8ft Lego Man Washes Up On Brighton Beach
Published 1st Dec 2008 by Nic

Brighton is regarded as a popular youth destination, be it for a weekend away or a University stint. The small town is crammed with all sorts of events, remains hugely popular with celebrities for its laidback English Riviera attitude, and to be honest, is the kind of place you would expect crazy things to happen. But one recent story from Brighton’s shores really takes the plastic brick...

At 8ft tall and decked out in a garish green jumper he’s not likely to get lost down the back of the couch. In fact, you'd think he was unlikely to get lost at all. But someone somewhere (possibly a giant) is missing a major piece of their lego set.

The lurid figure mysteriously washed up on Brighton beach in November, giving birth to a slew of stories, from the fanciful to the likely, about where he might have come from.

Some have suggested he floated from Denmark (where there is a Legoland park), others reckon he is a plastic man-overboard, having toppled from a ship. The cynics believe he is part of an elaborate publicity stunt.

Local resident Gerry Turner: 'It's very odd. God knows how it got here but people are saying it's from Holland because it's got some Dutch writing on it. It must have fallen off a boat of something. The kids love it.'

Children who got the Lego man up on his feet on the beach were all desperate to know where it came from. One wide-eyed lego fan said: 'It's great, but we don't know why it's here.'
A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said town officials were clueless as to the origin of the Lego man, but getting into the spirit of things, added they saw no problem with the figure staying on the beach where it washed up, a sort of monument to the birth of a provincial legend.

One councilor said: 'There's no problem at all. It will be interesting to see how long the Lego man stays there for. We'll keep an eye on it.'

But what of the Lego Group itself? The company - who have filled stockings and delighted kids for over 60 years - claim innocence. A spokesman said 'We're bemused. He has nothing to do with us.'

The giant Lego figure washing up on the East Sussex shingle recalls the day two years ago when a fleet of plastic ducks landed on British shores. The ducks had made a 17,000-mile journey from the Pacific where they had lost control of their container as far back as 1992.

To visit the Lego man – and a few other thing Brighton has to offer – check out brightonlife.com for some great deals on hotels.

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