Deej Johnson on Harry Thomson, Pierre Sourdive, Simon Birchenough & John Stewart

Simon Birchenough, John Stewart, Harry Thomson and Pierre Sourdive… Four I.D.I.O.T. winners on one page, Deej? Couldn’t find them?
No, I found them; just couldn’t persuade them! To be fair, Harry was just incredibly modest. Not only could he not bring himself to do an interview, but he was also mortified at the idea that we could get someone else to speak about his career!

So you’re not going to talk about him?
No – but he did give us a charming statement. Suffice to say Harry’s worked in the industry since 1980. He’s generated millions of sales through the products he’s licensed – and is very quick to give the credit to others.

Alright. You’re giving me the wide eye as if to say don’t ask any more than that…
That’s exactly right – I’m quite impressed, Bill… It’s not like you to take a hint. Ha! The only thing I’ll add is that Harry got his I.D.I.O.T. Award in 2004 at The Staple Inn. It’s an extraordinary Jacobean building in Holborn; looks like a jar of Everton mints…

Everton mints? If anyone knows what you’re talking about, should they write in?
You don’t know what an Everton Mint is?

No one knows what an Everton mint is!
Ha! Right, well… They’re mints that look like the Staple Inn! After the old Everton FC kit… Black and white stripes. No?! Everton Mints! I’ll put a photo in!

Can’t wait. Alright. Let’s put the statement in here…
I’ll just read it out… Harry said:

“I was genuinely surprised when I received the I.D.I.O.T. Award. It’s very nice to be recognised personally for your work. I do need to emphasise, though, that it’s teamwork that creates – then successfully gets to market – most of the best ideas.

My friends and colleagues, especially John and Shaun at Pape Woodward, with whom I’ve worked for over 40 years, equally deserve to share the award. 2025 marks my 50th year in the toy industry. At the last Inventors Dinner, it was great to see lots of new younger faces. The future of toy inventing lies with them now.”

Amazing! Nice guy!
Lovely guy!

Alright… Simon Birchenough and John Stewart. I used to speak with John when he worked with the BTHA – he was very passionate about helping new inventors.
That I can believe. He and Simon – as you know – were the founder partners of Worlds Apart. That was in 1983, but they met at design college in the 1970s. Over the next 35 years, they fostered a culture of innovation and design within the business – and the industry…

And Worlds Apart was acquired by Moose Toys in 2018…
Quite. And I’m told they were both delighted to visit recently and see how Moose – in John’s words – “turbocharged that innovative culture, is expanding the team and continuing to create award-winning products.” Generous words – as often seems to be the case in this industry; almost everyone is quite lovely! And I’m sure that’s what people would say about Simon and John if I asked for contributions.

You’re not going to?
No… Again, I sense they’re not crazy about people talking about them! Too modest, maybe. What I will say is that they won their I.D.I.O.T. Awards in 2013. That was at the British Medical Association… According to Mary Danby, they were given them because, “they were unfailingly supportive of inventors and always made time to encourage innovation and consider submissions of all kinds.”

Perfect. And finally, then… Pierre Sourdive… Where is Pierre?
Pierre Sourdive has achieved his life’s ambition! He’s an actor, living and working in Paris. I’m quite pleased for him, actually.

But he didn’t want to do an interview?
One must assume not… I emailed. I wrote. I phoned. I texted. I was this close to disguising myself as a gin-soaked sop and stalking the theatres of Paris!

Ha!
But then one of his former colleagues said something like: “If I know Pierre, he won’t want to be found…” So pain me though it did, I thought better of it.

Got it. Which is why we’ve got this list of – what should we call them? Testimonials?
Testimonials, yes… Tributes, maybe. I asked a few people that have worked with Pierre to say what they thought of him. And I tracked down a picture of him – but then I felt a bit uneasy about using it. I don’t think the man’s spoken to anyone in the industry for a couple of decades, so we’ll use an artist’s impression of him rather than his actual image.

And what did the publicity-shy Pierre actually do?
I believe he was best known as the marketing wizard at General Mills Miro-Meccano and – later – Ideal Loisir. Very good with TV commercials by all accounts – something of a guru at the time.

Alright… Let’s wrap this up with one quick question: when and where did Pierre win his I.D.I.O.T.?
You know, there’s a little uncertainty about that! Liz Moody has done a fair amount of research on the dates and locations, but the record keeping was a bit wobbly back then…

It’s an earlier one, then?
Yes. We think he got it in 1998 when Mike Myers got his second award… You’ll remember Mike won a mini one first! Either way, we’re pretty sure it was at The Copthorne Tara Hotel. Ordinarily, I’d give you a little tidbit about the location, Bill, but that hotel is conspicuously inconspicuous as an Inventor Dinner venue. All I can say is that it’s lovely and it’s very close to Olympia!

Ha! Alright! Thank you, Deej. And we’ll just go straight to the testimonials… Here’s what people said about Pierre Sourdive…

“Pierre had a particular openness to new ideas. During discussions, he could move from the world of toys to the theatre while wandering through books or the cinema, twirling from one to the other in the same sentence or the same minute… Always without stopping; restless, vibrating without ever showing off, thinking first of others. Above all, he wanted to convey lightness in an incessant flow of words and happiness.”
Bernard Farkas

“For me, Pierre has been a tremendous example of what a marketing genius is. He was always forward thinking on what we should be doing in order to advertise and promote the products sold by Ideal Loisirs…

I still have in my mind his idea of going to the toy fair in Paris with just a shopping cart full of catalogues and distributing them on site! Great! Also, being by the side of Bernard Farkas, they made an amazing scouting and sourcing team… They truly brought the best toys to France and then Europe.”
Laurent Taieb

“Pierre was a gem! He was funny and droll – a real character. I remember that he really wanted to be an actor… And that he always ordered his desert first, then had the main course afterwards!”
Chris Taylor

“I have known Pierre since 1976 or ’77 when I hired him to be the advertising manager at General Mills Miro-Meccano operation in France. TV advertising was beginning to be allowed in a limited way on French channels. He was very knowledgeable in film production and produced some excellent TV spots as the US material was inappropriate for French viewers.

The limits imposed by the French government meant TV advertising had to be very impactful for the restricted frequency of spots permitted. On the other hand, there was not so much limitation on content, so more freedom for creativity was possible.

A notable case was Kenner’s ‘Smash Up Derby’ toy. Pierre created a TV spot filmed in slow motion between two classic French cars renamed ‘Les Cascadeurs’. We sold a million units!

Pierre stayed with Miro Meccano after I had left – but I briefly joined him at Ideal-Loisirs and Majorette. There, he had created a dynamo of creative toys for the French market based on, at that time, the smaller US companies.

Pierre was always creative and positive with new ideas. He embraced them, perhaps even at times when they were not so great – but we all tend to do that. He was always a pleasure to work with. He often mentioned that his real love was for acting in theatre or films. Those were also his words to me after we’d both left Ideal-Loisirs in 1998.”
Mike Bucher

“Pierre Sourdive is a one off! He has an amazing sensor of humour, was a great guy to work with and was outstanding company. He loved toys and the toy business and was as knowledgeable about toys as anyone in the industry…

Despite his love and knowledge of the toy industry, Pierre made the surprising decision to walk away from one of his loves. He also enjoyed holidaying in deserts and living on street food many years before it became fashionable. A lovely man.”
Roger Dyson

“I loved working with Pierre – he is very smart and creative. I remember he once flew from Paris to NY and back in a day just to look at a new product line my team at Matchbox USA were working on. He was a really great product guy and a super-nice individual.”
John Barbour

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