‘What are some UK equivalents of ‘peaked in high school’?’ – 21 people whose greatest success is far, far behind them

When you’re at school there are some people who dominate the place. They’re either the most popular or the most feared, and everyone knows who they are.

But when they leave school their status leaves with them. You can’t put ‘scariest girl in Year 11’ on your CV, after all.

Over on the AskUK subreddit, user TripleBladedFist posted about this phenomenon…

What are some UK equivalents of “peaked in high school”?

I’m always hearing about American stories like “such and such still brags about being the quarter back” or “blah blah was prom queen” etc.

Anybody have stories, examples, people they’ve run into and you’ve thought, “they definitely peaked in secondary school.”‘

And lots of people chipped in with their thoughts on folks whose school days really were the best days of their lives…

1.

‘”Hardest kid in school”. Some people try to carry that attitude in adulthood and fail to grow up.’
–HuffyStriker

2.

‘PE teachers in the 90s were some of the worst people on the planet who just wanted to relive their own glory days of being sporty and bullying the unfit and uncoordinated nerds.’
–AdaandFred

3.

‘Any sporting achievement below age 16. There are pensioners who still talk about being the county cross country champion when they were 13.’
–inforabenny

4.

‘Being the ‘popular’ kid. You’re a minor celebrity at school but then you go into the real world and no one gives a shit anymore. I’m glad I was an outcast now.’
–Littlemouse0812

5.

‘Ha this. Friend of mine is married to the ‘fittest guy in school’. He’s 50 and still acts like it.’
–dudleymunta

6.

‘The female equivalent is being the prettiest. No matter how beautiful you are, a beautiful 25 year old will get more attention than a beautiful 50 year old and if that’s your metric for success, it’s not going to be very enriching as you age.’
–Icy_Mango6803

7.

‘The popular kids from my school still act exactly like they did back then. They’ve all married each other and have affairs with each other, go to the same bars, they all work for each others parents, and get lots of plastic surgery so they look the same. It’s been 15 years since we all left, it’s quite depressing.’
–smidgit

8.

‘People who bring up their A-level results in the workplace. I worked with a guy in his 30s who would boast about his 3 A*s at A-level.’
–WeirdF

9.

‘Not quite the same but I bumped in to a guy I haven’t seen for about 20 years a few weeks ago. He’s still a massive party head, but obviously because we’ve all moved on and grown up, he hangs around with 20 year olds. He looks about 15 years older than he is and just gave off a really sad vibe. He poked a bit of fun, saying how we’re all old and boring now. I felt really bad for him.’
–BubblyLetter5121

10.

‘There’s a guy at work who still happily tells tales of the times he was disruptive at school, getting kicked out of class and how great it was.

He’s in his 50s.’
–GruffScottishGuy

11.

‘The back row of seats in the school bus, that was the exclusive territory of the hardest kids. And the central seat there, commanding a clear view down the bus- that’s where the Alpha can be found. Truly the peak of achievement.

Of course, the kid who sat there is now 50, fat and moaning about how Britain is doomed from his tacky apartment in Dubai.’
–HoneyGlazedBadger