A prep school Steven Pudney attended had a strict rule – there had to be one or three boys in a bathroom but never two.

When the headmaster caught him with just one companion brushing their teeth before lights out, all hell let loose.

He recalls: “Although the other boy was older than me, I was the one forcibly dragged to his study by my ear and told to remove my pyjama bottoms and lay across his lap to receive six strikes with the back of a large coat brush.

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“From then on, the head used any excuse to beat me. At one point, I was beaten for six consecutive nights.”

Mr Pudney told us (Memory Lane, May 29 last year) what a wonderful four years he had as a pupil at Cokethorpe School, Witney, in the 1960s. But his school experiences earlier were not so good.

With his father serving in the Army, he went at the age of six to St Edward’s College, a boarding school in Malta.

He writes: “This was normal practice for a boy from an Army family, even though, to some, this seems barbaric.

“The school was run by Catholic monks. I cried for several nights until I was told to keep quiet, or I would be beaten. I tried to settle into school life. The monks were fair but strict. Like all regimes, you quickly learn to adapt or suffer the consequences.”

When his father was posted back to England, he stayed behind to complete his final term at the school, then flew home alone at the age of nine.

He joined a prep school in Kent which, at first, appeared to be a pleasant change from the strict regime in Malta.

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“I settled in quite well. The headmaster and his wife seemed reclusive, but this was balanced by a lovely nurse, Miss O’Touch, who seemed to care for us as a mother would do.

“In the second year, things started to change. I and a few other boys always seemed to be in trouble and the beatings started.”

It was then that the bathroom incident and constant beating occurred.

“This pattern stopped as abruptly as it started - the head seemed to have other boys in his sight. I made sure I avoided him and I settled down.”

However, that wasn’t the last clash he had with the headmaster. “I was asleep in my top bunk when I awoke to excruciating pain in both kneecaps. Opening my eyes, I saw him standing over me with a large book in his hand about to strike me again.

“That incident started another round of unjust beatings.”

One key moment came when an aunt visiting him noticed grazing on his back. She reported it to his parents who removed him from the school.

He then achieved 55 per cent in an exam in which he had previously scored just 13 per cent, heralding a spectacular change. He writes: “I gained entry to the place that was to save my life - Cokethorpe at Witney. It was a Church of England school, but was recruiting Catholic boys and I was one of the first in 1964. My wonderful four years there made up for the horrors of my prep school.”

As we reported earlier, Mr Pudney, who lives in Bournemouth, helped to create the first football team at Cokethorpe, in England’s World Cup year of 1966

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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