T'was called Chinese skipping in Nottingham in 1964 and we used knicker elastic which got shorter and more knotted as it wore through , and used to saw into the back of your knees on kneesies.
We also used to play this ball game with a ball inside a stocking. You stood with your back against the wall and swung it across your body left to right, above your head and between your legs. Used to drive my mum mad doing it on the side of the house because the rhythmic thumping made the plates jump and the windows rattle. There was a rhyme to it only fragments of which I can recall:
       Have a cigarette sir,
       Yes sir, no sir,
       something something something
       Because I have a cold sir
       Where d'you get your cold sir?
       From the North Pole sir,
       What you doing there sir?
       Catching Polar Bear sir
and I'm sure there was more,anybody recognise it?