer mattel created by the
00:27:19husband of the lady who invented barbie what a power couple and still the two top toy properties
00:27:25in the world 40 50 years later remarkable stuff get ready everybody whoa oh it's been an absolute
00:27:34tragedy down at formula one hot wheels are really well made they're solid they're hard to bust
00:27:42when car ownership boomed in the early 20th century it didn't take long for the toy companies to jump on
00:27:48the trend dinky was one of the first brands releasing their die cast models in 1934 miniature
00:27:54cars made by pouring molten metal into a mold 20 years later the concept of a car that could fit in a
00:28:01matchbox was introduced and that's another classic that's made the top 100 the company has always made
00:28:08a quality product this year we'll introduce a hundred new products which i think other people will have
00:28:13difficulty in doing what matchbox didn't realize was that there was a new car coming got behind them
00:28:19hot wheels was heading for pole position and a place on the list of the greatest toys when i was a
00:28:25kid you would borrow tracks from friends or you would go around with your tracks the house and build a
00:28:28really long one in the garden and we would spend hours building the most complicated hot wheels tracks
00:28:33we could hot wheels i just think it's a fantastic toy
00:28:39huh you've got to put some effort into it okay that was pathetic
00:28:45you need to try and get it in there you have a go hot wheels has kind of taken everybody by
00:28:49surprise again this year because it's not just the kids that are buying into hot wheels it's that sort of
00:28:55kiddle customer it's the older customer buying hot wheels as collectors so hot wheels is a brand is
00:29:09literally a hot brand give it a yes lou thank you once you'd outgrown hot wheels the next step for any
00:29:22self-respecting junior james hunt was to pull up to the starting line for some serious slot car racing
00:29:28and that can only mean one toy oh my gosh sky electric this i love this scale electric i couldn't love
00:29:36more um i grew up with scale electric the early sets were a little bit spendy but it was like it was
00:29:44absolutely an aspiration toy the first skate electric cost six pounds in 1957 around 120 quid
00:29:51in today's money it brought the thrill of formula one into your front room invented by a british
00:29:57engineer called b fred francis it was the stuff of dreams for any wannabe racer playing with like
00:30:04scale electric i used to love anything that moves fast and that you can control kind of i love those
00:30:09i don't know why i love that ready go oh my gosh i'm winning i'm winning i'm gonna win yes
00:30:18the original cars were made of tin plate metal and fitted with a small electric motor and metal
00:30:25contacts which slotted into the track press the controller and electric current powers the car
00:30:31they're harder to whiz off the track these days they seem to stick much more like glue which is a great
00:30:37thing apparently but my memories are very much of can you just can you go and pick up the full escort from
00:30:42over in the corner please but it wasn't just ford escorts and ferrara's that you could throw around
00:30:47your front room you could race almost anything do you remember thunderbirds there's penelope in the
00:30:53back of the car parker's at the front there he is rolls royce coming through see if i'm gonna hit
00:30:59it i'm going to hit my rolls royce crazy i was trying to get it back on the road what's that cost me
00:31:04there we go go on penelope oh yeah oh yeah smash it that's a bad crash if lady penelope is in danger
00:31:12this is a job for international rescue and just try not to count along to one of the most iconic
00:31:17opening sequences ever made five four three two one
00:31:28uh now you're talking thunderbirds tracy island oh that's cute so they didn't come out like this
00:31:38when it was first popular first popular in the kind of like late 60s right but then it got a rebirth
00:31:42years later and that's when this came out so this wasn't your one no no i never had one oh
00:31:48i didn't have that many toys but i remember getting the green thunderbird it was amazing
00:31:52but my parents had bought it a kind of local school fight and unfortunately what they didn't
00:31:56realize was underneath it had written in sharpie the name of the little boy lived down the road
00:32:02who i had been playing with that very toy at his house the year previously and so there was a sort
00:32:06of almost a degree of weird shame about it you know what i mean even though i loved having it
00:32:10that that's there for this when that takes off yeah these go down and that comes up and the blast of
00:32:17that goes on there really brilliantly fulfilled that's beautifully designed it goes off quite lovely
00:32:22when the original thunderbirds was on telly in the 1960s there was a huge rush of commercial tie-ins
00:32:29but that was just the start when the bbc brought it back in the early 90s
00:32:37massive new breath of life parents recognize it from the first time it was around
00:32:42kids loved it because it was spaceships they'd not seen before
00:32:45and then there was the marvelous tracy island thunderbirds are back
00:32:49this shipment of toys from japan is the first in five weeks suppliers throughout britain have
00:32:55been sending frantic telexes as they struggle to meet the unexpected demand from two generations
00:33:00of thunderbirds fans that's lady penelope's car that's lady penelope's car driven by parker
00:33:07yes lady who looks a bit like the gallagher brothers that's where they live all the tracy family
00:33:12lived in there does this move oh look at that the rocket was under there hidden in the pool and they
00:33:20swam above it which seemed like bad design to me if they're swimming above it and they need to launch
00:33:24the rocket you've got to get out there fairly quickly and you had to move very quickly if you
00:33:28wanted to snap up a tracy island for christmas 1992. it was unbelievable you couldn't get a tracy island
00:33:34anywhere now i can't get rid of them they're all cloned up in my basement however as a toy
00:33:39it sold out but it's fine anthea turner to the rescue in 93 blue peter showed us how to make
00:33:46your own from household items and here it is the secret hideaway of that famous international rescue
00:33:53team now if you can find tracy island in the shops and it's not easy it could cost you as much as 34
00:34:00pounds 99p but this one is created entirely from junk over a hundred thousand requests were made to
00:34:09the bbc by post for those instructions at one of the most popular blue peter episodes ever and then
00:34:15you go yeah that's good that's good stuff great toy great toy classic
00:34:34families in london have given six celebrities a chance to play with some of the hundred greatest
00:34:38toys of all time sorry as selected by their experts the challenge is to see if they can inject a little
00:34:45toy-based silliness into their lives now it's been a long time since i've been on a poker stick obviously
00:34:50oh really when i think of you when i'm not with you i imagine you're going well it's not my first pogo
00:34:57and it would seem they can poker sticks feel like fun you can't be sad when you're bouncing
00:35:03you can't be sad when you're in the air oh no one foot oh yeah it is quite hard actually i make it
00:35:13look easy oh my god pogo sticks have given endless hours of fun and broken bones but the modern pogo
00:35:20stick was actually invented in 1920. it's thought it got its name from its german inventors
00:35:26polig and gotchlaw giving you pogo i think i'm actually quite good on this catch me up if you
00:35:31dare you're not really going forward though while some toys bring nothing but laughter the next toy
00:35:40from hamley's list can drive you to tears there was one toy that could actually divide people i don't
00:35:47really rate it but other people are like are you joking oh look who likes rubik cubes though but from nerd
00:35:54i got a rubik's cube and i was thinking this is the best thing ever i can't wait to do this
00:36:00and then i just could never do it i hate rubik's cubes i hate the stress of it i hate the power and
00:36:05the smugness that people have when they just go look at this and then they just do it i hate that
00:36:11i hate that burn them all have you ever been able to do one no the click key is i believe you should get
00:36:17the corners in position first maybe we can get them to play this backwards so it looks like we're solving it
00:36:23so the rubik's cube was created in 1974 by erno rubik hungarian scientist as a way of showing his
00:36:32students how to 3d model didn't need to come up with a puzzle at all it actually took erno a full
00:36:38month to solve his own puzzle and a year later he was patented as the magic cube in three years it's
00:36:45around one million copies was sold in hungary alone at the 80s the cube crossed the iron curtain i got
00:36:54my first passport to the west and i went to new york to the new york toy fair it was renamed the rubik's
00:37:03cube and was an instant hit erno became the first self-made millionaire from the communist bloc there's
00:37:09been loads of other rubik's puzzle since including the rubik snake which also made the top 100 list
00:37:15but the cube is the big one selling over 500 million units
00:37:21i'm just trying to get that up to there no oh no they're both in the wrong place we're going to be
00:37:28here all night this one's broken that's what it is do you know what i did i took all the stickers off
00:37:36and i put it all like in the the colors and everything that's literally what i did i was
00:37:40like i'm done with this with more than 43 quintillion combinations the rubik's cube was the ultimate
00:37:46head scratcher toy i wonder if once you've learned how to do it whether it's not as much fun because
00:37:51you know the technique maybe it is more fun for idiots like us who can never do it but i think that
00:37:57is pretty much done close enough yeah there you go so easy job well done okay let's go and find
00:38:06something with batteries next on the list we go from a toy that infuriated children to one that annoys
00:38:12the house proud play-doh look at this this is it this is what i like did i ever buy you this i can i
00:38:19can vaguely remember it but then i feel like it disappeared very quickly i don't know why because you know
00:38:24what gets on the carpet gets on the sofa parents might hate it but kids feel quite different about
00:38:30this squidgy stuff they love it that's because they can do so much with it you're the play-doh
00:38:37boy right oh my god look base it's an ice cream machine this is fantastic let's get you a nice ice
00:38:45cream here we go you ready i'm a nice tonight please mom no problem there we go thank you very much enjoy
00:38:51your ice cream thank you my mom absolutely detested play-doh because it was just so messy and i so
00:39:02wanted it she weren't having that in her carpet are you joking but play-doh was never actually meant
00:39:08to be a toy it started life in the 1930s as a wallpaper cleaner called kootol a putty that removes
00:39:14sooty mess from walls but by the 1950s a nursery teacher discovered her pupils loved playing with
00:39:21it so it was rebranded and the phenomenon was born play-doh has been one of the most successful
00:39:30toys of all time and it's still going strong last year you could make play-doh outfits for barbie
00:39:38what a fantastic combination is that back in the day this used to get everywhere look i could just
00:39:44chuck it on you now it doesn't even get on your clothes actually doesn't this is a new recipe
00:39:49i love the smell of play-doh it's got like an almondy smell to it hasn't it i think they did
00:39:53slightly change the formula to stop kids eating it because i think they thought that it was too
00:39:58like tasty smelling the basic recipe is flour salt and water but the exact proportions are a carefully
00:40:06guarded secret more recent formulas have reduced assault to stop the age-old problem of dried out
00:40:12dough well maybe we could give him a little lick of the ice cream have a little lick of your ice cream
00:40:20yes you like it now your head's growing yeah love it if play-doh encouraged kids to cut hair
00:40:27and make ice creams the next toy was all about the bounce this was one of my favorite things when i was a
00:40:32kid silly putty you don't have silly putty okay here we go you can make it into a bouncy ball yeah
00:40:39you've got to roll the interval so it doesn't bounce in the wrong direction like a rugby ball
00:40:43hello okay you stand over there i'll try and bounce it okay okay that's it fine
00:40:48enough here we go oh cool two hours of fun oh that's good
00:40:56but if you thought silly putty was just child's play then you would be wrong so this is silly putty
00:41:03which is technically called a viscous elastic material so it has the properties of both a solid
00:41:08and a liquid simultaneously and does some amazing things one of which is if you hit it hard enough
00:41:12with a highlight it should crack just there go for it 40 years this has just been a child's toy but now
00:41:20a very similar material has been developed that's being used in protective clothing
00:41:23so it starts off as squishy and soft and would be padding say in an arm part but when it is
00:41:28impacted it becomes solid which makes this the perfect material for impact protective sports gear
00:41:34and bullet resistant vests what a product
00:41:39getting tricky oh show off come on let's try and do a switch okay can we three two one
00:41:44pretty good beautiful the fact that we're proud of that there's a lot about our lack of physical
00:41:51expertise low bar the final entry in this rogues gallery of all things sticky is a true bad boy of
00:41:58the bunch non-newtonian fluid polymer gel otherwise known as slime
00:42:03slime first appeared as a toy in 1976 oh my god it's like it's not look at this look at the flies on
00:42:16this side this gunji non-toxic goo is mostly made from guar gum a thickener derived from a plant
00:42:25native to india and pakistan slime was one of them ones that my mom could not stand because it made a
00:42:32mess or stained carpet actually i think i did once get it in the carpet and we couldn't get it out i
00:42:37don't know like slime have you ever put your finger in slime it sounds like you've trumped it's
00:42:44disgusting also again very messy no that's not coming in my house slime fell out of fashion but thanks
00:42:52to diy slime was on social media it made an explosive comeback and slime parties became the must-do event
00:42:58in the 2010s but it was really during covid when parents were off making banana breads that kids
00:43:06were experimenting on how to create their own slime at home slime what a thing that one's really sticky
00:43:13look at that oh it's so bad isn't it oh that's enough of that but when it comes to strange and squishy
00:43:24textures one entry on the list of greatest toys stands head and shoulders above the rest you can't
00:43:30go wrong with a man in pants who you can stretch come on that's fun for the whole family he's also
00:43:36got a lovely texture to him in 1976 somebody thought it was a brilliant idea to put corn syrup inside a
00:43:44toy of a bulky blonde man wearing nothing but budgie smugglers that stretched from normal toy size
00:43:54four foot apparently i mean it is impressive kenner presents stretch armstrong you can stretch him
00:44:00all kinds of ways you can stretch his arms you can stretch his legs wow he really stretches stretch
00:44:10armstrong you can do all these things with him one early idea was to give stretch the body of a sumo
00:44:16wrestler but the sumo was too bulky so the designers went with the all-american blonde hunk instead
00:44:23what's the best stretch we can get oh yeah because it's like a sort of syrup inside it's got a gooey
00:44:28syrupy consistency i've got a vintage one and it's all solidified inside and i try to put it in
00:44:35it was crunchy crunchy like an old man's knees that happens to all of us as an oap stretch is particularly
00:44:42fragile so boxed 70s models are highly desirable and can stretch close to 1 000 pounds and auction sites
00:44:49but that is small change compared to the daddy of action figures action man in 2015 a box fresh
00:44:56action man judo set sold for over 5 000 pounds and out of this world price for a toy that took over
00:45:03the world and that's this 90s advert from sweden shows beyond this was a late period action man
00:45:14space suit he's cool 80s or 90s probably i think it's quite a good space suit and quite a good space
00:45:20buggy action man or gi joe as he was in america it was a 12 inch doll made for boys so a doll for boys
00:45:28in the 1960s was a big no-no so what did they do it lent heavily into the military side of things
00:45:35palito went out and took photos of soldiers on parade to get exactly right so the buttons were
00:45:40in exactly the right places the emblems were exactly right the amount of detail and effort that went into
00:45:45this toy was phenomenal action man launched in 1966 the early figures were nearly identical to gi joe
00:45:54with his painted hair but by 1970 action man was becoming more sophisticated
00:46:01we got flocked hair and eventually ended up with eagle eyes as well action plan now with eagle eyes
00:46:08that actually move on the lookout for action he also had a sharp shooter position tilt his head back
00:46:16it would lock in so you could lie him down like he's shooting a rifle which was really cool but as they
00:46:22get older the heads deteriorate and fall off so this one's actually had a repair done so i'm not
00:46:26going to risk it i'm not going to risk it this is today's action man watching the armored jeep getting
00:46:32ready for action but it was a technological advance from the 1990s that got action man in a spot of hot
00:46:38water this version had a walkie-talkie speaker in his chest allowing action man to copy commands but it
00:46:45turned out he was snooping on more than children's chatter action man as you've never heard him before
00:46:51chatting about everything from the weather to the washing up we realized he's actually listening to
00:46:55someone's conversation in the front room it just talked and when it said that i'm going safe ways now
00:47:03i thought it was my man the weekly shop action man's toughest mission yet
00:47:16come on there's the dart should we have a quick game of darts yeah man with over 20 000 toys in the
00:47:22world's oldest toy shop you want to go on mine no it's okay our celebrities aren't short on choice
00:47:28but there's one type of game that features heavily in the top 100 list the humble board game oh look
00:47:34oh my god we loved games that you played together as a family we had this in my house when i was a
00:47:39kid buckaroo and you used to play it i remember buckaroo how do you load it so you put oh that's a hair
00:47:45trigger buckaroo that he's sensitive i've lost my touch buckaroo was a big hit in my house when i was a kid
00:47:52and we adored buckaroo because buckaroo is a great game any game where there's that impending sense of
00:47:55tension is great you don't know when it's going to go and it's that it's that joy of seeing
00:48:01everybody like really jump and scream buckaroo place all of buckaroo's tools on buckaroo but be
00:48:07careful because at any moment he might decide to buck buck buckaroo for a buckarootin good time have you
00:48:13ever played this i find it very stressful you don't enjoy it no because i don't want it to kick me
00:48:17i find games like buckaroo operation too stressful you know what i don't want from a game is stress
00:48:27i don't want to operate on somebody if i had to operate on somebody it would be i would it would
00:48:31be a last resort don't worry sir i've never done this before but you're in safe hands i do like
00:48:38operation i remember the advert very friendly it's my turn to operate it's my turn to operate operate
00:48:44it's the fear of the business that made operation such a hit it all started in 1964 when a design
00:48:53student created an electronic game called death valley he sold the idea for 500 the game got a
00:48:59medical makeover and operation was born actually i think being a surgeon might be hard now sir this
00:49:07isn't gonna hurt a bit why can't i do it you've got other skills yeah mouse trap and operation
00:49:17particularly and kaplunk the very simple things to learn all generations and all abilities can play
00:49:26those games because they're very simple it's great though mousetrap yeah but they've changed the way it
00:49:31looks i don't know the way it looks now build the craziest mouse trap that was ever made to catch a
00:49:36mouse kick the bucket down the chute turn the handle and take a dive and i think i enjoyed the
00:49:43setting up of the board as much as the playing of it there was something very satisfying about getting
00:49:47those bits of plastic to slot in under that thick cardboard base and held securely and then putting the
00:49:52ball in the bucket and setting up the boot with the rubber band kind of like nerve-wracking on its own
00:49:59you wind the bit around and that that then that clicks onto that this is the problem with mousetrap
00:50:03it's the setting up of it do you fit the boot i think you do mousetrap was released in 1963 and
00:50:09was inspired by the complex contraptions of cartoonist rube goldberg it was one of the first mass-produced
00:50:163d board games but there have been a few tweaks made over the years it used to be that you would set
00:50:22mousetrap up and then you couldn't actually play them you had to be really still otherwise the thing would
00:50:26spoiler at the end so they've made mousetrap easier to set up we'll do it together three two one
00:50:36come on
00:50:37yes yes yes come on circle the drain oh come on here we go okay oh yeah we got the mouse we got
00:50:50the mouse we got the mouse i'll be honest with you i remember it's been more dramatic i remember
00:50:54there being more of a thrill but you know why because when i was a kid there were only four tv channels
00:50:58so that was a big night out okay let's play kaplunk so you've got to pull one out and not let any of the
00:51:03marbles go down see this has got a thrill to it this is i think actually a bad move yeah
00:51:15jeopardy is a real sensory thrill it's terror and exhilaration at the same time there's something
00:51:21about those sorts of games where you think you've planned the sort of careful consideration that
00:51:26children give to this as they're taking out that jenga piece and then it all collapses and in that
00:51:32moment you sort of know it can go either way it's either going to be tears lots of tears or a sort of
00:51:40quiet recovery ka-ka-ka-plunk steady does it pull out those sticks without letting any marbles fall
00:51:47because when you do they've all got the element of sitting on the edge of your seat and going
00:51:53oh is it going to be me is it going to be me and that anticipation around the table that i'm going
00:51:58to be the one that gets caught out and so there's a there's that social interaction with these toys
00:52:04that one that you took was a really good one yeah it turns out i'm a natural look ka-plunk
00:52:10you are not talented at ka-plunk these games have not changed that much believe it or not so
00:52:16the characters might have changed a little bit and the look of them might have changed a little bit
00:52:20the principles are exactly the same were you good at this as a kid or no this is the problem well you
00:52:25tend to like the games you're good at don't you yeah so i like all of them
00:52:33i love connect four but i've never seen a giant one like this and the last time i played it can
00:52:38you remember who it was with uh no who was it beyonce knolls ah very good and i just let her win
00:52:44she didn't win i'll just let her win apparently you're really good fierce at playing four in a
00:52:51role is that true is that connect four yeah i'm really good at it wait no don't tell me you have
00:52:58it okay baby beyonce can't resist allison's challenge and unsurprisingly she's very competitive
00:53:06and that's what connect four brings out in us all oh you blocked me so badly
00:53:12i won oh you let me win you let me win i so didn't i was seriously
00:53:22you did but thank you it's been a pleasure it's yellow and red in the new connect four
00:53:28launched in 1974 connect four was marketed as a game of vertical checkers although it looks simple
00:53:34there's a mind-blowing number of combinations that can be played connect four had i think from
00:53:41memory about four trillion possible results because of all the pieces you could put in
00:53:46but it also was a formulaic game so you could actually crack the code for the game so if you
00:53:51were really really really bonkers clever you could win the game really easily but if you were me you
00:53:56could play it for hours i want to win come on putting the pressure on now tactics
00:54:07thank you son that is four in eight not four in a row this is four in a row no it's not oh man
00:54:17i'm absolutely fuming and there's plenty of other games on the list of top toys
00:54:22that bring out healthy family rivalry me and my mom are the most competitive people
00:54:27especially monopoly monopoly is the one that will get us going the ultimate capitalist fantasy was based
00:54:34on the landlord's game from 1903 which was meant to expose the unfairness of monopolies ironically
00:54:41monopoly went on to dominate the world reportedly selling over 275 million copies
00:54:47but if ruling the world isn't your thing how about something more mindful have you ever used an etcher
00:54:54sketch before yeah so this was before computers what you would do is you would i were only born after
00:55:01computers check wikipedia
00:55:08i think when this came out it was like magic though this is the magic picture i'm making see
00:55:13why is it magic because i'm not using pencils or crayons or chalk i just turned the knobs to make
00:55:19the lines go up and down and all around it really did seem like magic in the 1950s in fact the prototype
00:55:27invented by a french electrician was called the magic screen by 1960 it rebranded as etch-a-sketch
00:55:33and was a must-have present that christmas the internal workings if you actually dissect one it's the most
00:55:41simple thing etch-a-sketch works by coating the inside of its clear screen with a thin layer of
00:55:47aluminium powder turning the knobs moves a stylus that scrapes the powder away creating a dark line
00:55:53so the windy thing is attached to a pulley inside and that one just drags it the other way it's not
00:55:58complicated at all which is why you can't do diagonals for example because they don't exist
00:56:02what is this it's my dream man he's got curly hair your dream man that's like a map of the uk
00:56:09why is his shoulder up by his ears um he's dancing i don't know how you dance he's a good mover
00:56:16um are they his lips they're quite big aren't they i had no choice he's saying i love you and i
00:56:22literally go i think he's the guy you deserve thank you that's really sweet for you
00:56:31etch-a-sketch the toy that let you draw whatever you liked as long as it was square
00:56:36the next craze is the only toy in the list that was made illegal in the united states for safety
00:56:41reasons cast your mind back to the early 1970s margaret thatcher was about to ban free milk in the
00:56:49classroom but out in the playground another ban was coming so toy crazies happen they start in the
00:56:56playground as soon as something's bound in a playground to like ah i'm on to a winner the humble
00:57:02clacker all you had to do was swing the balls up and down so they'd clack start with a gentle up
00:57:09and down like that that's it the best come on now we're clacking unbreakable miracle clackers are for
00:57:17everyone even the little guys do it with both hands for stereo clackers this 1960s ad might claim
00:57:25they were unbreakable but the safety police and blue peter begged to differ so blue peter was kind
00:57:31of like yeah they would they would kind of outlaw anything nowadays you can't walk down any street
00:57:37without hearing this noise and they're clackers and although they're great fun they've turned out to
00:57:41be extremely dangerous toys they've given people broken arms and sprained wrists and even worse the
00:57:48plastic balls have even been known to shatter and damage people's eyes
00:57:51things so they were quickly outlawed because they would shatter because it had like little
00:57:57imperfections inside quite often what they would do is explode and then um it might take somebody's
00:58:04sight you know what it does feel good it does feel quite good doesn't it we obviously had a much
00:58:12less sophisticated approach to life but this was good enough simpler time how long would you be clacking
00:58:20oh 36 37 hours everybody was crackers for clackers they should have used that as a catchphrase might
00:58:27lasted a bit longer
00:58:39our six toy fanatics after hours adventure in hamley's is nearly over but before they catch the
00:58:45night bus home there's still a few treasures from hamley's top 100 toys to try including some cuddly
00:58:52classics care bears they care enough that it was the song i think i thought i had a care bear but i
00:59:00had a picture of a camera oh that is bleak that is bleak i had beanie babies when i was a child because i
00:59:05thought i was gonna like make loads of money ball so i loved them i was a pretty big collector of beanie
00:59:10babies and i was very careful with them of course because i knew they were going to make me millions
00:59:14of pounds one day and yeah i'm still waiting for the big beanie baby crypto scam to finally pay off
00:59:24beanie babies hit the scene in 1993 created by american entrepreneur ty warner and his self-named
00:59:30company beanie babies were a really simple concept with great big eyes and just really cute character
00:59:38that created that trend around beanie babies because it was very cutesy but what really drove
00:59:44their success was thai's unconventional marketing he restricted supply to the shops and retired characters
00:59:50early creating artificial scarcity and huge demand thai seemed to be able to have the midas touch
00:59:57because whatever launch of new thing they put out seems to be super super popular the new one is the thai
01:00:03bouncer and it's a really simple concept so these are beanie balls whoa it's so bouncy that's great
01:00:11actually i love that we sell thousands of these things and it's basically a tennis ball with a furry
01:00:18face on it and who knew like who knew beanie bouncers probably won't reach the dizzy heights of their
01:00:25beanie baby ancestors but if you've got some originals gathering dust should you be cashing in
01:00:31they have no value now every few years a certain newspaper will run a story going this beanie baby
01:00:36sold for 2 000 pounds and it's complete hogwash it didn't it's just shield bidding so if you went on
01:00:41ebay going oh actually what i think you're fine no you're wrong it's just rubbish they're for sale for
01:00:46that they're not sold for that however on the flip side of that i said the rubbish they're actually quite
01:00:51cute christmas shoppers have flocked to hamlet since it first opened in 1760 but for the last 70 years
01:01:02one toy has been the undisputed king of christmas morning and a no-brainer for hamlet's ultimate
01:01:08toy list oh look at this lego freeform oh hello that's really good i think lego's so big because it is
01:01:17so good you know i mean it's it's sort of like a perfect toy the only thing we all hate about
01:01:23lego of course is when you tread on a cube barefoot in the middle of the night you know why it's called
01:01:29lego why is it called lego because when they made them they made a building toy that didn't come apart
01:01:35as easily and the danish kids would argue with fire over it because they couldn't go from they go lego
01:01:40lego are you being serious of course he's not being serious it's jonathan ross but the name
01:01:48actually comes from the danish words lego which means play well it's the wholesome motto of a
01:01:54carpenter called ollie kirk christiansen who founded a company in 1932 when lego originally started it
01:02:02started as a company that made wooden toys and then once the advent of plastic really became that traditional
01:02:07brick that we all think of and the world was your oyster you could build anything the brick as we
01:02:14know it now was launched in 1958 and has been at the center of infinite designs so lego has been going
01:02:21for so long and it's just so well made and they're so colorful and they just encourage creative play and
01:02:29the imagination they might bring out new versions year after year but ultimately it's still the same
01:02:36brick that it's always been so nana can dig out the box of lego and you can then buy the lego and it
01:02:42can still all fit together how cool is that so look i'm trying to make a dinosaur here there's his feet
01:02:51look oh they like he's getting he's coming together he's got a really lovely shape to him that's
01:02:56professional standard now i know what i'm gonna give david beckham for christmas this year lucky david
01:03:01beckham although this might look like a lego building it's actually home to the british army
01:03:07who got down to some very serious lego business in the 1980s this in fact is the army's latest war
01:03:14game which they hope will train royal corps of transport reservists how precisely to react in battle
01:03:20zones but the path has not always been smooth for lego so in the noughties lego was about to disappear
01:03:29off the face of the earth despite being around for decades and 2003-4 they're in debt to the tune
01:03:34of like 800 million dollars because they'd over diversified their portfolio into things like theme
01:03:40parks and spent a lot of money on those but with the help of a very smart accountant who was brought
01:03:47in a ceo at the helm and brought it back to the brick and the sets and the building and the toy and the
01:03:54nature of what it was all about which was building together role play creating your own ideas since
01:04:01then you could say that everything is awesome in the lego world the lego market doesn't just appeal
01:04:06to kids it appeals to collectors they produce lines for star wars lord of the rings harry potter
01:04:11all the big franchises have got a lego attachment so lego have kept themselves up to date through
01:04:16video games through films they've kept themselves relevant throughout time while lego is a timeless toy
01:04:23for any occasion our final classic on the ultimate list is perfect for a family party so this is pie
01:04:31face i never played it before what is it a bit for me whoever loses gets a face full of cream getting a
01:04:39pie in the face has been making kids laugh since the game launched in 1968 for you and grown-ups too
01:04:46pie face from hasbro but over the decades pie face was forgotten about until a grandpa made this video
01:04:53in 2015 this old-fashioned family fund went viral racking off 88 million views in a few months
01:05:03toy giant hasbro saw the clip re-acquired the rights and pie face was back with a bang
01:05:11what happened to a pie face was the kids got hold of it and started to do their own versions on
01:05:16youtube and it became a huge craze
01:05:23elizabeth got pie faced hasbro knew pie face was going to be good they didn't know it was going
01:05:28to be that good so they couldn't make enough of them and you couldn't get them for love and money
01:05:33now i'm spin watch this more never had such fun before put a blob on each whoa okay that's actually
01:05:42quite a nice yeah not too much you could do it more okay so then you spin this
01:05:48okay so you've got to click twice but you have to put your face in there okay
01:05:53are you clicking it okay i've got to do three turns okay and i'm going to close my eyes because
01:06:04i'm wearing my contact lenses okay one oh my gosh
01:06:09now it's my go put your face in it please
01:06:18and that's five thanks it's a delicious game for two
01:06:29which would mean i've won but in the interest of being a good father
01:06:32you're so good to me we should wear this home yeah lovely happy christmas very good
01:06:45and with that we have come to the bottom of hamley's toy box their 100 greatest toys of all time
01:06:51have well and truly been played with we should do this more often whether it's space hopping with no
01:06:56shame that feels risky hula hooping like your life depends on it part of it's confidence or scooting
01:07:05for thrills what all the greatest toys have in common is that no matter our age they bring us joy
01:07:13tonight has reminded me of when you was really really small they were magical times and tonight
01:07:18has been absolute magical but as all parents know even the best toys bring out the worst in some naughty
01:07:25children i stop going for the face
01:07:29hit me in the ass i like this game
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