She showed no embarrassment when she told us that she had been slippered by the senior mistress on just one occasion. The punishment was administered with her bending over a chair with her skirt raised so that she got the three whacks on her navy blue knickers.

I remained silent throughout all this, although I felt myself getting rather hot. I was pleased when the conversation moved away from the subject and onto career advice at school and could again join in.

I felt guilty and embarrassed that I could not contribute to a conversation that the others, apart from the one extrovert man, saw as a bit of light-hearted banter.