Children are extremely good at creating mythology.
A particularly strict teacher could become terrifying in the playground stories told by younger pupils.
His slipper grew accordingly.
Perhaps he had given six strokes once.
By lunchtime somebody said it was eight.
By Friday it was twelve.
By the following school year, generations of younger pupils might firmly believe that this fearsome teacher possessed an enormous specially manufactured slipper capable of sending a boy flying across the classroom.
Such exaggeration is part of childhood.
But it also explains why school memories must be treated carefully.
The underlying event may be perfectly genuine while some details have grown in the telling.
