I’ve written about my first caning at school which got me six of the best at the age of 11 and mostly undeserved. I say ‘mostly’ because I did lie when I should have told the truth and if I hadn’t done that I might have avoided being punished at all, and because I was technically guilty of the things I was punished for as well. I just had what I felt then, and I still feel now, was a good explanation as to why I did it. But I lied rather than explain because I was frightened and I
“Turn around; now bend over the back of the chair.” “Please, Sir! Please. I didn’t do anything wrong, Sir!” I’d been on the verge of tears for the last few minutes, but now they were beginning to flow freely. I was terribly frightened of what was about to happen to me, but the worst thing was that I truly did not believe I deserved it. I was only eleven years old and I had been at my grammar school for about four weeks. It had been made very clear to us from our first day that the cane was used