Throughout the
1970s it was not
uncommon -- in
Britain at least --
to encounter
children sitting on a large orangey-brown
ball-like
object which had
snailish
horns and a large
grinning face: this
was the space hopper. Much as
kids in the year 2000 will do anything
to get hold of a
silver scooter, or those in
1981 had to have
a
Rubik's cube, in the early
70s the space hopper was an essential
part of
childhood.
The basic idea was to simply sit on the thing and bounce around on
it. Unfortunately due to its shape this was nearly impossible, and
generally people just ended up sitting on them before making a few
feeble attempts at moving, then falling off.
Despite some serious research I've been unable to discover who
invented these things, or even why. They still occasionally turn up,
usually deflated and tatty, at car boot sales or in people's
attics.