Our monitors at the infant’s school were called Janet and John.

This sticks in my mind because our early readers were called Janet and John books.

Anyway, they were a prize pair and if they earned you a pair of smacked legs, the usual infant’s classroom punishment, they would grin like a pair of Cheshire cats.

Children were sent over the road for the cane, so they might well have had an escort.

All victims returned in tears but I can’t remember much more about it.

I do remember being told off for talking with my friend.

When my friend carried on I remember the schoolteacher telling him he was going to get the cane.

He ended up being taken outside and later he returned in a tearful state so I can’t say if he was caned or not.