During the early 1990s, my mum had a little part-time job which helped with the bills but meant that I had to be looked after by someone else. Not having any relatives living close to us, she decided to put me in the care of Mrs Mason, a local registered childminder. I usually went to […]

Down the street from us lived a boy named Eddy. We were not supposed to play with him, because he came from a very different kind of background. Nanny called it ‘breeding’. Eddy was allowed to run freely through the neighbourhood and had several brothers and sisters, who we all knew in the neighbourhood as […]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, I attended a boarding school in the Midlands region of England, close to the Cheshire border. It remains a boarding school to this day with a similar name, so I will not mention that name, despite the school having gone through a number of changes. When I attended […]

One of the most severe spankings I ever got was actually from my brother’s then girlfriend, Helen. At the time I was 12 years old and had a complete girl crush on her. Helen was dark haired and beautiful. Because of my crush on her, I was always trying to get her attention, and more […]

My friend Glyn and I were mad about dogs. I wanted one but my parents vetoed the idea. Glyn’s family had a lovely old German Shepherd who we spent a lot of time fussing and playing with. One thing Glyn wasn’t allowed to do with the dog, though, was to take it for a walk. […]

Growing up, I was mostly looked after by my grandmother, as my parents worked long hours and were often out of the city (or indeed the country) for extended periods. As this was the case, my grandmother lived in our house and was mine and my siblings’ guardian at these times. She was fairly old-fashioned […]

Probably the worst strapping I ever received was when I was staying with my aunt, while I was visiting the neighbourhood I use to live in. Our family and my aunts lived in the same building in the city from the time I was born until, and were very close.My father and uncle worked long […]

When one lives in a house of servants, one must respect the work and turf of each person as being almost sacred. Servants are professionals, deserving all of the respect due to anyone in such a role. We were raised never to interfere with the work of any servant, never to be rude or demanding, […]

  My Mother had hired a sitter for me for two weeks – our nanny was on vacation. Anyway, the sitter came to watch me and my sister for a few days. I was making life hard for the sitter – everything she told me to do, I just ignored her. I would not eat […]

My mum was a big believer in corporal punishment, so not surprisingly my sister and I were often across her knee, with our underpants down, during our childhoods. All these punishments were administered with a small wooden paddle, which was known by a number of names in our household. It was sometimes referred to as […]