Blast from the past: Backing our school books with wallpaper

There were many cover versions, from the groovy 60s and 70s styles, that could have come straight off the walls of Father Ted and Dougal’s living room, to the floral, ditsy ones.

Wood chip and anaglypta were brilliant choices as you could pick off the bits when the teacher was droning on about fractions, or some such.

A book’s backing material gave one an insight into the home life of classmates.

The offspring of farmers would use the sturdy paper from potato sacks. Actual brown wrapping paper was taking it up another notch on the social scale.

Shiny wallpaper with soft velour appliqued designs clearly indicated a well-to-do family, whilst sticky-back clear laminate was a signal the kid’s family were the equivalent of the Ewings!

In secondary school, some of the cooler kids (that ones that would Tippex band names on their schoolbags) would rip pages from Smash Hits to decorate their books, enabling us to judge an owner by its cover.

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