AS a small boy growing up in the East End in the Sixties, there were only two things Chris Wiggs wanted to do with his life: go into the music business and make toys.

Today, having invented a toy that has clocked up sales of more than 1billion, he is ready to fulfil his other ambition by starting his own record company.

Mr Wiggs was making remote-controlled cars before he left school at 15 and managed to get several inventions on the market by the time he hit upon his biggest money-spinner by accident.

He was clearing out a box of his daughter Kate's forgotten toys 10 years ago when he rediscovered something he made for her when she was two. "I had gone to the local chemist and bought a ladies' powder compact, taken out the insides and put in a miniature house made of plastic," he recalled.

"When I found it I was about to chuck it in the bin when I thought, hang on a minute, this might work." He took the concept to toy giant Mattel in the US and before long, the toy was in production in factories in China. They called it Polly Pocket.

Today, in dozens of different variations on the original theme - miniature plastic worlds with tiny figures that move around on hidden magnets inside elaborate folding cases - it remains the world's second most popular girls' toy after Barbie, selling more than five million a year.

Now at the age of 50, with his daughter Kate a mother herself, Mr Wiggs has finally moved out of toys and into the music business, setting up his own record label.

Hoping for another hit: toy inventor Chris Wiggs with his big- selling Polly Pocket range, above.

Left: Mash, the group he has signed to his new record label His first signing is a band called Mash, whose singer Emma Seal is a former employee of his toy empire, Origin.

So far he has bankrolled Mash to the tune of 400,000 just to get their first single out next month and he is confident they will soon be "world-class" stars - even if they fail to match the popularity of his better known creation.

Mr Wiggs left school at 15 with two O-levels and began an engineering apprenticeship. He soon gave up the day job to study industrial design at art school with his sweetheart Bet, now his wife.

"The two things I loved doing were making things and playing the guitar," he said. "When I was 14 I would gladly have made the tea to get into the music business but, thankfully, I chose to pursue my other hobby for a living."

His first inventions to reach the shops were a rattle and a hippo that blew bubbles in the bath, giving him enough money to fly to Australia to look up an old school-friend, Chris Taylor, who became his business partner - a role he still holds today. Their first success was The Orb, a spherical puzzle inspired by Rubik's cube. Its success enabled him to move to the Notting Hill workshop that has been his HQ for 20 years.

The Orb was followed by Manta Force, a military-themed toy with miniature soldiers, and it was the popularity of the tiny figures that made him think Polly Pocket might work. With two dozen new models on the market every year, it is an enduring favourite with six- year-old girls the world over.

"I think the secret is that it lets children stay young," said Mr Wiggs.

"Little girls can walk around in secret worlds and when they have finished, fold up the toy and put it in their pocket."

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