Spot the Mark in 1984:

HoltbyCity wrote:

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cutcopy wrote:

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your High Schools look proper fancy! Are High Schools not co-ed in the UK?

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Most are now.  There were lots more single-sex up until the turn of the century though.

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 And we have a strange obsession with school uniforms. They are getting less fancy now as people are complaining having to buy items from one uniform shop that is then able to charge ridiculous prices, so there is more focus on basic items that can be bought cheaply in a supermarket. Every September, there is a spate of stories in the local press about kids getting sent home for having the wrong style of shoes or some such.

Fran wrote:

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Fran wrote:

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HoltbyCity wrote:

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cutcopy wrote:

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your High Schools look proper fancy! Are High Schools not co-ed in the UK?

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Most are now.  There were lots more single-sex up until the turn of the century though.

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 And we have a strange obsession with school uniforms. They are getting less fancy now as people are complaining having to buy items from one uniform shop that is then able to charge ridiculous prices, so there is more focus on basic items that can be bought cheaply in a supermarket. Every September, there is a spate of stories in the local press about kids getting sent home for having the wrong style of shoes or some such.

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 http://www.acrylicafternoons.com/qaston.html

This article mentions Pulp's first Peel session, when they were still at school, and them resisting being photographed in their school uniforms.

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Most Sheffield schools, uniquely for the UK, never had uniforms (and still don't).  Hence Jarvis' lederhosen experience even being possible.  It was a pre-war poverty legacy - i.e. some kids would be lucky to have one set of intact clothes, so the council made a blanket no uniforms policy accounting for that.  Mark is obviously from Chesterfield instead.  

cutcopy wrote:

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your High Schools look proper fancy! Are High Schools not co-ed in the UK?

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 Sometimes UK schools, co-ed, would photograph all the boys in a form/class and all the girls in a form/class separately. Don't know if Mark's was co-ed or not, but seems unlikely to be single sex by 1984, since almost all would be 'comprehensives' by then. The haircuts look too working class 80s for a private school, but I don't know, maybe there were still grammar schools in Chesterfield 1984? Guess if it was a grammar, would say on the sign, so can probably rule that out. Lots of different colour ties for some reason, so posher than my school anyway.

We had a generic uniform in my school days - white shirt, black or grey trousers, any shoes you fancied. No branded stuff that parents have to buy now (been a recent UK law change to restrict number of mandatory branded things parents have to buy). Only non-generic thing was the tie. I come from a dirt poor, near 100% working class town, nobody would have thought of asking us to wear blazers in those days.

Kids in many schools are still being made to wear ties, which seems increasingly outdated to me. Near antediluvian when fewer and fewer workplaces mandate ties. Bit 18th century to  have a length of cloth wrapped around your neck. Also gender biased as often females are exempted. Some schools locally still have rules that female students wear skirts and males wear trousers, which seems ridiculous in 2025.

Paperback edition at a more wallet-friendly price is coming next month. Nice cover!

https://www.roughtrade.com/product/mark-webber/im-with-pulp-are-you#51817158508875

Eamonn wrote:

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Paperback is out today with new content.

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 I pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago, said it would be out 4th of July. Maybe they've pushed it forward to capitalise on the huge interest at right now.