The selfie stick was invented twice, two decades apart, by men on opposite sides of the world - and both times it was the result of problems experienced on a European holiday.
The selfie stick has become so common that it is now widely seen as a nuisance - it has been banned from stadiums, concerts, museums and even from the next Apple conference.
And yet it was once considered so unnecessary that it was included in the book of 101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions - along with dust slippers for cats and the hydrophobe's bath body suit (for taking a bath without getting wet).
Un-useless inventions, also known as chindogu, are the brainchild of Kenji Kawakami, who defines them as things that are almost completely useless, but not quite. "If you invent something which turns out to be so handy that you use it all the time, then you have failed to make a chindogu. Try the Patent Office," says the website chindogu.com.