Not a lot you can say about a pair of long johns – and it gets worse as we don’t know where this pair came from and there’s no maker’s name. Of a little more interest perhaps is where the name ‘Long John’s’ comes from, and whilst there is never a definitive answer with such things, the consensus is that the progenitor is John L. Sullivan, last of the great bare knuckle fighters (1858-1918) An American born heavyweight boxer, Sullivan always wore a form of long thermal pants when fighting, and the name of Long John’s is thought to have derived from this. That thermal underwear has been around for a long, long time we are sure, and no doubt will be for some time yet.