Listen to the text Getting Dressed for the Big School and try to read it in the same manner.0:07
Getting Dressed for the Big School After Roald Dahl when I was 12, my mother said to me, I've enrolled you at Marlborough and Repton.0:15
Which would you like to go to?0:30
Both were famous public schools, but that was all I knew about them.0:33
It was an easier word to say than Marlborough.0:45
Very well, my mother said.0:49
We were living in Kent then.0:54
Repton was up in the Midlands, near Derby and some 140 miles away to the north.0:56
On the day of my departure, I had to get dressed for the part.1:04
I had been to London with my mother the week before to buy the school clothes, and I remember how shocked I was when I saw the outfit of I was expected to wear.1:09
I can't possibly go about in those, I cried.1:21
Nobody wears things like that.1:26
Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?1:29
My mother said to the shop assistant.1:32
If he's going to Repton, madam, he must wear these clothes, the assistant said firmly.1:34
And now this amazing fancy dress was all laid out on my bed, waiting to be put on.1:42
Put it on, my mother said.1:49
Hurry up or you'll miss the train.1:52
I'll look like a complete idiot, I said.1:54
My mother went out of the room and left me to it.1:59
With immense reluctance I began to dress.2:03
First there was a white shirt with a detachable white collar.2:07
To attach the collar to the shirt you needed a back stud and a front stud.2:12
It took me ages to get the studs through the slits of the collar starched stiff.2:18
I tried for all I was worth, but they just wouldn't go.2:25
Finally, I put both the front slits of the collar into my mouth and chewed them until they were soft.2:30
And at last I was able to get the studs through the collar slits around the collar.2:37
I tied a black tie using an ordinary tie knot.2:44
Then came the trousers and the braces.2:50
The trousers were black with thin grey lines running down them.2:54
I buttoned the braces onto the trousers, six buttons in all.3:00
Then I put on the trousers and fixed the braces to the correct length.3:05
I put on a brand new pair of black shoes and laced them up.3:10
Now for the waistcoat.3:16
This was also black and it had 12 buttons down the front and two little waistcoat pockets on either side, one above the other.3:19
I put it on and did up the buttons, starting at the top and working down.3:29
I was glad I didn't have to chew each of those buttonholes to get the buttons through them3:36
This was bad enough for a boy who had never before worn anything better than a pair of shorts and a blazer.3:44
But the jacket put the lid on wasn't actually a jacket.3:52
It was a sort of tailcoat, and it was without a doubt the most ridiculous garment I had ever seen.3:58
Like the waistcoat, it was jet black and made of a heavy material.4:06
In the front, the two sides of it met only at one point.4:13
Here there was a single button, and this had to be done up.4:19
From the button downwards, the lines of the coat separated and came together again at the back of the knees, forming a pair of tails.4:24
When you walked, these tails flapped against your legs.4:35
I put the thing on and did up the front button.4:40
Feeling like an undertaker's apprentice in a funeral parlour, I crept downstairs.4:44
My sisters shrieked with laughter when I appeared.4:52
He can't go out in those.4:56
Hell be arrested by the police.5:00
Put your hat on, my mother said, handing me a stiff, wide, brimmed straw hat with a blue and black band around it.5:02
I put it on and did my best to look dignified.5:14
The sisters fell all over the room laughing.5:18
My mother got me out of the house before I lost my nerve completely and together we walked through the village to the station.5:23
Nobody's taking the slightest notice of you, my mother said as we walked through High Street.5:31
And curiously enough, nobody was.5:38
I have learnt one thing about England, my mother went on.5:42
It's a country where men love to wear uniforms and eccentric clothes.5:47
200 years ago, their clothes were even more eccentric than they are today.5:53
Think how lucky you are.5:58
You don't have to wear a wig on your head and ruffles on your sleeves.6:00
I still feel an ass, I said.6:06
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