22nd February Yo-Yos

It's Walking the Dog Day - walking the dog being a yo-yo trick, so 10 things you might not know about yo yos.

1. Some historians believe the yo-yo originated in China around 1000 BC. However, there are no records that actually prove it. There is, though, an old Chinese toy called a diablo which is similar to a yo yo.
2. There are records of yo yos in ancient Greece around 500BC. There is a vase painting dating back to this period which shows a boy playing with one.
3. There are also written records which say that there were yo yos made from wood, metal or terra cotta in ancient Greece. The terra cotta ones may not have been toys, but rather a ceremonial object which boys presented to the gods when they came of age - symbolically giving up the things of youth.
4. Yo yos were popular in 18th century France, particularly among the nobility. They were toys for adults there, and thought to have come from India. They were not called yo yos then, but bandalores, or quizzes.
5. In 1791, the Swedish writer Johan Henric Kellgren mentions the yo-yo as 'joujou de Normandie' in the poem Dumboms leverne.
6. In Alaska, they have their own type of yo yo. The skill with these is to rotate two sealskin balls on string made out of caribou sinew in opposite directions.
7. The yo yo was first patented in 1866 in the US by James L. Haven and Charles Hettrick showed a new way of making a yo-yo using a central rivet to hold the two halves together.
8. In 1928 Pedro Flores immigrated from the Philippines to the USA and started selling yo-yos. Pedro trademarked the term 'yo-yo'.
9. In about 1930 Donald F. Duncan bought Flores' company and so obtained the rights to the trademark "yo-yo".In 1965 Duncan got into a legal battle over the use of the term 'yo-yo', resulting in the court ruling that the term had become generic and so could be not trademarked.
10. The World Yo-Yo Contest is held every year in Orlando, Florida, and normally consists of two parts, a set of compulsory tricks and a freestyle.