Financier Sir Ron Brierley's Guinness Peat Group made an unsolicited bid for the company in January 1998, but was outbid by Mattel acting as a white knight.
•
Torquil Norman started Bluebird Toys in 1980, his first product being the now famous Big Yellow Teapot House.
Toys "R" Us | Bluebird | Toys for Tots | Bluebird Records | Playmates Toys | Toys That Kill | South Australian Railways Bluebird railcar | Lone Star Toys | KB Toys | Bluebird Café | Palisades Toys | Bye Bye Bluebird | Aluminum Model Toys | Tyco Toys | Toys R' Us | Toys “R” Us | Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy | The real stuffed toys owned by Christopher Robin Milne and featured in the ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories. They have been on display in the New York Public Library | SOTA Toys | RCA (Bluebird Records) | Mountain Bluebird | Mint Museum of Toys | I Love Toys | Grandpa's Magical Toys (video) | Grandpa's Magical Toys | Dymkovo toys | Duncan Toys Company | Datsun Bluebird 910 | Dangerous Toys | Corgi Toys |
After working as an investment banker in the United States for eleven years, he returned to the UK in the 1960s and subsequently entered the toymaking industry, first as chief executive of Berwick Timpo toy company from 1973, and then in 1980 founding Bluebird Toys, makers of the Big Yellow Teapot House, the Big Red Fun Bus, and the very successful Polly Pocket line of dolls.