Burnley Grammar School

Barry referred to "the current fashion for showing the tops of 'boxers'".
I thought that that fad existed only over here on this side of the Atlantic.

Hi Dave,
I started there in 1985 and left in 1995 during which it waa all boys boarding school. When we started PE lessons most pretty much accepted and did what we were told. Morning runs were tough and it showed when the weather was lousy or just plain freezing! Everyone was the same which was fair enough. As for team sports in the gym one team were given coloured armbands which were bright and difficult to miss and ensured vests were not required. Outdoors the teachers hand picked 50% of the class to be skins while the other half would keep their vests on, or alternatively the whole class would be made to strip down on a whim. With us all barechested in the gym and with the length of the lesson showing sweat was commonplace and once you started that was you and there was nothing allowed to rub yourself down with during the lesson. Hope this gives an insight.

Our small boarding school had an official PE/Games kit though it appeared someone forgot to tell the PE teachers. All indoor sessions in the gym we were performed stripped to the waist while outdoors we'd be picked into teams of skins and vests or the class simply told to strip down, regardless of the weather conditions or time of year it made no difference. We were made to exercise hard and regularly showed sweat outside as well as indoors where you'd expect to. Everyday PE was factored into the timetable for 2 hour sessions daily. We were also made to do an early morning excluding Sundays running 3 laps of the grounds with every male in the year group stripped to the waist.

Hi Tobi!

When did you go to school? Were there some reaction among boys having to do PE shirtless inside and doing morning runs outside either? How did you play team games inside with everyone being shirtless?Was it a boys only or a mixed boarding school?

I attended an all boys school so as bad as it was having to do PE in underpants would not be too bad, because in my era everyone of course wore briefs. I can understand the misgivings of those who attend mixed schools if there was any possibility of girls seeing you in pants. However, with the current fashion for showing the tops of "boxers" above trousers and the fact I have seen occasions when lads have openly walked about in front of girls in their boxers that nowadays having to do pe in pants would not be such a problem, although I suspect in would not happen because of safeguarding rules.

Ian, I assume that being dealt with in the traditional manner was an appointment with a slipper or cane. How would today's kids cope with such a regime?

Knowing that my impatient PE master required any boy to do the session in their underpants if they forgot their shorts, I was always very careful to ensure that I never forgot mine.

But, in the changing room one day, I was shocked to discover that my PE shorts were missing from my duffel bag. In a panic, I emptied it out, only to confirm that my PE shorts were definitely not there.

With little hope in my heart, I approached the teacher and tried to explain that my shorts must have earlier been removed from my bag as it hung in the cloakroom, by another boy who had forgotten his shorts.

The teacher's response was to truncate my explanation by bellowing "Underpants!" at the top of his voice. This command echoed around the changing room, presumably intended as a warning to everyone else.

As this was a mixed school, with one wall of the gym completely glass panelled and open to view from outside, the one hour PE session was painfully embarrassing for me.

To add to my woes, my parents made me buy a replacement pair of PE shorts, costing eight shillings and elevenpence at 1968 prices (or 8/11d). This purchase cost me four week's worth of my pocket money.

The school eventually imposed a rule that all PE shorts be labelled with the boys' names, to make it obvious if someone had 'borrowed' a pair from someone else.

Our small boarding school had an official PE/Games kit though it appeared someone forgot to tell the PE teachers. All indoor sessions in the gym we were performed stripped to the waist while outdoors we'd be picked into teams of skins and vests or the class simply told to strip down, regardless of the weather conditions or time of year it made no difference. We were made to exercise hard and regularly showed sweat outside as well as indoors where you'd expect to. Everyday PE was factored into the timetable for 2 hour sessions daily. We were also made to do an early morning excluding Sundays running 3 laps of the grounds with every male in the year group stripped to the waist.

Eric,
My parents made me wear string vests and underpants. But on forgetting my kit on the first day of term, the tough new head of PE made me do gym in just my underpants. Although I was a bit embarrassed, I quite enjoyed having the other boys look at me. Until he dealt with me at the end of the period in the traditional manner.

Rob:
I also remember the Aertex vest and pants.
Like you I gave up wearing a vest a year or so after I started work. My choice met with opposition at home, because I was brought up by and living with my nan and being the older generation, she insisted "Vests needed to be worn"., all year round. However, I "rebelled" and soon after I ditched the thick PJ's for shorts in bed and no top(how brave).
Like you and most of the era our pe kit was shorts, no underwear or socks and our football kit was similar to yours.

Eric

I too remember string vests. My father had some when I was in my early teens - I thought they looked a bit weird then, and still do. Mum kept suggesting that I ought to try them, but by then I was working on giving up vests altogether, a process hastened of the introduction of topless PE at school, and I had no inclination to start wearing them again. I think the novelty of the things made her think that seeing Dad wearing them might persuade me to start wearing vests again, but I didn't rise to the bait.

Eric, I remember string vests. My mum knitted me some, probably in 1953 when they became popular following the conquest of Everest. I was at primary school but as we only did gentle exercises in the school hall wearing our ordinary clothes I never got to see what other boys wore under their shirts. When I went to a boys grammar school a couple of years later I was bought the cellular 'Aertex' vests to wear and I remember when we had to get changed for P.E. a lot of the boys were wearing them and as far as I can recall this continued until I left in 1961.
I gave up wearing a vest a short while after starting work as I could see that my other male colleagues obviously weren't wearing one under their shirts. Our school uniform list included a white T-shirt, black PE shorts and plimsolls but at the start of the first P.E. lesson we were told to strip off completely, and to come back into the gym wearing just shorts and plimsolls, no socks or underwear and barechested. This was our our kit, in fact, the same pair of shorts, throughout my time at the school both in the gym twice weekly and outside for athletics and cross country. In addition we had a double period of games and I played soccer and I wore these shorts and an old shirt, with football boots and thick socks and shin pads. Showers were compulsory after all PE and games lessons. I was very apprehensive about taking my shorts off after the first PE lesson and walking naked into the open communal showers which had five large overhead showers under which we all had to stand together with nowhere to hide, but I soon got used to this and even looked forward to them when we were worked hard in the gym and running with sweat.

Interesting comments about the string type underwear. I remember the briefs had a solid panel front and back and string mesh around the sides. The vests were mesh all over. With regards to Ron Hill I have a pair of track suit type bottoms which I wore some years ago when I walked the Yorkshire 3 peaks in varying seasons, and they were very comfortable and practicable.
Frank C re your experiences at swimming, I am assuming from the content of your post that the you swam naked., and you were also uncovered for the swimming gala when families attended . What age was this up to?

Dave ... hopefully we're not getting off topic but one of my mesh vests was a fabric top with a mesh lowrr half.
For anyone who wants to look at the history of this, the UK guru was Ron Hill who had a PhD in Textile technology - have a look @ https://www.run4it.com/journal/running-culture/the-man-behind-the-brand-ron-hill-and-the-creation-of-innovative-running-clothing/ & https://www.sports-insight.co.uk/trends-features/comic-inspiration-leads-to-a-life-on-the-run-for-ron-hill-mbe

If anyone wants to see what we wore in the early 80s - put 'london marathon 1982 bbc' into your preferred search engine - it should bring up recordings of that race.

To Don, I was interested in your experience of nude swimming at your school many moons ago! So 1969 when I was nine, at my Prep School in the North of England I commenced weekly lessons at the swimming pool on site, just half the class at each session. We all enjoyed improving our strokes and lengths.Being of a shy and inward disposition I was initially nervous and apprehensive we were aware of the school regime when we were admitted at the age of seven.Clearly our parents agreed and approved of this policy or I wouldn't have been sent there.I remember the family going to the Swimming Gala in "68. My older brother who was at the senior school section of the school. Jibed me a bit and said I would have to go like that next year! As well as being many moons ago 1969 was the year Neil Armstrong landed on the moon! One step for mankind!

Further to Eric’s comment (below) regarding string underwear, I recall some of my late 1960s underpants having plain front and rear panels but with open mesh string panels on each side.

I disliked this type of underpants because they always seemed too big, fitting loosely around my slender waist, despite being bought in the ‘correct’ size.

Hi Tim H,
I also had a running vest with solid panels front and back with the mesh sides, I felt very athletic and professional wearing it.

Eric - indeed - Yes - although they date from the 50s or earlier - they were worn on Everest in 1953. I'm not sure when they ceased to be popular, but I was wearing a running vest with mesh panels in the late 70s, early 80s.
Happy Days!

Reminiscing does anyone remember wearing the string vest and briefs which came into fashion in the late 60's possibly early 70s, with the selling point warm in winter cool in summer?

I happened to come across the photo of the boys doing P.E. and it looked remarkably similar to P.E. at the state grammar school in Kent which I attended many more years ago than I care to remember. Reading through some of the comments about what was worn for P.E. lessons, I thought it might interest your readers to know that nude swimming was compulsory for us at this all boys school for what we called years 1, 2 and 3 [now 7 to 9 I believe]. Apprehension about this grew as the first lesson of the summer term approached, but once we started we thought nothing of it and we were too innocent in those days to wonder what the reason was. It was simply school policy and no one, including parents, complained. For years 4 and above trunks were optional with a different P.E. master, but as we were used to it by then, few if any boys ever opted to wear anything for swimming lessons. When it came to the inter-house competition near the end of the summer term, the whole school watched proceedings, and again, the majority of competitors raced naked and stayed naked for the diving competitions. I can remember swimming two lengths myself and thinking nothing of both entering and leaving the pool in front of everyone, including the masters. It was an open-air pool, so swimming only took place in the summer term. All hard to believe nowadays.

Drew.
Thanks for posting here.
We obviously were at school around the same time.

I think that boys took to wearing their swimming trunks instead of a 'Litesome' because we already possessed a pair. Also the jock is a bit of a big step for a teenage boy.
In some school's kit lists it advises 2 pairs of trunks. One to be kept for swimming and the other for use as support. This makes it easy to avoid the day when trunks are wet and needed for PE or whatever.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and I'm always interested in hearing from anyone with memories along these lines.

Wow the dreaded memories of PE, I left in 84 and have to say some of the stuff I've read on here actually still happened back then. At my school if you did Games you always had to remove your underwear as it simply wasn't allowed, The showers had to be hit no matter what and if the teacher suspected you of just wetting your hair you were sent back in until he was satisfied. If you forgot any of your kit it had to be loaned from the female games teacher who happily provided you a maroon gym skirt and whatever else you needed to put you through a lesson, Then on most occasions you were sent to do the lesson with the girls although some occasions you ended up playing football back with the boys with your skirt flipping about, And no underwear was allowed under the skirt with being a boy, Granted it was never checked but you daren't challenge or risk crossing the games teacher back then. When I think back now I can't believe what they actually got away with.

Skins and shirts were always a common theme and I always felt conscious being in skins, Barefoot again was also common and although the kit for the gym allowed socks and plimsolls many a time wen we went in the line up we were instructed to remove them as well as our T-shirts and put them on the benches which to date I never understood other than it was a form of cruelty or humiliation. To this date and I'm now 50 I can't walk about without shoes or socks on and only time I take my socks off its for the bath now, Also I have a bit of a phobia of dirty feet and wonder if it stems from our school torture. I remember how hard the surface of the sports hall was and how dirty your feet got, On few ocasions we were even told to remove our footwear on the school outdoor track to run which again was quite bizaar and I can't think as to why, It never happened in the snow to my memory but did in the rain as well as being shirtless.

I guess kids nowadays have got it lucky :-)

John

Our school games kit list included a 'Litesome supporter'; however all of us, boys and staff, called it a jockstrap.

Boys Grammar School late 1960s - early 1970s
INDOOR PE:
White shorts, white plimsolls, white PE vest with house colour band, or bare chested (most chose the latter).

OUTDOOR GAMES.
Navy blue rugby shirt, two rugby shirts (one navy and sky whoops and one white) navy rugby socks, rugby boots (black plimsolls in summer).

For the first two years no underwear was allowed. At the start of the third year our PE teacher advised us to buy a 'litesome supporter' from the local sports shop. Some boys did, but many of us just started to wear swimming trunks under our shorts.

Apologies to those reading this request again! Mike (17th September) - please tell us all about the boxing at your school. I have posted before that I was hugely disappointed to move to secondary school just after boxing had ceased, and have been intrigued ever since as to how it all worked and what it would have been like. Was it compulsory for every boy and all ages, and how many loved it, hated it or just accepted it? Were you taught how to box properly, and was there just sparring or were there proper contests and competitions? Did you have a different opponent every time, and how was it decided who opponents would be, etc, etc? Did the school have a proper ring? Any specific memories of things that happened?

Lots of the comments on this site relate to the same time that I attended an all boys Secondary Modern school .i.e. 1961 to 1966. In common with what I have read pe kit was shorts (and they were) and no pants to be worn. We were topless and wore plimsolls and no socks. For out doors in summer we had the option of topless, but if we we wore a top is was generally a t shirt because very few lads had football or rugby shirts with logos. Again no underwear.
We also had swimming lessons and we were transported to the local swimming baths, and we wore swim trunks (the briefs design)
I am interested to read that some schools, as boys developed, encouraged them to wear swimming trunks as a form of support., under their shorts for pe and I can see the logic in this However, in all my years our pe. teacher never said anything about support, and up until I left at the age of 16 none of us wore anything under our shorts. I suppose if swimming trunks were worn under shorts for pe than it save being naked in the showers afterwards.
Whilst I understand that the main topic for discussion is about the pe and swimming kit we wore, I do like to explore how fashion has changed.
In "our day" the options were limited. Mainly the only swimming gear available was the trunks, and as I said club football shirts were rare. Although I think soon after the 60's swimming shorts started coming into fashion and I remember my first swimming shorts were nylon. No when I go to the Gym and swimming pool a lot of younger fellows nowadays wear boxer shorts under their swimming shorts. I would have though that was uncomfortable, but I suppose they have a reason for doing it.

Hi, for athletics, gym and cross country ( the sports I did) it was shorts, vest and plimsolls, but we were allowed underwear after 14/ 15, so then some wore trunks and others like myself a jockstrap.

It's always interesting to read the comments and especially when they relate to the 60's and 70's when I was at school.
Several 'boys' have mentioned jock - straps for support and I thought I would add my penny 's worth.
Like so many we were not supposed to wear our everyday underwear beneath our sports kit. Those who played in the school rugby team were advised to wear swimming trunks underneath. We were told that we would be more comfortable. This did prove to be the case and the support gave us much greater confidence in the rough and tumble of the game. It was not long before we added trunks to our PE and athletics kit as the support was definitely appreciated.
Later on there were several boys who advanced into wearing a jock - strap and these were often keen cricketers ( which I was not.)
I have commented before that there is seldom mention of the habit of wearing swimming trunks in this way. However, several guys have said that they also believed it to be common practice.
If anyone has any views or opinions I'd be very pleased to hear from them.

Boarding school age 9 to 18

Gym, boxing and basketball: stripped to the waist, shorts, plimmies.

Football, rugby and XC: 50% vests, 50% skins

Athletics: stripped to the waist, shorts, plimmies

Outdoor fitness sessions and remedial PT: stripped to the waist,, shorts, plimmies

No swimming pool, never heard jockstraps either.

Primary School (single-sex day-school): late 1950s - Early 1960s:
PE/Gym - indoors and outdoors in summer: white shorts, plimsolls
Outdoor Games: Rugby shirts and shorts, socks, boots

Secondary school (single-sex boarding) early 1960s onwards:
PE/Gym: shorts, plimsolls, commando (by choice, not compulsory), but jock-straps widely worn from about age 14
Cross-country: as PE. Although we were meant to wear tops when off school premises, we rarely did so.
Outdoor Games: Shirts, shorts, socks and footwear as appropriate, again with jock-straps.