Famous BAYKO Owners

I'll open with a forelock tugger!

Sadly I can't remember where I first heard that His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester was, as a boy, the proud owner of a BAYKO building set, but, having done so, I thought I would follow it up and wrote to ask if it were true, and, if so, who gave it to him?

The result of my inquiry, a much appreciated response [right] from Alistair Wood Esq. MBE, private secretary to both the Duke and the Duchess of Gloucester.

If you click anywhere on the image of his letter, you will see a larger image which you should find easier to read.

The letter, dated 16th December, 2011, reads : -

KELLOGGS, for whom I worked for over thirty years, insisted we always capitalise, and visibly respect the company logo in all communications, including internal emails. That's why I capitalise and italicise brand names, including BAYKO, throughout the site. I find it interesting to see this reflected in this reply.

The more musical among you may well already have seen through the not-so-cryptic headline [above] but, for those who haven't : -

Rick Wakeman, musician [keyboardist], songwriter, producer, television and radio presenter, actor and author, first came to wider public notice through the progressive rock band 'YES', in its various guises. [This list is culled from 'WIKIPEDIA'.] These days he is dangerously close to being recognised as a national treasure!

Rick is a West London lad, born just 322 days before yours truly, and has fond memories of a BAYKO-rich childhood.

I became aware of this and emailed Rick, who responded enthusiastically, as you can see, to my question - "I believe you played with BAYKO as a boy?" - immediately below : -

I certainly did and I loved it. Back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s you were either a MECCANO person or a BAYKO person. I was most definitely a BAYKO person and spent many happy hours building houses and all sorts - as well as trying to straighten out the metal rods that had somehow got bent !!! [We've all been there!!!]