Mine had BR CS&TE on the back, my Dad's had Norweb on his. Mine was better than his as it had a bright orange patch on the back which made me immune from being run over by a train.
The donkey jackets we had at work had white PVC over the shoulders. I knew someone who tried to take it off to make it look less conspicuous ........... the sleeves fell off.
Going back to the plug thread, I know what you mean, French plugs are no where near as good as British plugs and sockets, some of the stuff you get here is binable. The trailing sockets with the earth pin which sinks back into the socket drives me mad.