A father-of-two has paid tribute to one of the world’s most celebrated children’s toys by showing off his own incredible collection.

Andy Watts has joined the festivities for Lego’s 50th birthday by showcasing his collection of 1,100 different Lego mini figurines.

The 36-year-old started collecting the tiny toys eight years ago when a friend gave him a Star Wars Lego set as a light-hearted Christmas present.

As an avid fan of the science-fiction films, Mr Watts’ told the Star Courier he found the unusual gift as amusing as the rest of his friends and family and never imagined it would inspire him to start a whole new hobby.

He said: “I used to play with Lego when I was a child from the age of five or six right up until I was about 12.

“I stopped playing when I was a teenager and I went through what is commonly called the ‘Lego dark ages’.

“I didn’t start playing with it again until I was 28.

“I wasn’t really expecting it but the Star Wars set got me back into it.

“I started collecting a few of the figurines then I found out there were thousands of these things and I decided to try and collect them all.

“Now I’m surrounded by thousands of mini Lego figurines.”

In addition to his collection of 1,100 “minifigs” — as they are called by collectors — Mr Watts has a further 2,000 duplicates up for sale on his very own dedicated webpage on www.bricklink.com — an unofficial marketplace for Lego lovers — entitled ‘A minifig is for life…’.

The Lego group was created by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Denmark who started making wooden toys in his workshop in 1932 although the company was not named Lego until two years on.

In 1940 the company expanded and started making plastic toys until in 1949 it began producing the now famous interlocking bricks.

While the internet has proved a valuable resource in helping Mr Watts track down rare and old figurines no longer produced, he has also had success in more unusual places such as car boot sales.

Among his most treasured figurines is the Princess Leia minifig.

Standing just short of two inches high, the minifig features the iconic Star Wars character at her very best — clad in a drawn on gold bikini.

One of the most sought after minifigs of the several thousand produced, Princess Leia figurines can cost as much as £9.99 while other even rarer minifigs can fetch even higher amounts.

Mr Watts recently managed to get hold of an exclusive figurine celebrating Lego’s 50th birthday normally only available with a special edition book sold in Germany.

He said: “You can’t buy the figurines separately, you have to buy them as a set, which makes collecting them quite expensive.

“Sometimes I buy them new but mostly I get them from websites.

“With Star Wars I was just interested in the films, I didn’t used to spend any money on it.

“The most I’ve ever paid is £20 for a figurine but I dread to think how much I have spent in total.

“I found someone selling the special anniversary figurine on the internet.

“I was really pleased with that because you can normally only get it by buying a very expensive book which you can’t even get over here.”

Luckily, Mr Watts has the full support of his girlfriend Ann Khan and their two children, Haroun, aged 11, and Elijah, aged two, who he lives with in Champion Way Church Crookham.

“Friends also often give him any minifigs they find.

He added: “My friends think I am totally mad but my family love it.

“My children really enjoy helping me sort out the Lego. They find it very fun.”