She took hold of my chin and looked me in the eye. “You’ve got the face of an angel and hands that are a gift from God. Now let’s see if you’ve got a nice little bottom that the Lord made for spanking, shall we? Take your trousers down!”

That extract, on the perils of masturbation, is from one of the most famous Victorian school stories, the Reverend F.W. Farrar's Eric or Little by Little. Farrar was one of the many reverend gentlemen who turned their hands to writing boys' school stories. Experts in the field of the Victorian school story will tell you that Eric is a far more influential tale than Tom Brown's Schooldays. I can never work out why Thomas Hughes' famous work is so popular, although it has provided us with one of the great heroes of English fiction in the school bully, Flashman, immortalised by George MacDonald Frazer in his excellent Flashman books. I held out my hand, albeit with a dollop of attitude, but Aunt Pam said: ““You silly boy! I’m not going to cane your hands – there’s far too much risk of injury, especially as you play the piano. There’s only one place God has decreed that naughty boys should be punished, and that’s on the bottom.”Finally, she turned to me, all smiles and said: “Well, Asher, I think we have an understanding now, don’t you? And now you’ve met my little helpers!” One could almost imagine being a pupil at Greyfriars. It has a sort of idyllic quality which even its fiercest critic, George Orwell, noted. Aside from the insipid Jennings stories the first non Bunter school story I read was one of John Finnemore's Teddy Lester stories. Frank Richards never described a caning with as much attention to detail as Finnemore did. They were reasonably well written too although not nearly as enticing as the Greyfriars tales. There was no Harry Wharton, my schoolboy hero, to admire, however the characters are well drawn and he captures something of the brutality of a boys only boarding school. From Teddy Lester in the Fifth this short extract typical of the well described canings which occur with great regularity:

Down it came, and six good thumping cuts made Foxy writhe like an eel, and when he straightened himself up he was purple with the effort he had made to restrain his groans." Corporal punishment was avoided with the bigger boys, and Brigson had never undergone it before. At the first stroke he writhed and yelled; at the second he retreated, twisting like a serpent, and blubbering like a baby; at the third he flung himself on his knees, and, as the strokes fell fast, clasped Mr. Rose's arm, and implored and besought for mercy. The two strokes which followed were, let’s say, something of a blur. My bum was completely on fire by the time the punishment was over and was told: “All done – make yourself decent.”I was actually Jewish, so Pam was not a blood aunt, but an ‘auntie’ – a friend of the family. When I turned 13 – the age of confirmation and ‘manhood’ in both Judaism and Christianity – her attitude towards me became a little less playful and rather more stern.

You see, at one point when I considered writing this blog, I had said in a rather matter of fact way it wasn't going to be about being an adult schoolboy or adult little boy and that is quite true because the bias tends to be on past boyhood. People of all genders do regress to the past in different ways sometimes more by doing things connected to their pasts such as a past-time, interest or hobby or by physically becoming that 'child' by dressing more like they used to. The next thing I knew, Aunt Pam was holding my arms firmly so I couldn’t move, and Doreen was unzipping my jeans. Then I was pulled across Pam’s knee in a daze.One doesn't have to use speci alist adult school wear suppliers unless you're wanting more bespoke items nor does one doesn't have to trape around Marks ands Spencers or as I did at the time BHS in the unif orm department sizing things up. Wh at I come down hard on is where it seems the entire point of attending is to get a spanking and most of the time is taken up with that rather in British terms being a re-run of a pre 1987 class where you would only if you break clear and usually serious rules while actually studying to a syllabus with tests. I can vividly recall my first visit to his study. Both I and a friend of mine, Paul Jennings [all names have been changed – Ed] both got a demerit in the same lesson for constantly not paying attention. Both of us had been sitting on three demerits – and now the time for sitting had come to an end!

Why haven’t you taken his pants down?” Doreen asked with interest. “Oh my dear, that’s far too vulgar.”“But you used to cane Rory on his bare bottom?”“Ah that’s different – he’s my son, whereas this one is merely in my charge. I’ve no desire to see what he’s got down there! But pants up nice and tight, and we have a perfect view. Now we’ll see who’s boss, young man!” Although we did have the cane at my sweet little primary school in Wembley, London, in the 1960s, I managed to avoid it. However, at my senior school I was regularly caned and slippered as we all were, going into the 1970s. Bridges," said Newton, "go to my study and fetch the cane which stands in the corner near the bookcase."Some do play with things such as toys, colouring, play, traditional board games or read sometimes books from childhood or connected to it like stories about school days which at least here in Great Britain is a popular thing. The next moment it was far from ‘very well’ with my bottom as the cane was brought down hard and decisively across both cheeks. It may as well have been a red hot poker. I began to cry immediately but managed to stay bent over. I felt Mr Dawson’s hand rub my bare bottom consolingly. “Good boy,” he said. “You must learn to take your punishment like a big boy. Two more to go.” I’m going to give you a taster of each of my little helpers – three with the cane, three with the slipper and three with the board.”“You can’t make me!” I protested, but with that she called Doreen into the room. When the final bell of the day had rung out, Paul and I made our way together, both very wobbly-legged, to the corridor outside the head’s office. The headmaster, Mr Dawson, was evidently already in there as we could hear him moving around the room, but we knew you had to wait outside until you were called. Seeing a girl’s pants was unheard of in everyday life, so for it to be sanctioned, legally, was almost akin to waiting for execution where you were not only punished, but legally invaded and destroyed, like in an act of war. It was both somehow thrilling and terrifying. The adults who mostly protected you could also punish you. This kindled in me my first great ‘love’ in the murky world of shadows – the desire to see a pretty girl spanked.