Lego celebrates 50th birthday

The Lego brick is 50 years old

Danish toy company Lego yesterday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the famous creative building brick.

As part of the celebration, Google displayed a special 'Doodle' on its homepage to mark the special day.

Lego said that the web giant embraced the idea of a Lego Doodle because of the special role Lego has played in Google's 10-year history.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin used the iconic building bricks as the casing for 4GB hard disks when they were busy developing the search engine.

The original server casing still exists and is on display as part of an exhibition chronicling 80 years of computing machines at Stanford University.

Google also said that Lego bricks can still be found scattered around Google's many offices to provide creative inspiration.

It is believed that they have been used in Google's college graduate recruiting exercises to test potential candidates' creative power.

Jorgen vig Knudstorp, chief executive of Lego Group, said: "Brin and Page are prime examples of 'builders of tomorrow' - people who embrace the power of creative exploration and curiosity that leads to lifelong innovation and creativity.

"The Lego brick - the heart and soul of the Lego Group - is a catalyst for that development, and we are proud that it has inspired the innovation that is the heart and soul of Google."

Two products have been developed to commemorate the brick's anniversary: an open-ended Lego set with a classic village theme; and a one-off Town Plan featuring city hall, cinema, gas station, car wash, automobiles and mini-figures.