John William Odell, engineer and toymaker: born London 19 March 1920; OBE 1968; twice married (two daughters); died Barnet, Hertfordshire 7 July 2007.

John William Odell，一位工程师兼玩具制造商：1920年3月9日出生于伦敦；OBE？1968；曾经有两段婚姻并育有两女；2007年7月7日卒于Barnet, Hertfordshire。

The name Matchbox is redolent of any childhood from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. To own a fleet of Matchbox vehicles was almost a rite of passage for boys, whether you treasured them or just smashed them to pieces playing with them. Ironically, however, their origins lay with - horror - a little girl living in north London.

火柴盒的名字让人联想到1950年代后期至1980年代初的童年时代。能拥有一组火柴盒车队是每一个男孩的梦想，无论你是像珍宝一样珍惜它们还是不断的摆弄它们。然而讽刺的是，这一切都起源于住在伦敦北部的一个小女孩。

Anne Odell had a habit of taking spiders to school in a matchbox, which not all her classmates cared for. One day in 1952, her father decided to give her something different, and less scary, to take in her Norvic Match Co box, and fashioned a tiny model of a road-roller, crafted in brass and painted red and green. Anne’s schoolmates must have gasped in wonder as she slid it open. Jack Odell, her father, was then on the cusp of becoming one of the greatest toymakers Britain had ever known.

Anne Odell有一个习惯就是把蜘蛛放进火柴盒中并且带到学校，但不是所有同学都会关注这个。1952年的一天，她的父亲决定送她一些与众不同却又不至于吓人的东西——在她的Norvic Match Co box里面放进一个铜制的model of a road-roller，并且漆上红色和绿色。Anne的同学们对此非常的惊奇不断要求她展示。Jack Odell，就是她的父亲，也在这一时刻成为了大不列颠一位著名的玩具制造商。

A gifted casting engineer who had honed his craft in factories on the outskirts of London, during 1947 Odell had joined a small die-casting company called Lesney Products, co-founded by the unrelated Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith and based in what had been the Rifleman pub in Tottenham, north London. For Odell, the move was a godsend: he had endured a long battle with his local council, who had forbidden him to operate his own die-casting machinery at home. Before the Second World War, during which he had served as an engineer in Italy and North Africa, Odell had been a van driver, a cinema projectionist and an estate agent.

在1947年，Odell凭借他在伦敦郊外的一个工厂里面纯熟的铸造师技术，进入了一个叫Lesney的小型压铸作坊，其创始人是毫无关系的Leslie Smith、Rodney Smith，总部设在伦敦北部Tottenham的Rifleman pub （有点复杂，不知道如何翻译）。这对Odell来说是上天的安排：在他已经厌倦了长期与地方议会就他私造经营以及在家中使用压铸机械所作的一切斗争。直到二战以前，Odell曾经在意大利和北非做过工程师，还当过货车司机、影院放映员和房产经纪人。

Leslie Smith and Jack Odell soon found themselves owning and running the firm after Rodney Smith sold out, and they churned out any small cast components their customers wanted. But one order for parts for a toy gun would determine their company’s destiny.

在Rodney Smith退出之后，Leslie Smith 和 Jack Odell 马上掌控了整个公司，他们为顾客制造许多微小的零件（？）。但一个玩具枪的零件，却就此改变了公司的命运。

They realised making their own toys could be lucrative and utilise the Lesney machines’ downtime. In Odell, the company had a skilled model-maker and, as it happened, vehicle enthusiast. He set to and designed a range of cast-metal playthings, from a horse-drawn milk cart to a pocket-sized press that could turn bread into fishing bait. They had a couple of best-sellers on their hands when they turned out a beautifully detailed model of the coach used for the Coronation in 1953, selling over a million items, and a metal marionette of the BBC’s Muffin the Mule.

他们开始明白只有制作属于自己品牌的玩具才能赚大钱，于是在Lesney（工厂）的机器闲空时进行研究。Odell作为公司非常好的模型制造经验者，同时他也是一个汽车爱好者。他建议并设计了一系列金属铸造的玩意，从一个“horse-drawn ”运送牛奶的车到一个袖珍的可以把面包变换成鱼饵的装置。他们是一对非常有默契的营销搭档，1953年两人联合创办了火柴盒玩具车，当他们在生产出BBS的“Muffin the Mule”的金属木偶时，他们已经销售超过100多万的商品。

Realising, thanks to Anne Odell, that they had yet another promising novelty, in 1953 Smith and Jack Odell launched a range of finely detailed "Matchbox" toy vehicles, sold in tiny cardboard boxes that really were at matchbox-size. Unlike the bigger and costlier Dinky Toys, they weren’t just sold at toyshops but through tobacconists and sweet shops, and parents couldn’t get enough of them.

值得注意的是，多亏了Anne Odell，他们才有了另一个前途无量的创意，也就是1953年由两人联合创办的火柴盒玩具车。与那些漂亮而昂贵的大型玩具不同，他们把模型放在火柴盒般大小的硬纸盒中出售。不仅在玩具店里 而且在烟草店和糖果店里都能找到它们。

Lesney included a production version of the original road-roller (based on an Aveling Barford), Land Rover, London bus, bulldozer and fire engine. In 1954, and at No 19 in the series, came a dainty MG TD, the first Matchbox car. To make them fit the packaging, the various models were hopelessly out of scale with each other, but children didn’t mind that, and eventually there were 75 models in the constantly evolving series.

Lesney公司的产品包括一系列的道路工程车(其中包括早期的压路机、陆虎、伦敦公交车、推土机和消防车)。在1954年，该系列的第19款产品(同时也是第一款火柴盒模型)MGTD问世。火柴盒系列不断发展，在某个派生系列中竟出现了75款车型。

Joint managing directors, Smith ran the business while Odell was in charge of manufacturing and product design. They made a brilliant team, becoming one of the biggest employers in north and east London - especially of women - and the company went public in 1960. They turned out a million toy vehicles a day, and the company was awarded the Queen’s Award for Export three times - Matchbox cars went down a storm in the US in 1956; and every employee got a bonus to celebrate. By 1969, Lesney had over a dozen London factories, employing 6,000 and Odell, now a millionaire, was appointed OBE in 1968.

两人分工合作(Smith负责经营，Odell负责设计和制造)。他们组建了一支强大的团队，成为了伦敦地区最大的雇主之一。公司于1960年上市时已有了每天上百万辆的产能，并三次获得女王勋章。1956年火柴盒在美国掀起了一股狂潮。到了1969年， Lesney 公司在伦敦有至少12家工厂和6000多名员工。1968年，Odell以一个百万富翁的身份被授予OBE。

Throughout the company’s growth period, the industrious Odell continued to innovate. In 1956, Lesney launched "Models of Yesteryear". They were a step up in size and price from the pocket-money cars, and beautifully presented. They tended to sit proudly on mantelpieces rather than end up at the bottom of toy boxes, and the company appears to have been first to coin the now-corny term "yesteryear".

Odell并没有应为公司的壮大而停止革新，在1956年，他开始了“Model of Yesteryear”产品计划(这是火柴盒品牌下一个很著名的产品系列)，并随之得到更大的发展。在发展中，他们坚持自己的路线，不愿意和一般玩具商竞争，而专心致力于打造属于自己的火柴盒王国(英国人用火柴盒升壁炉火，所以火柴盒一般放在壁炉附近)，(大概就是说，Odell非常注重品牌产品的质量，总是让他的产品质量得到保障，而不是让火柴盒成为一个蹩脚的玩具品牌)并成为了行业的老大。

Other product lines followed, including the larger Superkings cars and trucks and, in 1970, "Superfast" wheels to tackle the new upstarts from Mattel, Hot Wheels.

随后他们建成了另一条生产线，用于生产更庞大的“超级王者”车系和卡车系列。1970年，公司投产了“超级跑车”系列以应付美泰公司的新兴品牌“风火轮”。

Odell retired in 1973, but Lesney struggled after his departure, under intense competition from rivals manufacturing in the Far East. He was persuaded back as joint chairman in 1980 but Lesney was declared insolvent in 1982, renamed Matchbox Toys Ltd, and sold to Hong Kong’s Universal Toys. Production immediately shifted to Macau.

Odell于1973年退休，但他的离开并没有让火柴盒在经历了远东地区与对手的激烈竞争后停下力争上游的脚步。1980年他在劝说之下回到公司担任主席，但Lesney 最终于1982年宣告破产，更名为火柴盒玩具有限公司后卖给了香港环球玩具公司。随即转至澳门进行生产。

For Odell, though, it was a chance to start all over again. He acquired some of the former Matchbox die-casting plant and installed it in a new factory in Ponders End, north London. His new company, which he called Lledo, was launched in 1983 with a range of die-cast models called "Days Gone", aimed at the collectors’ market rather than children. At first, Lledo struggled, but then Odell and his team tapped into the healthy market for promotional items - most often models of vintage and classic vans and buses carrying promotional livery that were sold as limited editions. Companies, and collecting obsessives, lapped them up.

但这些对Odell来说反而是个重新开始的好机会，他把一些生产火柴盒模型的设备迁至伦敦北部的新厂房里。于 1983年开办了Lledo公司并大量生产名叫“往昔岁月”的模型。这种模型的目标客户群更多的偏向于收藏家而不是孩子。Lledo公司最初很努力的想大干一番，但最后却掉进了市场竞争的陷阱---他们的许多著名货车和公交车的模型被质疑以限量的名义进行变相推广。但最终他和他的公司仍然被收藏家们认可。

None the less, he sold his firm in 1996 and, although the Lledo brand was axed in 2005, Odell remained an enthusiastic figure in the toy industry.

虽然Odell在1996年卖掉了商标，且该商标于2005年被买断，但 Odell本人还是玩具工业中一个极富热情的人物。

----- Giles Chapman
译编：何蕾