Lads, chavs, and teabags: Growing up in the UK
From bedtime stories to GCSE flashbacks, this is the source of all that is wrong with me and my countrymen.
Side note: is there no teapot emoji?????
Side side note: open to suggestions especially from those older than Gen Z (unlike me) and my non-English UK inhabitants
created by SadieWhiteCoat
last updated June, 2026
Comments
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging! The language in that series is so unique, it had a huge impact on me and my friends during school.
Also there are tea emojis 🫖☕ but maybe the emoji provider that PB uses doesn't have them
yes, I couldn’t find those emojis on the dongle. Epic suggestion though, major oversight on my part
I can never find a teapot here either, though maybe it's somewhere. The teacup ☕ is under the food menu when you're adding them. Thankfully!! Gotta have that teacup!
aw thank you I’ve just made a change
Welcome! Brits must show tea solidarity!
Love this list idea lol. Are we looking for books that messed us up, specifically, or just those that raised us? Either way, I likely have quite a few to add from my childhood lol!
any/all suggestions of childhood reads are welcome
Love the title 😂 George Orwell's 1984 for this list perhaps?
I don’t think 1984 tends to be a thing you read much in schools or are exposed to from a young age (at least in my experience)(still never read it) BUT you’ve just reminded me animal farm exists and that DEFINITELY is still hanging about my little sister was reading it in school last year 😭
When I was young (70's-80's kid) a lot of us were reading adult fiction, definitely including this one - especially since YA didn't exist. I can't remember if we ever did it in school, mind!
That's fair! I'm not from the UK but I've just heard people from all over mention that they had to read it in school ☺️
Rolls up my sleeves
I grew up in the 70's-90's. Here's some of my biggest book memories!
Swallows and Amazons
The Borrowers
Watership Down
Dragonsong
What Katy Did
The Railway Children
Five Children and It
The School at the Chalet
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Secret Garden
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Winnie the Pooh
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Worst Witch
Carrie's War
Ballet Shoes
The Swish of the Curtain
The Children of Men
Not British but very much doing the rounds in my childhood/teens
Flowers in the Attic
Diary of a Young Girl
Sweet Valley High Series
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Nancy Drew series
The Princess Bride
In GCSE's and A levels I remember a lot of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, the Brontes, Thomas Hardy. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Colour Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies (pretty sure, on that last - we all read it anyways lol)
wow this is a stack! Some of these are definitely going straight on there: idk how I forgot Alice. Trying to keep the list UK authors only so some of these won’t go on, but thank you for the recs! I wanna keep this nostalgia trip universal to our miserable isles so your input is greatly appreciated :]
You're more than welcome! It was quite fun to splurge them out! 😂
Yeah several in the gcse section are American, plus the ones I noted weren't British. The first section are all UK.
Sidenote that I love that we were left to read whatever we wanted, but I'm also flabbergasted at some of the stuff we did read! 😂 Flowers in the Attic? Really, 90's??
Omg we should not forget the horrific Mills and Boons romances everyone was reading around the same time. Full on erotica every teen girl must have? 😂
Oh - wind in the willows lol!
oh yes wind in the willows! You know I just looked it up and what Katy did is an American book and I fully had no idea but actually the first book is set entirely in Ohio the more you know. But then I’d added slinky Malinky and that apparently is NZ and had to go (im trying to be strict about the origins of the books otherwise twilight would have to go on the list and IM NOT PUTTING TWILIGHT ON THE LIST)
Omg I completely forgot that!! Good thing you checked my memory!!
Hey did you know Jacqueline Wilson did a rewrite of that book, called Katy, without, I believe, the ableism?? It's been sitting in my audible library ever since it came out and I keep forgetting to read it lol! I will bump it up my TBR list while I think about it! Maybe after I finish reading all the Swallows and Amazons books!
Bahaha, I am so glad I was too old to catch the Twilight madness 😂
I don’t remember that! Her bibliography is so wide I missed that one however I do remember her retelling of five children and it, which I read several times and prompted me to seek out the original, which I never finished actually. Sorry five children and it 😔🫰
It's a huge and winding bibliography! I have only read a few, plus I think I've seen every adaptation? 🤔 She was a bit after my time and although I still read a lot of kids books, somehow she just largely passed me by! I'll have to get her 5 children and it reimagining, and read both of those, too! Not sure I'll like the original these days lol.
side note you did just unlock some major memories of reading the worst witch series lmao
You know what? I remember I read it, but I don't remember my reactions to that one at ALL. I was thinking I should put it on my TBR since I'm currently re-reading a load of classic kids books anyway. I also love the TV show!
Edit - actually I think I may have read them TO my little sister, rather than for myself.
I read them and reread them they were some perennial favourites. Don’t get me wrong, I remember ZERO plot points except a little tabby cat made a feature, but those were MASSIVE for me
Love that!! The books we read young have such a formative effect!
And yay kitties in books!
