Figure 1.--This was Christmas 1962. My last Christmas in shorts, and just before the great freeze. This photo was probably taken on Christmas morning, as I'm smartly dressed, probably for church. I'm glad to see that I'm correctly standing on the (solid) edge of the chair, not on the middle of the webbed seat! Some of the tree decorations are still in use. I can't remember what happened to the little Father Christmas at the bottom. I'm wearing a stripey pullover on top of a plain red jersey, with a long-sleeved shirt underneath. I don't remember this particular pair of shorts. They look black, but I suspect they were actually navy blue. I'm pretty sure they weren't corduroy. I did have some corduroy shorts earlier, but not when I was 11. It's definitely not a school tie. If it's the one I think it is, I've still got it. The less said the better about my choice of colours to go with the red jersey!

I was born in 1951, and I remember little of my clothing until I was about 5 years old. Fortnately we have family photographic albums to fill in the blanks in my memory. I dimly recall that at some stage in those early years I wore dungarees The family snapshots provide much more information. At the age of 5, then, in the summer of 1956 I wore shorts, with a button-up short-sleeved shirt and (when it was cold) a cardigan or, if less cold, a (sleeveless) pullover. I had ankle-socks and sandals. For underwear, I would have worn both vest and underpants. Over the next few years, little changed: I stopped wearing cardigans, but otherwise it was much the same. Outside, I would wear a long gabardine coat - the same one I wore for school if I had to be smart, the old one I’d more or less grown out of for rough wear. For snow or seriously wet conditions, I’d wear Wellington boots but otherwise lace-up shoes outside and sandals inside (outside as well in the summer). At one point I had a pair of jeans. In the summer of 1963, all changed. I’d been wanting to wear long trousers for school for some while, to try to avoid some teasing which was occasioned by the facts that 1. I was an easy target and 2. my shorts were an inch or two longer than everyone else’s. That summer, my parents decided that it was time that I wore long trousers, so long trousers I wore, except on the beach while on holiday. I remember not being entirely happy about this change, but it did get round the difficulty at school. Into my teens I continued to wear long trousers almost all the time, except on the beach while on holiday. I would wear button-up shirts, long sleeved in the winter, short-sleeved in the summer, with a jersey if it was cold. I generally wore sandals indoors, and outdoors as well in the summer, and normally without socks in warm weather.

Age Trends

Here is what I can piece together over time. I don't recall much about my erarlier years. The comments here are based primarily on our family photographic albums. Fortunately this provides a detailed record as to what I wore as a little boy. Once school began I can recall much more about my clothes and experiences. I have quite strong memories as to what I wore as a school boy, especially after the first few years. Here I recall my both school uniforms and my regular clothese which I am discussing here. After I began school, little changed: I stopped wearing cardigans, but otherwise it was much the same. Outside, I would wear a long gabardine coat - the same one I wore for school if I had to be smart, the old one I’d more or less grown out of for rough wear. For snow or seriously wet conditions, I’d wear Wellington boots but otherwise lace-up shoes outside and sandals inside (outside as well in the summer). At one point I had a pair of jeans, but these I normally wore on top of my shorts, for very cold conditions. I attended a traditioinal grammar school. In the summer of 1963, all changed. I’d been wanting to wear long trousers for school for some while, to try to avoid some teasing which was occasioned by the facts that 1. I was an easy target and 2. my shorts were an inch or two longer than everyone else’s. That summer, my parents decided that it was time that I wore long trousers, so long trousers I wore, except on the beach while on holiday. Into my teens I continued to wear long trousers almost all the time, except on the beach while on holiday. I would wear button-up shirts, long sleeved in the winter, short-sleeved in the summer, with a jersey if it was cold. I generally wore sandals indoors, and outdoors as well in the summer, and normally without socks in warm weather. Despite the fact that I was regularly going barefoot in PE at school, I generally only did so at home when my parents were both out, because I didn't want them to know.

Friends

In my earlier years at the prep school, I shared lifts to school with two other boys who lived on our road. One of them was a mildly exotic character: his parents’ car had a bullet-hole in the windscreen – apparently they had once got too close to an army firing range – and they had also spent some time in the USA. He told us that the boys usually went barefoot in the summer, which at the time I thought sounded interesting. He left after a year or two. The other boy occasionally came round to my house to play and he, like me, wore sandals without socks in hot weather. I recall that on one occasion he was riding his bicycle barefoot – I can’t remember why this happened. To have done likewise would have been too strange for me, but I remember feeling a bit envious. I suppose I thought my parents wouldn’t approve, or something – I’ve no idea how they would have reacted in fact.

Clothing Items

Clothing is a facinating topic. Both as children and adults, we often have favorite garments that we feel comfortable in and wear over and over. There are a variety of reasons we do this. Here are some details about specific garments I wore as a boy. Some of the items are worthy of mention even though I do not recall a lot about them. I do remember some details about many specific garments. Funny how things stick in your head even years later. A lot of items came and went. But certain items stick in my head much more than others. I am not sure just why this was. Of course I recall much more about the items I wore as an older boy and teenager, but I think the items I wore as a younger boy are also interesting.

David