User: Jamie King

I had to wear shorts to school until I was 13, although most boys went into long trousers at 11. In the summer some of the older boys wore shorts but in the winter I was the only one kept in shorts at that age. The shorts were really short in those days and my legs were very long and white so I remember getting teased by children from other schools. There was a group of younger boys who used to follow me every morning. They would take their ties off and flick them at the backs of my legs to try and get a good snap which would sting like mad. The worst part was getting the belt on my legs (I went to school in Scotland so we were punished with the tawse). It was usually given on the hands but one teacher found my thighs too tempting a target. I don't think it was as painful as the hands because with a hand belting the tawse was hitting the same part each stroke but the marks lasted all day and it was really embarrassing.

I wore shorts to school in the 70s and definitely think boys should go back to wearing them. At that time our shorts were very short indeed and covered our bottoms and just the tops of our legs. Our grey socks were worn up to the knees which helped keep the bare legs a bit warmer in the winter but I can certainly remember walking to school with my bare thighs exposed to the freezing wind and rain up to the age of 13. The teachers took advantage of this and rulered and slippered our legs when we needed to be punished. When we got the cane we would often get a stroke just below the shorts so that it was very painful to sit down on a hard wooden chair afterwards. The girls got off very lightly with slapped wrists and sometimes the ruler behind the knees.

Slippered legs

At my school we were never given a choice of punishments. I think I would have chosen detention rather than the slipper. The slippers we got were really hard old leather ones and they were really painful. It was bad enough getting it on the bottom over shorts but usually we were given a few on the backs of the legs too. The stinging was unbelieveable and the red marks stayed on the legs for hours. My worst slippering was six on each leg for kicking a girl.

White shirt and tie, blazer, short grey shorts, knee length grey socks and black shoes.

At my school we were given the cane for most misbehaviours and I think it was a good way of punishing boys (and girls). It was far better to spend a minute getting the cane than an hour doing lines or some other long punishment. The girls used to get it on their hands and boys would get it across the bottoms or if (like me up to age 13) they wore shorts it was quite often across the backs of the bare thighs. It certainly stung a lot and left red lines across the legs but then you could get on with a good lesson learned.