Tower Press was a British

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

and games manufacturer, most active from the 1930s until 1969 when they were bought by

Waddingtons Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed in ...

. By the early 1960s, they were the largest jigsaw puzzle maker in the world.

History

The company had its origins in the

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. They began making cardboard wearings in the 1930s but were best known for their jigsaw puzzles and later children's games. They made a jigsaw puzzle range named "Riders of the Range", and also made games such as '' Ask Pickles'' (1948), '' Inspector Brown'', and many others. By the early 1960s they were the world's largest maker of jigsaw puzzles. They purchased Budgie Toys, which was said to also be a serious competitor to the

Dinky Dinky may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dinky Toys, a brand of die-cast toy vehicles * Dinky (film), a 1935 film starring Jackie Cooper * Dinky Bossetti, protagonist of the 1990 film '' Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael'', played by Winona Ryde ...

and

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lines in the 1960s. In 1969, shortly before the acquisition by Waddingtons, Tower Press were cited as "the most impressive example of the QE2's selling power" when they sold over 150,000 jigsaw puzzles of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and were expected to sell a further 50,000.

References

Card game publishing companies Board game publishing companies Playing card manufacturers Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969 Jigsaw puzzle manufacturers {{UK-manufacturing-company-stub