Thousands give Top Gear's James May a helping hand with Lego brick house



Thousands of people today answered Top Gear presenter James May's call for help building a new house entirely out of Lego bricks - which the TV star has vowed to live in when it is finished.

A total of 1,200 were granted free tickets to the vineyard where the two-storey building is being constructed, leaving 1,500 people to be turned away.



Some queued from 4.30am this morning, five hours before tickets were handed out. The fans and Lego enthusiasts came from all over the UK to the building site at the Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey.

James May sits among a pile of Lego shapes which have been made of individual bricks. Three million will be used to build a house which the presenter has vowed to live in for a few days

Little helper: Around 1,200 people have been helping May build a house entirely out of Lego bricks



Speaking from the vineyard, Mr May said: "The idea first came up over a beer, when we were talking about what we would have built as kids if we had enough Lego.



"Your imagination is always bigger than your stockpile when you're a kid.



"Up until now, the largest thing I've ever built with Lego was probably a plane or a battleship, because that was all I could build with the amount I had."

When the house, filled with Lego furniture, is completed later this month, May has promised to live in it.



He said: "I'm planning to stay there for two or three days, or until it falls down - whichever is sooner. I'm pretty relaxed about it, but will just have to be careful moving around.



"If I wake up buried under a pile of bricks I'll know it's gone wrong."

Brick by brick: More than three million Lego pieces have been delivered to the site



Billy Homan, five, gazes at a pile of Lego bricks as he prepares to help build the house

More than three million Lego pieces have been delivered to the site. Today's helpers were tasked with making full sized bricks, each one consisting of 272 Lego pieces.

May said a total of 2,000 bricks would be made by the end of the day. Builders will then take over in laying the bricks over a six-day construction process.