I attended a state grammar school in the 1960s where the dress regulations stated that boys could wear either white or grey shirts with their regulation navy blue blazers. I wore a nice white cotton/polyester mixture shirt, but many boys in my class wore grey shirts. Nowadays, grey shirts for schoolwear are available in the same smooth cotton/polyester material as is used in white shirts, but in those days grey shirts were invariably made from a rough-surfaced woolly material which to my young eyes looked most unattractive. Indeed, I felt very pleased to be wearing my smart white shirts and not the drab and utilitarian grey variety although I expect my mother's washload was increased, since the white shirts needed changing more often.

Oddly enough it was usually the boys from 'posher' homes who were sent to school in those nasty grey shirts. This was probably because they had attended a preparatory school (as a day boy) before the grammar school, where the traditionally-styled uniform nearly always included such shirts. I expect their parents thougt that if the shirts were good enough for the prep, they would do for grammar school.

In fact there were several dayboy preparatory schools in my town, all boasting colourful traditional style uniforms. The reason for this was that the grammar school was a highly regarded institution and all the preps aimed to get their pupils through the eleven-plus examination and into the grammar school. The prep school fees were a good investment, helping to ensure that a boy gained grammar school entrance, thereby receiving a high class secondary education free of charge.

I recall that one particularly posh boy called Clive wore not only the roughest and drabbest grey shirts one could imagine, but also dressed in rather old fashioned underwear. These garments was made from a yellow-tinted coarse woolen material, with a long sleeved vest buttoning at the neck and old fashioned trunks. Since nearly everyone else wore modern Y-fronts and singlets I think that Clive probably felt somewhat self-conscious when he changed for PT or games.

Created: November 20, 1999
Last updated: November 20, 1999