Summary
The Lego brick, one of the world's most popular toys, was invented in the small Danish town of Billund in 1958. Created by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the plastic bricks can be combined in countless combinations and have sold in the billions. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the inventor's son, was ten at the time. He used to play in the company workshop and helped test early Lego models. Olga Smirnova spoke to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen for Witness History.
PHOTO: A boy playing in a Lego display in 1981 (Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:47.0 | All this week we're taking a festive look at the history of Toys and Games. |
| 0:52.0 | Today Olga Smirova is taking us back to 1958 when the |
| 0:57.0 | LEGO brick was invented in the small Danish town of Billund. She spoke to Kelt Kir Christiansen, the third generation owner of the |
| 1:06.7 | LEGO Group. |
| 1:08.7 | Bilund is a small town in rural Jutland in the west of Denmark where Keelkirch Christiansen's grandfather worked as a carpenter. |
| 1:19.0 | My grandfather, Olekirch Christiansen, He had a lot of good humor. He liked to make fun. |
| 1:27.9 | My grandfather was a skilled carpenter in the early 30s. Denmark came into the crisis that actually hit most of the world |
| 1:36.7 | so there was really very very little to do especially here in this this very rural part of Denmark so he started making household like |
| 1:45.8 | step-ladders and ironboard but also using pieces of wood that he could |
| 1:51.5 | turn into a car or a truck or a toy for children. |
| 1:57.1 | And that was how he made it through actually in those very difficult years, |
| 2:01.7 | bartering with the groceries, with the toys that he could take |
| 2:05.8 | home something for the family to live on. |
| 2:09.0 | Not everyone in Billund appreciated Ollie's switch to the new product. |
| 2:13.0 | To make something rather useless as toys with something, not only some of his peers, but also some people from the town |
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