Clitheroe Royal Grammar School

I remember the horrid wool swimming trunks described by Ivan. They were scratchy when dry and sagged alarmingly when wet. Was there was no alternative until polyester or nylon became available?

on the subject of swimming trunks. I remember as a young boy that the swimming trunks I wore were woollen. They sagged badly and were very uncomfortable and scratchy.
Does any one else remember them? I was much happier when trunks started being made form other material as they are today.

Matthew S
If l recall correctly, swimming trunks in the 1960s had a higher waist, almost to the navel, rather like the Y Fronts of the period, so had much more material than the budgie-smuggler style.

As you were an all boys school why wasn't naked an option, this was the 70s like you said. As long as the pool was private just for your class and nobody else. I'd have stuck my hand up for that rather than miss out.

We had a hilarious swim day back in the 70's at my all boys school where there was a mix up on the day we were booked to go along to the pool with school for our lesson and nobody came to school with anything to go to the pool with. I must have been about 9 at the time. We were upset about this but it wasn't possible for most of us to return home in time and get our stuff.

Some cheeky lad I knew shouted out why can't we go in with our pants on and his suggestion got taken seriously because they didn't want to disappoint us and lose a lesson we'd booked and I think pre-paid for too. The headmaster came to our class to discuss the matter and agreed that we could go swimming in our pants, but only if we wanted to, nobody had to do it. There was a show of hands and most went up, so off we went. I don't think anyone sat the swim out by the pool just watching.

But after all this effort the lesson had to end within 15 minutes and we all had to get out the pool and dress again because a lot of boys had pants that simply would not remain in place and were coming off while swimming. I remember many of us finding it hilarious but a couple of flustered teachers, we had a male and a female one take us swimming, and the lady Mrs Garrett who was a sporty woman herself was the main swim teacher who took nearly all swim lessons and taught nearly everyone at my school how to swim at some stage or gave instruction.

We had to begin shaking and drip dry for a few moments after getting out because no towels. I think some of us used our coats as well as a makeshift drier. But then we didn't have a dry pair of pants to put on and nobody had actually thought about that rather important fact until it was too late so we all wrung our pants out and went back to school commando, nobody in our class wearing our pants back at school but only we all knew that, nobody else and it didn't notice.

That day may not have turned out as expected but despite the obvious problem we still made an effort to do it whereas now there would be no chance and they'd just give up trying and we'd be sitting in class having extra maths or something rather than swim even in those amusing circumstances.

In normal swimming lessons in the 70's we were always told to bring goggles and had to wear them quite a lot, and they always misted up and caused more problems than they solved. I hated them.

I favour swim shorts and they are what I wear to swim nowadays or when I've been on holidays down the years. Admittedly on holiday it can be hard not to be judgemental if you see someone else wearing something that looks hideous on the swimwear front. I'm thinking of those thong type swim things that are no more than a pouch at the front and a thin piece of fabric that vanishes up the behind more or less leaving you being mooned at after they've passed you by. That was a more common sight a few years ago now.


I think a large number that day would have happily just got rid of the pants and carried on but that was not going to be allowed so we had to get out.

The class walked two by two filing along to the pool, a ten minute walk from our school and we changed like normal and just left our pants on and went to the pool.

Turner, excuse my ignorance, but I thought brief-style trunks, which I remember wearing in school swimming lessons in the early '90s, and "budgie-smugglers" were the same thing. Please, what is the difference?

A programme on TV about the 1976 heatwave included clips of beach scenes where all the men wore close-fitting trunks as described by David or briefs-style trunks but there were no budgie smugglers or Speedo-type which are best left to professional divers. Marks & Spencer offer only loose-fitting shorts which l believe are not allowed in public swimming baths in France.

The term budgie smugglers never fails to make me smile when I see it used.

I agree with you, avoid them, not a great look for most of us.

I think that excessively tight "budgie smugglers" don't really suit a lot of people very well. Likewise I don't think overly long baggy swim shorts are that great either. I think the best look is a pair of fairly firm fitting trunk style shorts a bit like boxers. Certainly do not wear anything else underneath swim attire.

A few years ago when I hadn't been swimming for a number of years a friend asked me to join him at the local swimming pool for an evening swim and encouraged me to start doing that again more generally. I went along to a store and tried on some traditional old style swimming trunks, or budgie smugglers, and was horrified how bad they looked on me even though I'd worn such style years earlier not caring what they looked like and my body shape was not much different, no fat hanging over or any of that.

I thin that excessively tight "budgie smugglers" don't really suit a lot of people very well. Likewise I don't think overly long baggy swim shorts are that great either. I think the best look is a pair of fairly firm fitting trunk style shorts a bit like boxers. Certainly do not wear anything else underneath swim attire.

A few years ago when I hadn't been swimming for a number of years a friend asked me to join him at the local swimming pool for an evening swim and encouraged me to start doing that again more generally. I went along to a store and tried on some traditional old style swimming trunks, or budgie smugglers, and was horrified how bad they looked on me even though I'd worn such style years earlier not caring what they looked like and my body shape was not much different, no fat hanging over or any of that.

In reply to Turner. I agree that for some reason as he said " Men and boys would be terrified to show so much skin nowadays!" I always find it interesting that whereas as he says some men are not suited to the briefer type swim wear, how many mature ladies wear bikinis that are also not flattering but that seems to be okay.
However, I find that when on holiday in places like Turkey or Greece the majority of males wear swim briefs.

Like lvan and his family my Dad, my uncle, cousins and l wore briefs-style swimming trunks. l seem to remember they had a higher waist than modern Speedos but also high leg openings. Men and boys would be terrified to show so much skin nowadays! ln the current heatwave newspapers have had photos of crowded beaches at Bournemouth, Brighton etc and without exception the men are wearing voluminous shorts. By the size of their bodies they are right to keep them covered!

It is interesting making comparisons between style and fashions now and of our parents.
the only time I saw my dad in a pair of shorts was in an old wold war 2 army photo when he was serving with the RAMC in Egypt.
apart from that I reamer him always wearing long trousers except for when we were on the beach for our summer holidays.
then he m7yself and elder brother wore shorts but swimming trunks( the briefs style ) to go into the sea. Remember changing on the beach behind a towel?
In time swimming shorts came into fashion and were worn to the beach and in the sea and when they dried out we had no need to change.
And nowadays I still wear swimming shorts for that convenience factor but revert to swim trunks when swimming in the pool at the gym I attend.

Turner 'lt's bizarre how boys are dressed in long trousers almost as soon as they are out of nappies nowadays. Children are dressed like adults while the adults dress like children. l don't think my Dad possessed a pair of shorts in his life but they seem to be de rigueur for everyone now, not just postmen.'


What a brilliantly perceptive comment this is. You're bang on the money with it.

I wore shorts to school if I wanted to until I was eleven. I didn't have to, I chose to on nice days.

When it came to cross country later I seem to remember a ragtag of vests, tea shirts and a handful of shirtless boys all in the mix. We kind of decided for ourselves and that seemed okay for the most part.

Proper gym was a bit stricter, much of the time we were told not to put any kind of top on and just show our upper bodies off.

Don't get me started on blokes in their 50s and 60s at the gym wearing an earring and who try to have their hair styled like a teenager.

Turner, you make a brilliant point here, a kind of role reversal and what you say I've seen plenty of today with adults doing jobs wearing shorts when it doesn't seem appropriate to do so even in summer. I had a computer technician visit my home yesterday who sounded very professional on the phone but when he came to the house he was wearing some unfashionable sports shorts, white socks, trainers and a blue sleeveless top that looked similar to a vest. The absolute state of some people nowadays. He was no youngster either. He was basically dressed for going down the local gym, not doing technical house calls.

lt's bizarre how boys are dressed in long trousers almost as soon as they are out of nappies nowadays. Children are dressed like adults while the adults dress like children. l don't think my Dad possessed a pair of shorts in his life but they seem to be de rigueur for everyone now, not just postmen.

It is interesting to compare the trends or fashion nowadays with say the mid 50's when I was just a young child. Irrespective of the weather we always wore shorts, (for school very tight short grey shorts) through out the year even in winter. This being so for many boys our legs in particular were acclimatised to being exposed to all weathers.
Long trousers were not worn until you became a teenager, and for me nearer the age of 14 because I was not a very tall boy and always looked quite young for my age. If he had had his way my father would have stuck to the old mantra of his time that "you only wore long trousers when you left school and wet out to work Then you were a man"
A lot different to nowadays when boy s start at infant school wearing long torusers.

To make men of boys Chris.

What both Oliver and Bernard describe here was also not uncommon at secondary schools in the latter 70's and early 80's because I did just the same on about 25 to 30 occasions over three years in that period. Right up to Christmas holidays we did it, not after. It's one of those things that was far worse to spend time thinking about than actually getting to grips with and doing for real, although in my case it got dumped on us with no warning the first time it happened which was actually some point around late September or early October. It had the effect of dragging at least a bit of confidence out of you even if you didn't really feel like it. They did it for a definite reason of some kind but I'm not quite sure what it really was.

Oliver - I'm wondering when that was.

I was at my all boys grammar school from the mid 60s to early 70s. Our p.e. kit was supposed to have been shorts, t-shirt and plimsolls but most of us only ever wore the shorts and soon gave up bringing in the shirt and plimsolls. There were about 90 in the year group and once the elite football group (the only ones to wear more than just shorts) had gone to practise the remainder of us were divided into three groups. These groups, of just over 20 each, rotated around 3 activities including cross country. Thus we could expect to be sent out on a cross country run every third week whatever the weather. However, if the football pitches were considered unfit for use - waterlogged or frozen, we would all be sent on a run.
We got used to running in cold conditions and I too have vague recollections of seeing a little steam coming off our bare tops. I think you are right about confidence building - both in terms of not worrying about other people seeing you so scantily clad and also in finding that such an experience was not really as bad as you had feared.

Comment by: Phil on 11th June 2023 at 22:28


My Durham grammar school head PE master took literally dozens of boys, possibly as many as 50 of sometimes, out together on lengthy winter cross country runs without our shirts on. Initially it was quite a surprise finding myself in that situation but nobody said anything about doing so. Tops stayed firmly back in the school locker room on running days at age 13 up. Not that we went out in snow or in severe freezing frosty conditions in that way, just what I'd call average winter type days, often cloudy and overcast and sometimes quite mild and maybe wet. I do have many memories of rainfall coming down on my body. No matter how heavy the rain we always went out. It was doing us all good you see, that was the mantra drilled into us but only the boys ran this way, not our PE masters. They wore vests mostly or even jackets. I got used to it very quickly and putting the wettest days aside, it really wasn't as bad as you'd imagine in the end once you got in your stride into a steady running pace. I'm convinced I'm not mis-remembering this but dependent on conditions you'd see some of our body skin actually giving off what looked like a slight steaming effect after we finished and stopped from a five miler like that, possibly due to rapid evaporation or rain in a certain temperature.

So yes, shirtless running was a thing, I did it myself and took it on the chin. I wouldn't have chosen to do it, wasn't best fond of it at first but grew accustomed and became very used to it. In some way it did provide a lesson in gaining confidence.

Hi Sam
Thanks for your comments. I was totally unphased by the matter. I have known Dan his entire life. My observation was about how some young people spread to have no inhibitions whilst others are very self-conscious.

I've just seen what you wrote Steve. Were you awkward that he approached you like that?

I suppose doing things like that in your own street deciding for yourself is a whole different ballgame (excuse the pun) to the school telling you en masse to do so, with all the different personality types.

But what makes me answer you is I was sitting on a bus last weekend and a chap about the same age as your one, about 20, got on in his shorts, flashy trainers and no top at all, and sat across from a couple of old dears. They even got up a bit of small talk for a moment or two, he seemed nice, certainly looked good shape whatever he had been doing. But when he alighted off the bus, the two old dears had a right old bitch with one of those 'what are they like nowadays' conversations, really seemed disapproving. They didn't have the nerve to say so though when they engaged a few words.

When I was at school I used to do shirtless PE frequently, especially the gym almost always in two schools I attended. That was no concern but I didn't tend to like going about outside of school in my home area like that, if I was in the sun in the back garden I'd always pop a top on to go somewhere else. I wouldn't have ever got on public transport shirtless but it certainly would not bother me at all if others wish to.

I was in Secondary School in Merseyside between 1977 and 1984. We were shirtless in the gym but never ran cross country shirtless and always wore shirts when outside. We did have communal showers. The water temperature was fine and I don’t recall people raising objections to showering although some people would just wet their hair so it looked like they had showered rather than shower properly.
The issue of shirtlessness seems to focus on being made to do it rather than having a choice. When I came home on Thursday I encountered our neighbours 19 year old son running up and down the street dressed only in shorts and trainers. When he had finished he came to chat with me d as of explained he was doing a couch to 5K challenge. Dan went to the same local school as my son’s and had never had to experience shirtless p.e. lessons and yet here he was enjoying exercising shirtless in the sunshine and then standing chatting without any inhibitions.

I'm amazed by all these comments about having to run bare chested in the depths of winter - or at all. I don't ever recall this at my grammar school in the 60's and 70's, and neither do I remember any of my friends at other schools having to do it.

Nowadays I suspect it would be grounds for a sex discrimination claim - though I suppose they could get round that by mandating that the girls ran bare-chested as well! ;-)

I have commented previously on pe kit at my all boys school 1961 to 66. PE indoors no tops sorts no pants plimsolls . We did not have cross country very often and a s far as I remember only in spring summer. tis was running laps around our sports field so I suppose not cross country as usually meant in it's full sense. For this we wore tops but there was no specific uniform and we wore a t shirt or singlet.

However, when we di athletics ie filed sports outdoors in preparation for sports day we did not wear any tops, again just shorts and plimsolls.

I'm amazed by all these comments about having to run bare chested in the depths of winter - or at all. I don't ever recall this at my grammar school in the 60's and 70's, and neither do I remember any of my friends at other schools having to do it.

Nowadays I suspect it would be grounds for a sex discrimination claim - though I suppose they could get round that by mandating that the girls ran bare-chested as well! ;-)

Devlin, for us taking your shirt or vest off outside was normal. Football and rugby were done skins vs vests or shirts depending on which teacher it was and like you it was everyone topless
for cross country. As you said some preferred it, others less so but there was no choice when the teacher said "strip off!"

Grammar school cross country 1966-70 for me didn't look like the photo here. We always went out running with mandatory no vests on and the only times we did go out running the school cross country with a vest was if there was snow or a frost on the ground. Otherwise we stepped out even in the midst of a January afternoon feeling the air directly on our whole upper body. It was considered good for us to do that, and even if we didn't think it was doing us much good or felt uncomfortable about it we were still going to do it anyway. Going bare chests was quite the thing for the 60's grammar pupils where I went. After you'd run just one or two cross country's like this you did suddenly feel more resilient and capable of much more. Some did it through gritted teeth but nobody would dare say no to it. There was always the mandatory hot communal showers to warm up with at the end which we all shared together and if it had been a cold run we got a couple of extra minutes to hang about in them.