ETON (EE-tuhn)
A
short black jacket with wide lapels and cut square at the hip
An
English secondary school
Common
clues: Harrow rival; School on the Thames; School founded by
Henry VI; Collar type; Preppy
jacket; British prep school; English school
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
Once a month
Frequency
in English language:
15109 / 86800
Video:
A
tour of Eton College
Eton
uniform
Eton
school is famous for its traditions, including a uniform of black
tailcoat (or morning coat) and waistcoat, false-collar and
pinstriped trousers. All students wear a white tie that is
effectively a strip of cloth folded over into the collar. There
are some variations in the school dress worn by boys in
authority, see School Prefects and King's scholars sections.
The
long-standing claim that the present uniform was first worn as
mourning for the death of George III is unfounded. "Eton
dress" has undergone significant changes since its
standardisation in the 19th century. Originally (along with a
top-hat and walking-cane) Etonian dress reserved for formal
occasions, boys wear it today for classes, which are referred to
as "schools". As stated above, King's Scholars wear a
black gown over the top of their tailcoats, and occasionally a
surplice in Chapel. Members of the teaching staff (known as
Beaks) are required to wear a form of school dress when teaching.
From
1820 until 1967, boys under the height of 5'4" were required
to wear the Eton suit, which replaced the tailcoat with the
cropped Eton jacket (known colloquially as a "bum-freezer")
and included an Eton collar, a large, stiff-starched, white
collar. The Eton suit was copied by other schools and has
remained in use in some, particularly choir schools.
Eton
College is
a public school (that is, an independent, fee-paying secondary
school) for boys in Eton, Berkshire near Windsor in England.
Eton
College Chapel
It
boards approximately 1,200 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 who
enjoy some outstanding facilities at a cost of over £23,000
(GBP) a year. As at most 'public schools', its pupils achieve
very good exam results. 'Public schools' in the English sense are
not state funded or run, rather they are the top independent
secondary schools.
It
is famous for its alumni (known as Old Etonians) and the archaic
traditions it maintains, including a uniform of black tailcoat
and waistcoat, false-collar and
pin-striped trousers. The uniform was first worn as mourning for
the death of George III, and the uniform is still worn today for
classes (known as "divisions" or "divs".)
Other idiosyncrasies include the Eton Field Game, the Eton Wall
Game, and the remnants of a peculiar slang.
The
school is popular with the Royal Family and has produced nineteen
Prime Ministers. There are many old Etonians in the Special Air
Service (SAS). See the list at the foot of this page for more
well-known Old Etonians.
Quadrangle,
Eton College
The
King's
College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor
was founded in 1440
by Henry VI as a charity school to provide free education to
seventy poor students who would then go on to King's College,
Cambridge, founded by Henry VI in 1441. Henry VI took half the
scholars and the headmaster from William of Wykeham's Winchester
College (founded 1382). Eton is modelled on Winchester College,
and became popular in the 17th century.
It
is often suggested that the Duke of Wellington claimed "The
Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton".
The credibility for this is believed by some to be dubious:
Wellington briefly attended Eton, for which he had no great love,
in the late 18th century, when the school had no playing fields
or organised team sports, and the phrase was first recorded three
years after the Duke's death. The Duke was, however, wildly
popular at Eton, visiting many times later in his life.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Eton College".
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