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Woman who introduced the hula hoop to the world dies aged 101
The Guardian
|August 02, 2025
The Australian woman who brought the idea of the hula hoop to America - but missed out on making a fortune from the idea - has died aged 101.
Joan Anderson first saw people playing with bamboo hoops on a return trip to Sydney, Australia, in 1956. "Everywhere I would go, everybody was giggling and carrying on and when I asked what was going on they said, 'Oh, everyone's doing the hoop,' she said.
On her return to the US where she was living, she told her husband, Wayne, about it and they got Anderson's mother to send one to the US.
The name "hula hoop" came after a guest at a dinner party compared Anderson's moves to those of a hula dancer as she gave a demonstration.
This story is from the August 02, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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