Law of the Playground is the name of a website, book and television series which features members of the publics memories about school life. It styles itself "The least coherent encyclopaedia of playground insults on the internet"

Website

Set up in 1999, the site was founded by TVGoHome

TVGoHome

TVGoHome was a website which parodied the television listings style of the British magazine Radio Times. It was produced fortnightly from 1999 to 2001, and sporadically until 2003, by Charlie Brooker. The site now exists only in archive form...

 regular Jonathan Blyth, aka Log. Originally a part of www.disappointment.com, it grew until it warranted its own website.
The website describes its inception thus;

"The Law of the Playground was inspired in 1983 by an educationally fucked child called Adam Mason, who ran around the playground claiming to be "Cha-Man". He used to say "chaaaaa", all playtime, every playtime. This boy has remained at the forefront of one classmate's mind ever since. In 1999, a totem to this monument of cheerful spackery was built. And then, it grew."http://www.playgroundlaw.com/explore/about.shtml

The site allows people to post schoolyard stories, insults and urban legends related to their time at school. Stories can be submitted by anyone, but have to be vetted by the website administrators. By their own admission, standards of judging submissions are ill-defined and random. The only criteria that seems to be followed regularly is that the entry must be funny, with a "spark of ingenuity, oddness, or darkness"

The site does not appear to have been updated since October 2008.

TV series

In July 2006, the website made the leap onto mainstream television with a show commissioned by Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

. A different format to the website was followed, with celebrities including Vic Reeves

Vic Reeves

James Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....

, David Mitchell

David Mitchell (actor)

David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...

, Alan Carr

Alan Carr

Alan Carr is an English comedian and television personality. Born in Weymouth, he was raised in Northampton before moving to Manchester during his early 20's....

, Lee Mack

Lee Mack

Lee Gordon McKillop is an English stand-up comedian and actor, known by the stage name Lee Mack. He is well known in the United Kingdom for writing and starring in the sitcom Not Going Out, for being a team captain on Would I Lie to You? and for hosting Lee Mack's All Star Cast.-Personal life:Mack...

, Justin Lee Collins

Justin Lee Collins

Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, is an award-winning English comedian and television presenter.A Bristolian, he's well known for his strong West Country accent, shaggy appearance and colourful shirts....

 and Josie D'Arby

Josie D'Arby

Josie d'Arby is a Welsh actress and television presenter from Newport, Wales.-Biography:d'Arby went to Lliswerry High School in her younger years then went on to attend the Anna Scher Theatre School, and later the London School of Journalism.d'Arby began a presenting career while still a student...

invited to share humorous stories about various aspects of their school lives.

A second series, comprising 6 x 24 minute episodes, began broadcast on Channel 4 on February 1st 2008. It features a whole host of new famous faces reminiscing, as well as many from the first series.