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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.
I was born in May 1951, and I remember little of my clothing until I was about five. The first part of these notes is therefore reconstructed from photographic evidence. As a baby, I wore various one-piece outfits, always fairly bulky to cover a nappy. Growing up a bit, I progressed to a fairly normal combination of shirt and shorts, at least when it was warm. The shorts seem mostly to have had straps over the shoulders to hold them up, and at least one pair had a front panel as well. One series of photographs shows me wearing this without a shirt on a hot day: I vaguely recall finding the straps uncomfortable on bare shoulders. In the winter, I had dungarees (i.e. long trousers, with front panel and straps), which I would wear with a shirt and, in cold weather, a jersey or cardigan as well. This would sometimes be under the straps of the dungarees. I remember being rather sad when I grew out of the second (and last) pair of dungarees. In the summer, we always had a beach holiday; I seem to have worn one-piece garments on the beach: one photo shows that I had rather grown out of one of these, probably at the age of 3 years -- I suspect that this was when I graduated to normal swimming trunks. At the age of 5. 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. There were thicker and warmer ones in the winter. I should mention that I’ve always disliked anything that I had to pull tightly over my ears, so I’ve rarely worn t-shirts. In very hot weather I would go without a vest. The socks would often come off in warm weather. In the winter, I wore shorts with long socks, a long-sleeved shirt and either a cardigan or a jersey (i.e. sweater) - the latter always V-neck, so that it wasn’t tight over my ears.
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, but these I normally wore on top of my shorts, for very cold conditions. I never liked this procedure - it was my mother’s idea - and I would have preferred to stay in shorts and put up with cold knees. I always wore shorts for school, anyway, and all through the long hard winter of 1962-63 I wore shorts to school without problems. There is a photograph of me at home on a hot day without a shirt - this was a very rare occurrence and presumably occurred after I’d got used to going around without a shirt for PE at secondary school. During this period, the shorts came to a little above my knees, except for the last pair of school shorts I had, which were presumably bought to allow for growth which didn’t take place on schedule, and consequently reached down to the tops of my knees.
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. I remember not being entirely happy about this change, but it did get round the difficulty at school (it didn’t take them long to find something else to tease me about, of course – I think it was the fact that my shoes were more rounded, i.e. foot-shaped, rather than pointed) so I said nothing. Looking back on it, I think I should have continued wearing shorts at home, but long trousers for school and going out. This would have reconciled the differing claims of comfort at home and appearance elsewhere. The following summer, I went to a friend's birthday outing. He was a few months younger than me, in the year below at school. Of the four of us, my friend was the only one to wear shorts; we were all wearing sandals, but only one was wearing socks. Since we went somewhere rather muddy, I suspect my friend was the only one who didn't get complained at for having muddy trousers! A few weeks after that, I went to stay with a cousin who was (is!) a couple of years younger than I am – my only male relative anything like my own age. It was very hot, and playing in his garden (climbing trees and so on) at least some of the time I was only wearing trousers. Had I realised that my mother had packed a pair of shorts I would have worn them: my cousin was in shorts, and I was many miles from home so no-one I knew would have seen me. However, I didn’t investigate my luggage so I never knew. That, I think, was unfortunate – it might have got me back into wearing shorts in hot weather.
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 for some reason I didn’t want them to know. Much the same applied to taking my shirt off in the summer. If both my parents were out on a summer evening, I’d often go outside wearing nothing but shorts. Likewise, indoors in the winter if they were both out I’d change into shorts, with bare feet. Outdoors in the winter, I’d still wear a raincoat for school and to be smart - with a detachable lining which made it very warm in cold weather - but otherwise an anorak of some kind.
In the eyes of the law, I became a man on 1st January 1970 - I was one of those who came of age by Act of Parliament, when the age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18. This was a few weeks after I left school, so it provides a convenient break-point. If I may take the story a bit further, beyond my boyhood, I entered university. Right after grammar school, I spent 8 months working, a few weeks helping my parents move house. Then I entered university. Little changed while I was at university except that I gave up wearing vests, and in the summer I sometimes went around barefoot, rather to the surprise of some of my friends. 1976, however, which was the final year of my doctoral studies, was a very long hot summer. Then it was that I started wearing shorts again - in fact, for much of that summer with little or nothing else! - starting a practice which I still continue when I can. Soon after that I started wearing short-sleeved shirts all year.
