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''James May's Toy Stories'' is a UK
documentary television series created and presented by
James May
James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from ...
, and produced by Plum Pictures for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
The programme focused on bringing some of the most notable toys conceived in the past into the modern era to a "new generation of children", by putting each toy into a complex, large-scale project involving the nature of the toy. The projects, often ambitious, required an extensive team of experts, and in some cases required a large group of volunteers to help achieve the project's goal.
The programme was originally commissioned for
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
as a six-episode series for 2009, between 27 October to 25 December, but later received four specials after the series concluded – one in June 2011 and three more for the
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
broadcast schedules between 2012 and 2014.
Format
The focus of the documentary was on six notable toys during the original series of episodes, including their history, each of which were chosen to see if they could be possibly capable of achieving a remarkable goal in real-life on a grand scale. For each toy, the nature of its purpose fundamentally underlined the project's core task, whether it was to recreate something using similar methods with the toy, or attempting push the toy with a challenge not attempted before with it. May, who had presented documentaries on toys with ''
James May's Top Toys
''James May's Top Toys'' is a BBC documentary in which James May explored and celebrated his favourite toys, including Etch-A-Sketch, Airfix model aeroplanes, Lego, Meccano, Top Trumps, Scalextric, model cars, and Hornby model trains.
The sho ...
'' and ''
James May: My Sisters' Top Toys'', chose the toys to be used on the programme, and fundamentally involved people in his new programme with whom he had worked with on other projects, including
Tiff Needell
Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of ''Top Gear'' and ''Fifth Gear''.
Biography
Need ...
and
Oz Clarke
Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster.
Early life
Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roman ...
. The basic premise of the programme, as May put forward was:
The scale of the projects meant that the production team had to recruit specialists to provide technical assistance, including
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
s,
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
s and
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
s,
while in others, large teams of volunteers were required to handle construction work - an example of this was the involvement of a project involving model trains, which required volunteers to help set up a vast line of track along with connecting power supplies to it, and then dismantle it afterwards - and so appeals were made in local papers for assistance by programme researchers. Some of the projects were so elaborate, that carefully planning had to be made to ensure that each ran smoothly and did not cause disruptions within the main area it was being conducted within.
Future of construction projects
Several of the projects that required considerable construction on the programme, were later held on by various groups:
* A life-sized model of an
Airfix
Airfix is a British brand and former manufacturing company which produced injection-moulded plastic scale model kits. In the U.K., the name 'Airfix' is synonymous with plastic models of this type, often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even ...
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
showcased at
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford
The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
, as part of its project, was kept by the museum and put on to display until November 2009, before being mothballed until October 2010, when it was returned to Cosford's ''Hangar 1''.
* A life-sized
Plasticine
Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product categor ...
garden was moved to
Sudbury Hall
Sudbury Hall is a country house in Sudbury, Derbyshire, England. One of the country's finest Restoration mansions, it has Grade I listed building status.
The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the 19th-century servants' wing of Sudb ...
in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
in July 2009, following its project, placed on display in the upper mall of the Octagon Shopping Centre in
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...
in February 2010, and then moved to a new home in
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
in March 2013.
* Two bridge sections made of
Meccano
Meccano is a brand of scale model, model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, Structural steel#Common structural shapes, angle girders, wheels, axles and ...
were kept by the
University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
, whose pupils had built both for its project, with one section put on public display within the university's engineering department. A motorcycle, also made of Meccano, was given to the
National Motor Museum in Beaulieu following the completion of its project.
However, a project that involved constructing a house from
Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
could not be preserved. An attempt to sell it to the
Legoland
Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
theme park in
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
fell apart, after the cost of dismantling and reassembling was judged too expensive,
The house could not remain at its site at a vineyard because the space was needed for vines and there was no
planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
.
Further attempts were unable to prevent it from being dismantled on 22 September 2009; the bricks used in it were donated to charity.
Episodes
Series 1 (2009)
Specials (2011–14)
Reception
Awards and nominations
The series was nominated in the Features category of the
2010 British Academy Television Awards, but lost out to the eventual winner, ''
Masterchef: The Professionals''.
Other media
James May released a book in conjunction with the series, through
Conway Publishing
Conway Publishing, formerly Conway Maritime Press, is an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It is best known for its publications dealing with nautical subjects.
History
Conway Maritime Press was founded in 1972 as an independent publisher. Its or ...
(2009).
References
Notes
General references
*
External links
*
* {{cite web
, url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-23898497
, title = Top Gear's James May laps TT course on Meccano bike
, work = BBC News
, date = 30 August 2013
, accessdate = 31 August 2013
Review of the series and tie-in toy fair by Chris Warrell from the South East London Meccano Club
Toy Stories
2009 British television series debuts
2009 British television series endings
2000s British documentary television series
2010s British documentary television series
2011 British television series debuts
BBC television documentaries
Documentary television series about technology