Meet Man Who Hasn’t Worn Shoes or Socks For 50 years

I won’t put the buggers back on until the day I die,” a 69-year-old former telephone exchange engineer, Pete Mckenzie, proudly proclaimed one day after throwing away his shoes. He has held true to his promise. Mckenzie has been walking barefooted for the past 50 years, renouncing shoes, sandals, slippers and socks even on important occasions like his wedding.
According to Express UK, Pete’s bizarre resolution has made him something of a legend in Birmingham’s pubs, where he is widely known as ‘Pete the Feet’. He spends a major chunk of his day at these pubs, hawking homemade merchandise like stickers and cigarette lighter covers branded with his personal logo of two bare feet.
“I don’t like shoes, or in fact anything on my feet,” he explained. “Even when I got married, I didn’t wear shoes – and that was in a church. My wife has maybe seen me wearing shoes once or twice, but my daughter hasn’t and my granddaughters definitely haven’t,” he said.
Pete has been happily married for 44 years and luckily his wife doesn’t have a problem with his barefooted obsession.
“They just don’t suit me, they don’t suit my feet. As far as I can remember, I never liked wearing shoes. I was walking home once when I was 16 and took my shoes and socks off and flung them over a bridge.” Pete was in his early 20s when he started going barefoot, and despite repeated pleas from his mother to put on some shoes, he eventually stopped wearing them altogether.
He is now so used to doing without shoes that the snow doesn’t even feel cold under his feet. Pete claims that even in sub-zero temperatures, his bare feet are actually warm.
Dirt hasn’t been much of a problem for Pete either. “People seem to think that I collect dirt, but the fact is that I wash my feet every day,” he said.
Pete said that he is surprised at all the attention his feet get him. He thinks it’s actually quite silly that people find it astonishing.
“I don’t think people should be so bothered – I find it amusing really. I do get nasty comments but it doesn’t bother me. Sometimes I’ll go to the pub and they say sorry I can’t serve you, you haven’t got shoes on,” he said.