Did you know: Spandex is an anagram of Expands?

If that’s what your flesh did over the festive (fleshtive) season, then it’s time to make the stretchy fabric your friend again, as you sprint/pirouette/slither your way to the gym in a blur of hysteria and spirulina.

Or, you could put off going to the gym till tomorrow, grab a coke (full fat) and sit back to educate yourself on the life of spandex since its invention by the American chemist Joseph Shivers in 1959. Highlights include encasing the curves of everyone from Debbie Harry to Madonna, wrapping round the legs of illustrious pioneers such as David Bowie and Cher Horowitz, and climbing to the top of the Olympic plinth, clinging to the vibrating muscles of Team GB’s athletic stars.

All that in just 60 years. And a bright future stretching out ahead... (sorry).

Click the gallery for the 25 times that spandex was surprisingly fabulous.