Etch A Sketch inventor Andre Cassagnes dies at 86

The inventor of the classic toy Etch A Sketch has died at the age of 86.

Andre Cassagnes died in Paris on 16 January, the Ohio Art Company, the US-based firm that made the toy, said.

Mr Cassagnes came up with the idea for a mechanical toy that creates erasable drawings by twisting two dials in the late 1950s, while working as an electrical technician.

Picked by the Ohio Art Company at a toy fair in 1959, Etch A Sketch went on to sell more than 100 million copies.

Etch A Sketch, with its familiar red-frame, grey screen and two white dials, allows children to draw something and shake it away to start again.