Friends Reunited and Aging Badly

Chris Worth writes:

…on my first visit to your blog I was gratified to note friendsreunited.co.uk. I hereby defy your scornful insight into the banality of British life (since you mention the area where I grew up, Northamptonshire): When I registered at the site, the first two entries of people-I-went-to-school-with went something like this.

‘After leaving school I became a drug addict, then entered the porn industry, where I am still.’ ‘I am no longer known as Tim after undergoing sex reasssignment surgery in 1993.’ I didn’t read beyond the first two. Well… my old school DID once make the front page of a national tabloid (religious studies teacher had been holding black magic sex parties in her home – rented from the school governor…)

And some people wonder why I dropped out at 16.

I actually didn’t intend the two updates I quoted to be anything more than truly random examples. No scorn intended.

I came across Classmates.com, a site that does something similar for those clever enough to have been born in the US. But the real hook is the large album of celebrity high school photos on their site. I don’t hide the fact that I enjoy celebrity gossip (well, except in the sense that I never admit it, deny it when asked, and claim that the copy of The National Star is for my teenage daughter), and this is a good site to feed that particular jones. Here you’ll learn that:

• Ronald Reagan and Mr. Rogers have never ever changed their hair styles
• Fidel Castro wasn’t born with a beard
• Katy Couric was always perky
• The guy who played Screech on Save by the Bell can see his future face foreshadowed in the young Lyle Lovett
• Frank Zappa looks out of place in his mortaboard
• Elvis was even more Elvisy in high school

As far as my own high school photo goes: you shouldn’t ask.

Categories: Uncategorized dw