Invicta Plastics Ltd. was a plastics manufacturing company,[1] founded in 1946[2][3] by Edward Jones-Fenleigh (Incorporated as a PLC in 1951, previously Invicta Industries).[4] They had a headquarters in Oadby up until 2009, when they moved to Scudamore Road,[4] where they remained until their insolvency in 2013.[5] They were particularly known for their production of the Mastermind Board Game.[3] They were also responsible for the manufacture of ‘Red Noses’ for Comic Relief in the 1980s and 1990s.[6]
History
The company was founded by Edward J. Jones-Fenleigh in 1946,[2][3] and was incorporated as a PLC in 1951.[1] In the early years of the company, their services included injection moulding, thermoplastic sheet moulding, and vacuum forming.[7] In 1951, the company moved to their Oadby headquarters, where it remained until 2009.[8] During this period, they served clients such as Coca-Cola, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser.[9][10] The site was demolished, and a Waitrose was built in the location, opening in 2010.[11] The company went into MBO in 2013, where a Management Buyout occurred, with Make a Material Difference Ltd. procuring several divisions of Invicta Plastics Ltd.[5]
Notable Products
Invicta Electronic Master Mind game
Mastermind or Master Mind, a code-breaking board game for two players launched in 1971.[3] It was one of the more prominent products of the company, with them professing sales in excess of a million units. The success of the game led to them winning the Queen’s Award for Export in 1978.[12] They also made a handheld electronic device based on the game.[13]
Invicta Plastics also produced a line of plastic dinosaurs in conjunction with the British Natural History Museum from 1974.[14]
The company manufactured the Comic Relief ‘Red Noses’ for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s.[10] Of particular note, in 1995, they produced heat responsive colour changing noses.[15]
