As a construction toy, Meccano had few peers – and its long lifespan has endeared to hundreds of thousands of boys (and probably the occasional girl, too).

The year 1901 didn’t just mark the turn of the last century – it was also the year that the Meccano concept was born. The idea belonged to Frank Hornby, who actually had to borrow the princely sum £5 to cover the patent costs he took out for the assembly toy that year. At that time was then somewhat clumsily registered as “Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People." Yes, there was an air of the Victorian schoolroom lingering on into the new century.

The idea was initially marketed under the intriguing title of “Mechanics made easy”, which itself changed to the household name of Meccano in 1907. The system was simplicity itself, relying as it did on good old fashioned nuts and bolts which could be attached to perforated strips. Brackets, wheels, tyres, rods, axles and motors, together with other assorted hardware, all combined to make a versatile construction toy that would last decades – literally. There was also a long-running Meccano Magazine, which gave continued impetus to the toy. And so it was that millions of schoolboys, neatly attired in shirts and ties and armless pullovers, as portrayed on the assembly manuals, were absorbed by this singularly masculine pursuit.

Early sets are plain, and finished in nickel plate; they lack the colours of the later production, which included reds and greens and blues and golds. It’s worth looking out for genuine oak chests with lift-out trays, which display well in this plastic age. Meccano also marketed a wartime set in green, with a gun barrel and other parts that could go to make a field gun or tank. Today, Meccano spare parts are readily available from dealers, it’s worth noting – and there’s an awful lot of it still about.