I was having a chat with a friend recently when the subject of knickers came up – or to be more precise it was the word ‘knickers’ because it seems that it’s a quintessentially British word and I must admit that I often use it when I’m mildly annoyed by something. Oh knickers, or Knickers to that or Don’t get your knickers in a twist – that’s Joan’s favourite.

I had an elderly friend who was quite obsessed by knickers and it was never long into any conversation with her before the word popped out. The word knickers somehow lightens a moment and brings a smile to many a face – don’t ask me why! The word underpants just doesn’t have the same panache and briefs sounds too legal.

Anyway, I was flicking through my copy of Modern Knitting Illustrated (1945) when I came across the above ladies who are modelling what was obviously the height of wartime fashion in Britain and would have been the sort of thing which my friend Marjorie was wearing at that time.

All I can say it no wonder that old parachutes were in such high demand for making into knickers because wearing those ones illustrated must have been akin to wearing a hair shirt. Parachute silk next to the skin must have been heaven compared with wool. They’re knitted in 2-ply wool and it would have been real wool, nothing like nylon or anything else man-made, and you know how much wool makes you itch!

I wish I could remember what it was I read recently which had a woman reminiscing about London during the war and saying that there was no getting away from it – London was smelly. No wonder as what with only being allowed one bath a week and the difficulty in getting clothes dry in our weather, I suspect that knickers were only washed once a week too!