Burnley Grammar School

Last night ITV 6 o'clock news showed part of a public information film from the 50's, I guess, showing a group fitness training. The four guys were all shirtless wearing white PE shorts. So I reckon that shirtless was common among adults in the gym.
I've always loved shirtless running - possibly as a result of school PE, but I've noticed that fewer guys do it nowadays - and hardly ever in PE shorts. They cover themselves with more and more designer clothes. But I converted a friend to shirtless a year or two ago.
Just thought I'd mention I still have a pair of PE shorts the size I used to wear at school - 32" waist, 10.5" outside seam, 1.5" inside. A bit neater than in the photo and minute compared with the Hesketh gym photo on this site.

Boys and girls were dealt with separately but female staff(teachers and office staff) did sometimes have to supervise the naked boys as we awaited our turns to see the doctor.

The boys and girls were examined separately and sometimes female staff(teachers and office staff) did supervise the boys.

Sam and Dave, was it the same for both boys and girls, and were they examined separately?
When you say staff, was it teachers or office staff, and were there any female staff supervising the boys while you stood all naked waiting for the exam?

We were supervised by staff at all times and it was in both primary and secondary school.
In addition we had to hold our arms at our sides as many boys tried to hide their bits as much as they could.

Yes Bill we were supervised by staff and it was at both primary and secondary schools.

To Dave and Sam, when you say that you had to line up completely naked outside the examination room, were you supervised by teachers or school staff?
Was this in primary or secondary school?

At my Scottish school in the 60's, one of the doctors wanted his boys to be in PE shorts (the other boys could wear trousers and underpants for the other doctors). I forgot mine so a strict prefect ordered me to strip naked. After he'd come and gone to the doctor and other places, I was given the medical. The doctor then took out a Lochgelly tawse from his bag and gave me six strokes.
Later that day, I was summoned by our toughest PE teacher to a punishment training session along with several other boys who had crossed the doctor and prefect. Both were in attendance to witness the session and indeed the doctor suggested ways of making it harder. He then praised my master's belting skills as among the best he'd seen.

Like Sam we did have a medical at the beginning of each school year and we had to line up outside the M.I. room naked.
We were then called in individually for the exam including examining our genitalia.
Again I do recall hearing of a few boys being advised to be circumcised as a result.

We had medical exams very like the ones Sam described, where everyone had to line up bare-chested. I also never understand why I had to take my shirt off just to have my eyes tested! For the rest of the exam you went through to the doctor's room and stripped to your briefs or boxers, then as and when necessary you'd be instructed to pull them down.

Sam you were lucky.
When we had our annual medical we had to line up outside the M.I. room stark naked until called in.
Again why we had to be naked to have our eyes and ears tested was beyond me although in a perverse way it made some sense to be naked to have our penises and testicles inspected!

When we had medicals(usually once a year)we had to line up outside the M.I. room stripped to the waist until called in individually.
Why we had to be bare-chested to have our eyes and ears tested I shall never know although it was obviously necessary for other parts.
Although done privately the most embarrassing part was having to drop our shorts for examination of our penises and testicles.

In reply to Bryan,it was a minor operation done under local anaeshetic was I was six years old.
I understand there are many reasons for this procedure :- religious,a necessary reason to prevent too tight a foreskin,hygiene and simply aesthetic reasons.
It certainly wasn't common practice at my school and boys are naturally inquisitive and were quite intrigued, as I was the odd one out.

I've no idea why it was as it was but I first noticed other boys being circumcised when starting secondary school i.e. about 11 years old.

To Roy, as you have shared that with us do you know why , and how old were you?

When I was at school in the sixties nearly all the boys were circumcised myself included.

Although people say "ouch" when referring to the circumcision of boys, I presume if they had reached puberty it was carried out under a general anaesthetic. Is this correct?

Interesting Bill`s comment re circumcision sometimes resulting as a consequence of school medical examinations.

In the context of communal naked showering at the end of school PE and games lessons (also naked swimming) one obvious (in the case of boys) distinction or difference that was there to be noticed was that some (normally the minority) were in fact circumcised (in the US though they were/are usually the majority).

When I was a boy there were three operations or medical procedures that it was fashionable to perform on boys (often contentiously on account of them not necessarily being medically necessary).These were tonsillectomy,"adenoids",and circumcision (the only one of these that I myself succumbed to was circumcision).

I have read that in the aforementioned shower and swimming situations circumcised boys (in the UK context) were made fun of or were objects of curiosity on account of being "different".Whilst I don`t doubt that this did indeed sometimes happen I have to say that as far as I am concerned personally (and posters may have had a different experience) I have never ever come across anything like this.

Since the BGS photo isn`t too far removed from the time when I was a boy and grammar schools being essentially middle class institutions (circumcision traditionally being favoured by the middle and upper classes) it is perhaps a fair bet that a sizeable minority of the boys pictured would have undergone at least one of the operations or procedures mentioned previously (including circumcision).

To Andrea. I remember a few boys being recommended for circumcision because of a tight foreskin. Ouch!

Yes I imagine that having your nan there would have been embarrassing - I certainly wouldn't have wanted my dad there for mine!

Does anyone recall the doctors finding anything that needed treatment during the tests on their classmates - I certainly can't?

With regards to school medical examinations, I only became worried when, I was about 15. It was an all boys school & the medicals had been held over a few days. The boys who had attended earlier in the week were telling us about how at the end of the check up they had to drop trousers and pants for the cough & drop and foreskin check. My problem was that parents had received letters inviting them to attend(but there was no mention of the intimate part of the check up.) So far no parents had attended and it those days it would be mostly mothers available as they tended to stay at home & dad worked had attended and I was concerned because I lived with my nan and I was horrified that she would feel she needed to come along and if she did she would see my bits.
Luckily, I managed to persuade her that as I was 15 I was old enough to go alone & there was no need for her to attend and she didn't. Just as well because, what the other boys had said would happen was true, and we stood there all our glory showing but at least we were seen individually whereas some boys tried to convince us we had to stand in a line. But it was a female doctor. Who introduced the final part of the exam with "drop your trousers & pants & don't be silly I've seen it so many times before.

To John from Ireland. What was it about your medical inspections which you hated so much?
I only remember one medical inspection in late primary school at about age 10. We had no privacy, it was done in groups in the presence of our female class teachers.

For others who had medical inspections at school, was there any privacy or was it done in front of others?
I know of some schools who required parents or some school staff to be present during the medical exams.

I remember school medicals very well. We had them every year. I was examined in my underpants, and at the end had to drop them, whilst foreskin was checked, and the good old "cough" test. Latterly I had my rectum inspected, but thankfully nothing was inserted. Embarrassing at the time.

I can remember having a couple of school medicals during my time at secondary school in the 1970s.These took place in the school medical room with our school nurse and a visiting doctor.

The first one was during my first year at Secondary School when I was about 11 and a half.
I can remember having to strip down to my vest and knickers and having my height and weight checked by the school nurse. She also checked my hands for warts and feet for verrucas. The doctor then asked me to lift my vest to so he could check my heart and lungs with the stereoscope.

The second medical was when I was about 15. In many ways it was similar to the first, except that by that time I was wearing a bra. I had to unhook it and partially remove it so the doctor could do a quick visual examination of my breasts. I didn't have to remove my knickers, but the nurse did have a quick peek down there and ask if my periods were regular.

We also had visits from time to time by 'Nitty Nora as well as the dreaded BCG injections.

Whilst not from the UK but Ireland this brings me back to my school days. We had to do PE bare chested all through the year and since it was boarding school we had an annual medical inspection which most of us hated.

We had school medical exams right the way from primary school until leaving at eighteen, I think they were every year but certainly at least every two years. At primary school it was in a room with a doctor and a nurse. There was a screen down the middle of the room and on one side you undressed down to underpants and saw the nurse and then when ready and the lad before you had gone went round the screen to the doctor, I can't remember exactly what happened but underpants were certainly down and testicles felt.

At grammar school it was referred to as a medical inspection and they took place in the gym. We went in class by class and lined up. We were told to undress and I can remember the first time we were told that any 'little boys' in the class could keep their underpants on but men should take them off. By that time we were used to taking off underpants for PE and having communal showers at the end and as no one wanted to be seen as a 'little boy' underpants came off. The doctor was an old navy doctor who was brusque and stood no nonsense. We had to line up and he moved his way along the line checking one part of each body at a time so ears, mouths and so on. Testicles were last and everyone had to take a turn to cough. In the last couple of years we also had to bend over and be checked internally by a rough and probing finger.

I am fairly certain we did have physical exams by a travelling school doctor in our secondary (grammar) school. Individually in an office, if I remember correctly, with a queue formed outside the door.
Can't really remember what they checked!
We certainly were checked by the "nit-nurse" in primary school but I am not sure if that carried on into secondary school.

In response to Curious, I am not aware of physical examinations taking place in any British secondary schools: we certainly did not have them. They did take place in our primary school - individually in the staff room, by a doctor working for the County Council. A member of staff was present although parents could attend if they wanted to. They hardly ever did.

I lately watched this documentary on the British Royal Marines and I was surprised to learn that recruits actually have to sleep naked. No boxer shorts or socks allowed and definitely no pyjamas,from 10:20 onward:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGzXJ3pRLQY

What were your school's physical exams like?
Where they done in groups or in privacy?
Were there chaperones, like parents or teachers, present?