Men in shorts

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33095, 9 December 1972, Page 14

Men in shorts

No-one who has seen a regiment of Gurkhas drilling in their crisp summer uniforms can have read without regret the recent report of the replacement of short trousers by long trousers in the British Army. If Hardy Amies were asked to nominate a race of men to wear shorts he would surely choose the Gurkhas; their trim hips, brown legs, and neat knees enable them to wear with confidence a garment that too often exposes other wearers to ridicule. Furthermore, the Gurkha soldier takes such a pride in his turnout that no sergeant-major needs to tell him when his brass needs polishing or when his shorts need a press. But since November the last Gurkha Regiment—the Transport—still wearing shorts in Hong Kong, has had to suffer the colony’s sticky climate in long trousers.

The services have broken down many a young man’s timidity about wearing shorts in th<J, street; until his knees have acquired a manly tan he can usually conceal himself in the middle of the platoon when marching past civilians. As he loses his selfconsciousness, he comes to value the comfort and convenience of his shorts, particularly in a hot or clammy climate; later he may even decide—unless he is bandy or knock-kneed — that shorts “do *• something ” for his appearance. The proportion of men wearing shorts is probably higher in Auckland than in any other city in the world. Surprisingly, not even Australians or South Africans venture forth to office work in major cities in the numbers to be seen in Auckland on a hot summer’s day.

Although London summer temperatures — and humidities — can be as uncomfortable as Auckland’s, men in shorts are such a rarity there that a visiting Australian wrote to “ The Times ” two years ago in defence of his “native costume”, noting that he was stared at more than any visiting Nigerian in flowing robes. It seems that Britons ever will be slaves to the “ long pants for men ” convention unless they serve abroad in the forces—or unless they emigrate to the Antipodes where, after two or three generations, they are liberated in short trousers.