Mind you, at my primary school, leg slapping by the headmaster was the main form of corporal punishment ; it was several very hard smacks, over in a few seconds, but even the bigger boys quite openly admitted that they were terrified of it. (I seem to remember that I even heard member of the inner circle who had had the cane saying “it isn’t as bad as getting slapped by Mr —-.” That may have been bravado; but it might actually have been true that the head couldn’t bring himself to hit little boys very hard with a stick.)
I wonder what a spanking means? I can’t believe headmasters were turning boys across their knees even in the 1970s.