The Victorians considered the hula hoop an effeminate toy and men were known to cross-dress in order not to look silly when enjoying some hoop-time.

Hooping it up

It's round, it's plastic and it sold by the millions.

The hula hoop was "re-invented" by Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, founders of the Wham-O toy company. The idea came originally from an Aussie bloke on a visit to California, who told Knerr and Melin about children twirling bamboo hoops around their waist in gym class.

Knerr and Medlin were unable to patent their hugely profitable re-invention as hoops had been around for thousands of years and the durable plastic they made their product from did not qualify for patent protection under the originality requirement. Fortunately for them, they were able to protect the invention to a large degree by trademarking the words "hula hoop".

It was 1958 and the Oklahoma chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Parlour Games would erupt into spontaneous applause every time Sister Mary Concepta performed the Knee Knocker.

Released in 1958, a whopping 25 million hula (also frequently spelt hoola) hoops sold in the first four months and, despite being a headache to gift-wrap, more than 100 million rolled out of the Wham-O factory in year one.

The fad ran its course, thus qualifying for a late-60s re-launch. And what better way to get the public enthusiastic all over again than by staging a national competition in the US?

The National Hula Hoop Contest (predictably re-named the World Hula Hoop Championships in no time at all) began in a mere 500 US cities in 1968.

Ever hoop-full, this English lad demonstrates the correct method for placing the hula hoop around the waist.

By 1980 an estimated two million fanatics were "hooping it up" in 2000 cities. The contestants had to perform compulsory manoeuvres with 1950s-sounding names such as Knee Knocker, Stork, Hula Hop, Wrap the Mummy, Alley Oop, before being let loose with their own freestyle-to-music routines.

The hoop at our home

The hula hoop was a regular visitor to our household and would appear occasionally under the Christmas tree to enjoy popularity for a day or two. Generally on the second day, your sides would be unbelievably sore from the unfamiliar hip-twisting action accompanied by the less-than-gentle massage of the hoop around your waist.

So day two meant the hoop would be put to other uses meaning that years before the inaugural World Hula Hoop Champs special hula hoop manoeuvres had already been devised and named. There was the Ankles-a-go-go where a deft flick of the wrist would see the hoop catch a running sibling around the ankle and send them sprawling, flat on their face. It had all the elements of an excellent childhood game including pain, bruised ankles and humiliation.

One of our Christmas hula hoops being used in precisely the manner intended. On day two, the hula game would take a disturbing turn.

Then there was the Hula Garrotte where the nonchalant hoop holder would wait until a sibling had actually passed by before whipping the hula hoop over the child's head and catch them around the neck in an act of semi-strangulation. The garrotting game was most fun when the victim wasn't aware the game was actually happening.

Finally there was the Barrel-of-Monkeys, that ever-popular pastime of seeing how many children you could fit inside one hoop. Once the hoop had entrapped the maximum number of kids around the upper torso (or neck of the shorter children), an attempt at a co-ordinated sprint to the other side of the yard guaranteed mass collapse and many tears.

Despite our best attempts, not a single permanent injury was caused by cruel and unusual use of a hula hoop in our neighbourhood.

Once the novelty of using the hoop in all of its circular intentions had evaporated, we took great delight in disassembling our hoops and using them variously as musical instruments, medical instruments or snorkels ... all so long as it involved the maximum transfer of spittle.

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