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Of everything I remember about school uniform, the issue of having to wear short trousers was the most significant for me.
I first went to primary school (for ages 4 to 11) in 1974 when I was 4½. It was a typical school uniform - white shirt, school tie, grey V-neck jumper, grey shorts, long knee-high grey socks (held up by garters) and brown sandals. The shorts were quite short, with no more than a 2-3 inch inside leg but even adult shorts were much shorter in those days anyway. I remember trying on the uniform for the first time, but I think I was more concerned about the tie than having to wear shorts. Socks were worn by nearly all boys at full length up to just below the knees. Most of us had garters that held our socks up, so
they rarely fell down. One or two boys who were scruffy in many other ways didn't bother to wear garters and their socks always fell down. The season or temperature didn't make any difference. Because all boys in school wore exactly the same uniform, the wearing of shorts to school seemed ordinary and unremarkable, even though I didn't understand the reason especially in cold weather. In the exceptionally hot summer of 1976, I think we were all glad to be wearing them. The girls wore grey skirts down to their knees with long white socks, only just revealing their knees unlike us boys whose lega were almost entirely bare. The only comments I remember regarding differences in boys' and girls' uniform were when boys mischeviously used to lift up girls' skirts. That made us boys think that the girls were disadvantaged by their uniform. Because the girls' uniform was so vulnerable to such pranks. We didn't notice that the boys' uniform was in fact a lot more revealing. After 4 years at primary school at an age of 8½, I became old enoug!h to go to a private boys' prep (preparatory) school for ages 8 to 13.
I was not a cub. Some of my friends were, but I cannot remember anything about it, except that they had to wear shorts as part of their uniform.
The uniform at my new prep school was a navy blue round-neck jumper, grey shirt and school tie. Caps were worn on the same occasions that black shoes were required (going home etc). They were not very popular except as frisbees, particularly if it belonged to somebody else. We wore sandals during the school day and black shoes for going to/from school and certain other occasions. Again with long grey socks I had to wear the same grey shorts, but only for the first two of the five years at the school. The boys in the top three years all wore long trousers, the same grey as the shorts worn in the first two years, and so we junior boys were easy distinguishable in our shorts. Although I found school shorts comfortable and had already got used to wearing them for 4 years, I began to feel self-conscious about baring my legs especially as a majority of the school wore long trousers. I looked forward to the third year of the school (age 10/11) when I could start wearing 'grown-up' trousers and when I got home from school, the first thing I did was change out of my school shorts into my own long trousers.
The school clothes list consisted of many outfits for different purposes, including a duffel coat, scarf, navy blue 'boiler suit' (overalls for art and other messy activities), as well as a large assortment of sports clothes including a school tracksuit. On exceptionally cold winter days, we were allowed to wear our tracksuit bottoms over our uniform shorts as we had to walk outside between buildings, but no matter how cold it was we had to remove them when outside the school grounds, for example when going home. On hot summer days, jumpers were removed and we were allowed to remove our ties once the headmaster had declared it permissible but we still had to put them back on to go home. Outside the school grounds, we had to wear smart black shoes (instead of sandals) and our ties (even during hot weather) and if we were wearing tracksuit bottoms over our grey
shorts in cold weather, we had to remove them (even in the snow).
We also had dark grey suits of a darker grey than the everyday shorts, which were reserved for special occasions such end of term events. Looking back, the suits were an incredible waste of parents' money as they were hardly ever worn. The rule was the same for long/short trousers on suits. I think the shorts for the suits may have been slightly longer and definitely less comfortable than the everyday shorts, but as I only wore the suit once (possibly twice), I can't remember a lot about it.
In the middle of the summer term before I had finished my first year, my parents informed me we had to move house during the summer holidays because of my dad's job and I would have to change school.
As it was not going to be our last relocation and in order not to disrupt my education in the long run, from September at the beginning of the following term (age 9½) I was sent to another prep school, this time as a boarder whereby I had the weekly option of going home from Saturday lunchtime to Sunday evening. The uniform was a maroon V-neck jumper, grey shirt (optional short sleave version in the summer). We wore sandals all day every day.
The rest was very similar to my previous prep school, including the same grey shorts and long socks with garters, but then came the shock - the rule about wearing long trousers was totally different. Rather than being based on school year, the rule was based on height - all boys had to wear shorts until they were 5 feet tall, which resulted in well over half the school wearing shorts including several quite senior boys. At my previous school I would only have had to wear shorts for one more year, but now I had to grow well over half a foot before I could wear long trousers. What's more, boarders always had to wear school uniform, so unlike my last school I couldn't even change out of my shorts in the evenings or during any weekends I didn't go home. The school clothes list was similar to my previous school, but given that the colours were different, much of it had to be bought all over again, with the exception of certain common items such as long grey socks, shoes, the boiler suit and the grey shorts. Unlike my previous school, we didn't have a uniform coat and instead wore any dark coloured anorak. Another difference was the compulsory school swimming trunks which by my final summer term at age 13 became embarrassingly tight. We were never allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms over our uniform in cold weather, but as we didn't need to walk much outside the warm main building between classes, I rarely felt cold in my shorts and the long socks kept the lower half of my legs quite warm anyway.
Although I was never short for my age, it seemed that most other boys in my year began reaching the 5 foot target sooner than me. During my 2nd year at the school (3rd of the school's 5 years) at age 10/11, several boys in my year qualified to wear long trousers, and by the beginning of my penultimate year (age 11½) I was in a minority of boys in my year still wearing shorts. After 7 years of wearing shorts at school, I had become well used to having bare legs all day, but when most of my peers had their own legs covered up, I began to feel exposed in their company. Although I didn't show it (to avoid teasing), I felt self-conscious in front of my contemporaries who nearly all wore long trousers, which was made even worse when a few boys in the year below me qualified to wear long trousers as well. The most awkward time was in the evenings when boys in the top 2 years were allowed to watch TV after the lower years had gone to bed. My legs have always been long in relation! to my overall height, and when we all sat on long comfortable sofas, my conspicuously bare legs stood out among a sea of long grey trousers worn by my peers. This was the case most school nights for a whole academic year and to make it worse, my shorts were starting to look shorter and tighter because my mum wouldn't waste money buying me a larger size just before I upgraded to long trousers. My trouser-clad classmates fortunately only teased me once because of my shorts: when we started our penultimate year in September, many of them had been on holiday to hot countries over the summer holidays and were still tanned. Sporting their new long trousers, some of my classmates pointed at my white legs and ridiculed how pale they looked. I thought this very unfair as I couldn't even see their legs to compare with. Despite all this, having to wear shorts never made me unhappy, just frustrated, but this was made up for by a very friendly school atmosphere. I realised I wasn!'t being singled out but was merely being required to obey a strictly enforced school rule. I also knew I wasn't the first, last or only boy to be in this position but my noticeably uncovered legs still made me feel like an inferior member of my year.
It wasn't until the beginning of my final year (age 12½) that my height finally qualified me to wear long trousers and by the end of the previous term I had been one of only three in my year still wearing shorts, so the privilege of being allowed to wear long trousers couldn't have come too soon. When I wore long trousers to school for the first time I felt much more grown-up and the feeling of freedom could be likened to my transition 6 years later from school to university. The long trousers made me feel less controlled by school discipline and it almost felt like being at home. There was one unfortunate boy left in my year who wore shorts right up until the day he left the school (age 13) as he never got past 4 foot 11½ inches while at that school, although he was one of the youngest in the year. I never heard anyone tease him or heard him complain about it. Rules were rules and you simply had to accept them, just as I had done. In fact the wearing of shorts was never! a topic that generated much discussion at all. Most school outings were in the final year and we were allowed to wear non-school casual clothes for those trips.
The choice of schools meant that out of my total 14 years at school (ages 4 to 18), I had to wear shorts for 8 of them. The only minor consolation was a friend at another prep school where all boys except prefects had to wear shorts even in their final year (age 12/13). He was lucky though, as although he never became a prefect a special concession was made to him because of his tall height and hairy legs, so he was allowed to wear long trousers in his final year. It is worth noting that at both my prep schools, nobody who qualified to wear long trousers ever chose to wear shorts as part of the uniform even on the hottest days of the summer term, as the wearing of long trousers was deemed an important right that should always be exercised. I have discovered that both my prep schools have since dropped the requirement to wear shorts altogether although I don't know when. It's a shame neither school kept the shorts just for the summer term as that's when they made sense regardle!ss of age, school year or height.
All the schools that we played games fixtures against had fairly similar uniforms. There was usually a mixture of shorts and long trousers, but you could never be sure of the exact school year of each boy, so it was difficult to ascertain what the rule was of each
visiting school concerning shorts etc. I don't remember any discussion about this.
The uniform at public school (private, ages 13 to 18) was a sports jacket (similar to a blazer), white shirt, school tie, dark grey long trousers and short dark grey socks. Nobody wore shorts or ever wanted to as part of the uniform, and I never heard of any English public school having shorts in their uniform. It was the first school uniform I had worn with any form of jacket. Unlike prep school, boarders at public school could wear their own clothes outside school hours, and some boarders chose to wear their own shorts in the summer, probably because they no longer associated shorts with school uniform. Because we could wear shorts out of choice rather than being compelled to wear them as part of a uniform, from that point on I actually liked wearing shorts.
One little mentioned fact about English prep schools is a very common rule forbidding the wearing of underwear under shorts when playing sport (known as 'games'), supposedly for hygiene reasons. This was the case at both prep schools I attended and the rule was enforced very much by peer group pressure rather than by teaching staff, in that boys who wore underpants under their games shorts were often ridiculed by other boys for their lack of hygiene. I remember one incident when a boy was being teased on the rugby pitch for wearing underpants under his games shorts, upon which a teacher overheard and sent him back to the changing rooms to remove the offending undergarment, although no proof was ever requested. Some boys when they reached puberty quietly disobeyed this rule so as to maintain some modesty, particularly as the games shorts were minimal and made of thin cotton as well as being white in the summer term.
Later at public school (ages 13 to 18), the rule did not exist but a few boys continued to wear no underpants under games shorts either out of choice or because they mistakenly believed that the rule also existed at public school. Some boys in their first few terms even tried to enforce the rule on their peers, not realising that the rule was particular to prep schools (ages 8 to 13). Given that the boys had come from many different prep schools, it suggests that the rule was widespread amongst prep schools.
The wearing of tracksuit bottoms for games was strongly discouraged by teaching staff, especially for rugby no matter how cold it was. If we wore tracksuit bottoms from the changing rooms to the playing fields, we were almost always told to remove them before the game started. We were often allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms for playing hockey, but only on cold days. Shorts were compulsory for cricket at prep school, except for the 1st XI, who wore trousers to look like professional cricketers.
