Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
We used to get a choice between six strokes of the cane with out trousers up or three with them down 
It’s a different world now.
- Thread starter Beebo
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I had to look up what a 'tawse' is... Fortunately, I never encountered one of them. Nasty-looking things!
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
My wife had one of the best headmasters who was totally supportive of his staff. The result was that the staff never complained or reported that he frequently staggered about a bit. He once came into her class to conduct some singing which he did while standing on a desk with a half bottle clearly visible in his jacket pocket.
My headmaster, Mr Nicholls, or 'Bocky' as we called him for some reason, was probably a functioning alcoholic.
Too long hair was a regular problem.
One lad received regular bollockings about it, but when Bocky was boozed up he suggested the boy tie his hair in pink ribbons.
Not sure if gowns have been mentioned.
Bocky was one of a handful of senior masters who always wore a gown on school premises.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I think probably bromine not bromide.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Perhaps they put bromide in his drink to calm his pre-pubescent urges.
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
Sure was different back then.
The local park was our playground where we met two characters who helped shape our sexual education, having been told nothing.
Stan lived in a house whose garden backed onto the park so we’d chat to him over the fence where he boasted of his encounters with girls and showed us his collection of condoms tied up with rubber bands in a Players tobacco tin. He had the typical for the time black rocker style quiff hair style. He looked like a pop star.We thought he was cool and stood open mouthed as he related his stories.
Sid on the other hand was what we now know to be a paedo. He would try it on with us but we were too big at 12/13 years to let him get his way. He drove a Mk1 Consul, the sort with a column change and a bench front seat. We’d often see him driving down the road with a couple of younger boys sitting on the front bench eating cornet ice creams. He had a rather posh accent and I suppose we thought he was quite interesting. Can’t imagine he’d get away with it today.
The local park was our playground where we met two characters who helped shape our sexual education, having been told nothing.
Stan lived in a house whose garden backed onto the park so we’d chat to him over the fence where he boasted of his encounters with girls and showed us his collection of condoms tied up with rubber bands in a Players tobacco tin. He had the typical for the time black rocker style quiff hair style. He looked like a pop star.We thought he was cool and stood open mouthed as he related his stories.
Sid on the other hand was what we now know to be a paedo. He would try it on with us but we were too big at 12/13 years to let him get his way. He drove a Mk1 Consul, the sort with a column change and a bench front seat. We’d often see him driving down the road with a couple of younger boys sitting on the front bench eating cornet ice creams. He had a rather posh accent and I suppose we thought he was quite interesting. Can’t imagine he’d get away with it today.
Hover Fly
Lazy so and so
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
We had one particularly nasty history teacher who would lash out at the slightest provocation. Once for example, he rapped my knuckles with a ruler for drawing a line without using a ruler, giving a wrong answer to a question would earn a clip round the ear. I told my parents who arranged a meeting about “my behaviour“. Dad couldn’t get off work so uncle Harry went with my ma instead. Now, uncle Harry was a big bloke, 6’4”+, and had started his working life at 13 on the grain run sailing ships to Australia in the ‘30’s, so you can imagine what his arms and chest were like after all that rope pulling. Instead of waiting for Mr. Sadistic, he went straight into the class, said “So you like bullying little kids do you?“lifted him up by the collar with one hand and held him against the wall “How, (left cheek slapped) do (right cheek, you get the idea) you, like, a, taste, of, your, own, medicine?” Then threw him in a heap in the corner. Harry left quietly, strangely, nothing more was heard about the incident, but we never saw Sadistic again.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Racial abuse was terrible.
Our seriously scarey physics teacher who reduced a number of the girls and boys to tears in the classroom on many an occasion had a penchant for being derogatory to the many Asians and one German lad in our class.
The German was the 'War Mongering Kraut' and the Asians were referred to as the 'Curries' or 'Turban Boys (or Girls)'. We had one short Asian lad in the class who he referred to as 'Our Truncated Tinted Friend'.
Unbelievable and I'm glad we've moved on from all this.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Thread veers off course re early sex exploration.
One of our prudish nations big hang-ups - talking about shagging.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Horrible things that really hurt too.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
As contrast to the many horrible stories above, I seem to have gone to a quite good school, and all the teachers seemed OK to me, even those I didn't particularly like and the various odd-bods. At any rate I never even heard of any paedo or pervy behavioir. And even the PE masters were OK even though I hated games and skived off as much as I I could. I'll add a couple of things I remember to lighten the tone.
Chemistry A level. One of my mates was more or less in the process of dropping out of chemistry and missed a lot of lessons, but was in one lesson and made a mess of whatever it was, and our exasperated teacher exclaimed "Jonathan, you're just a waste of chemicals!". To be fair to the lad he was reasonably bright but chemistry wasn't his thing, but it's a great insult.
A less PC one was one of the games teachers saying to a lad after doing some gym exercise "that's not bad ... for a spastic". For context he was a normal lad rather than one of the "slow" kids so not a bullying comment, even if you'd not say that today.
Another chemistry one prompted by the bromine story upthread: we were making iodo-benzene, which involved potassium iodide and, maybe phenol? Fairly straightforward job, but two girls in the class, though perfectly able and bright always managed to have disasterous experiments, so their prep filed the lab with purple iodine smoke. Whilst I only got as far as A level I couldn't even figure out the reaction they'd managed, even given an iodine compound was in the ingredients.
One snowy day we'd skived off games by dint of specious sick notes, but instead of sitting quietly indoors as befitting our questionable "sick" status, we'd found some broken chairs and were sledging on the seats which were great for improvised sledges. Unfortunately we were caught by a local resident, maybe a parent governor or some such busybody and hauled up in front of the deputy head. He was a wise and very respected man, and just said "Thank you, I'll deal with this Mr so an so" and packed the guy off. We only had the mildest of tellings off, and my pal happened to glance at the "punishment book" and noted the incident was recorded as "boys will be boys". Everyone liked and respected the guy so we didn't want to disappoint him , but he was quite realistic about what kids get up to and what was serious and what wasn't.
I recall a sixth form party at some hotel or club. Somehow drinking age didn't seem to be an issue despite it the even being officially "sixth form party" on the door and tickets, so less than half would have been over 18. Anyhow a fair few teachers were there too and I gather the physics teacher had copped off with one of the girls. To be fair he was a young single guy and she'd have been 18 most likely and it would have been entirely consensual. Whilst seemingly dodgy it really was quite innocent really as there was never a whisper of him misusing his position at school, or making a habit of such things. Don't know if they went home together or were just seen snogging at the event itself, so possibly fairly tame in any case. I heard he subsequently married our Welsh teacher.
Also as sixth formers we used to go to the local pub on a Friday. Whilst we were under age, most of us were pretty restrained as we couldn't afford not to be, but often the teachers would be there as well. We used to drink in the "smoking room" whilst they drank in the "lounge". Looking back on it, I think this might have been deliberate on their part so the teachers could plausibly "not notice" that we were there too.
The other thing I remember was how many of them were heavy smokers. If you had to knock on the staffroom door during break, a scary thing you'd avoid if at all possible, there'd be a huge waft of smoke when the door was opened. Whilst the older generation would be long gone anyhyway by now, it was telling that many of the then younger ones had poor health and died from lung problems
Anyhow, for me at least a reasonably happy time, particularly in the sixth form when we started to be treated as adults
Chemistry A level. One of my mates was more or less in the process of dropping out of chemistry and missed a lot of lessons, but was in one lesson and made a mess of whatever it was, and our exasperated teacher exclaimed "Jonathan, you're just a waste of chemicals!". To be fair to the lad he was reasonably bright but chemistry wasn't his thing, but it's a great insult.
A less PC one was one of the games teachers saying to a lad after doing some gym exercise "that's not bad ... for a spastic". For context he was a normal lad rather than one of the "slow" kids so not a bullying comment, even if you'd not say that today.
Another chemistry one prompted by the bromine story upthread: we were making iodo-benzene, which involved potassium iodide and, maybe phenol? Fairly straightforward job, but two girls in the class, though perfectly able and bright always managed to have disasterous experiments, so their prep filed the lab with purple iodine smoke. Whilst I only got as far as A level I couldn't even figure out the reaction they'd managed, even given an iodine compound was in the ingredients.
One snowy day we'd skived off games by dint of specious sick notes, but instead of sitting quietly indoors as befitting our questionable "sick" status, we'd found some broken chairs and were sledging on the seats which were great for improvised sledges. Unfortunately we were caught by a local resident, maybe a parent governor or some such busybody and hauled up in front of the deputy head. He was a wise and very respected man, and just said "Thank you, I'll deal with this Mr so an so" and packed the guy off. We only had the mildest of tellings off, and my pal happened to glance at the "punishment book" and noted the incident was recorded as "boys will be boys". Everyone liked and respected the guy so we didn't want to disappoint him , but he was quite realistic about what kids get up to and what was serious and what wasn't.
I recall a sixth form party at some hotel or club. Somehow drinking age didn't seem to be an issue despite it the even being officially "sixth form party" on the door and tickets, so less than half would have been over 18. Anyhow a fair few teachers were there too and I gather the physics teacher had copped off with one of the girls. To be fair he was a young single guy and she'd have been 18 most likely and it would have been entirely consensual. Whilst seemingly dodgy it really was quite innocent really as there was never a whisper of him misusing his position at school, or making a habit of such things. Don't know if they went home together or were just seen snogging at the event itself, so possibly fairly tame in any case. I heard he subsequently married our Welsh teacher.
Also as sixth formers we used to go to the local pub on a Friday. Whilst we were under age, most of us were pretty restrained as we couldn't afford not to be, but often the teachers would be there as well. We used to drink in the "smoking room" whilst they drank in the "lounge". Looking back on it, I think this might have been deliberate on their part so the teachers could plausibly "not notice" that we were there too.
The other thing I remember was how many of them were heavy smokers. If you had to knock on the staffroom door during break, a scary thing you'd avoid if at all possible, there'd be a huge waft of smoke when the door was opened. Whilst the older generation would be long gone anyhyway by now, it was telling that many of the then younger ones had poor health and died from lung problems
Anyhow, for me at least a reasonably happy time, particularly in the sixth form when we started to be treated as adults
Last edited:
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Quite so, those column shifts were dreadful.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
There were two pubs within 5 minutes of our school, and there was basically an unwritten agreement - the teachers used one, the 6th formers used the other.
oldwheels
Legendary Member
- Location
- Isle of Mull
I think there is one lurking about at the bottom of a drawer somewhere in the house which my wife had but I don’t think ever used. The threat was there to any unruly pupils.
Also known as a Lochgelly as they were made there in Fife.
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
My dad had a big leather belt made by the same people who made the Lochgelly tawse and this is what he used on me from the age of 7 or 8 until I hit my teens and he used his fists. A few years ago he asked me to get him something from a drawer and there it was, curled evilly at the bottom. My heart sank into my stomach immediately and I was transported back to the terror it invoked in me as a wee boy. I hurriedly shut the drawer but I felt a bit queasy for a while after that.
