Mr. J., a teacher at the junior school I attended in London, took great delight in smacking the bottoms of ten-year-old girls who were talking after lights out during our week-long stay at a summer camp on the South Coast. In school, corporal punishment was limited to a few slaps on the legs.
A few days before our departure to the summer camp, our female teacher, during her speech to the class on how we must behave in Sussex, announced that anyone who talked after lights out would receive a smacked bottom. Having got us away from our parents for a week, the staff no doubt felt at liberty to indulge their deepest flagellant desires.
Mr. J. had a wonderful time. During the day it was hands-up skirts on the South Downs, and at night it was lurking outside the girl’s dormitories listening for the whispered conversation that would give him the excuse to indulge in a spot of bottom-smacking, before retiring to his lonely room.