User: MartinCoffee

I was a teenager in the 70s when some boys stopped wearing shorts as young as 8 whilst a few still had to wait until they were 14.

I was a pageboy when I was about 9 and wore a navy sailor's outfit. It was a dress but the skirt was cut so it looked like baggy shorts. I cried the first time I had to put it on but when I was shown it looked like shorts didn't mind wearing it. My girl cousins loved them for the same reason and they got similar ones in slightly different styles including white and we used to swap them around between us so my mother never quite knew what I'd be wearing. I often had a white one at home so my mother had to keep white knee socks for me to wear. I was particularly friendly with one of my girl cousins and often stayed with her family and sometimes wore one with her into my teens.

I was still wearing shorts when I was 12 and had been told I could have long trousers when they were outgrown although my parents weren't very keen on this. My shorts were fairly tight by my 13th birthday and I was expecting them to be replaced soon but fate intervened. I was to be pageboy again at a wedding but this time wear a short trouser suit, an ordinary light grey one which I could wear at other times. My parents also used this as an excuse to keep me in shorts saying I would be uncomfortable wearing a short trouser suit when I was used to long trousers.