My father was an officer in the Royal Navy, and as such he was away a great deal, half way around the world. This left the discipline of myself and my older sister Anne very much in the hands of my mother.
Mother was by no means a tyrant but neither was she above handing out the occasional smacked bottom when she believed her children needed and deserved it. When we were younger, this was handed out in the time-honoured way, with the child being put over mother’s knee and her firm hand applied to our bare bottoms. Mother’s smackings were actually quite rare but you didn’t forget them in a hurry – there would be lots of tears and a very sore, red bum.