There is no doubt that folk have been wearing long things on their legs as underwear since the beginning of time and the various users had different names for them: the French called them ‘longues jambes’, long legs, the Chinese ‘ Xianku’. For a while in the 20th century, many armies of the world used a ‘Union Suit’ which covered the whole body. The top was called ‘Qiuyi’ and the bottom ‘Quiku’. We are not sure why. Much speculation as to why the Brits call this form of apparel ‘Long Johns’ but the best informed guess is that it relates to the 19th century heavyweight boxer, John L Sullivan, who wore full leg cover during his fights. This begs the question as to what they were called before that. The 1980’s garment we have here in the collection takes the terminology a little further, being knee length therefore ‘Short John’s, though they could be ‘Long Johns’ for short people!