This memory goes back to the early 1960s. I can’t remember the time of year; only the fact that I was wearing shorts – but that’s really no indicator as back then, many boys were kept in short trousers pretty much all year round until quite an advanced age.
I was five at the time this happened, with a three-year-old sister. Times were hard, and both food and money were scarce.
For some reason, that day I decided to test my mother. I did so despite the fact that Mum was already regularly smacking my bottom. I don’t remember myself, but I’m told that spankings started for me when I was only two or three years old. I got this information from my sister, who must have asked Mum at some point about discipline during our childhoods.