The majority of people that report having received / witnessed the slipper nearly always refer to size 11 or 12. The average shoe size for a man is between 9-10.5 a slightly larger size range, than back in the 50/70s.
So my question – was this an erroneous belief , the famous slipper looked larger in size to a child than it actually was, exaggeration, or if correct, where did all these large slippers materialise, most slippers were well worn and not all donating PE staff were large hunky specimens,
When I got the slipper it was my own – the headmistress demanded I hand one of mine over (we called them “pumps”)
The one & only slippering I got was in 1st year at Grammar. I was an 8 then, the slipper used by Nogger Knight, Woodwork Master, ex-Desert Rat, and present-psycho looked suitably flipping enormous.
I estimated it in Oct 1963, when it occurred as a size 11 & I’ve seen nothing since to convince me I was far wrong!
When in Sec Mod it was usually a size 9.
Strangely we had a little ditty at one time, it went “You get more whacks from a size 9 slipper to whacks more” etc sung to the tune of the Knorr soup advert ( more soup from a packet of Knorr” etc.
Now in hindsight where did all those worn shiny soled size 9s come from, most of us had smaller feet and in any case, I cannot see any of us donating them to the slipper fund. Also, what happened to the left-foot ones?
Was there some kind of specialty worn soled plimsoll supplier? Perhaps the Gym teacher wore them out quickly and auctioned them off?
Curiouser and curiouser as Alice would say or was it the Cheshire cat?
Thinking on the slippers seemed great big things especially considering the target size, unless of course, some particularly broad-beamed older girl got it
At a mass slippering for messing about in the changing rooms about 8 of us were lined up in front of the rest of the boys. The P.E teacher asked us in turn our shoe size and told the boy with the largest to take a plimsole off. He then whacked us with that one. I dont think it was bigger than about a size 8. This was in 1973 aged around 13 at the time.
When talking about size 13s in slippers bear in mind that (at least in the 1950s) there were child sizes in footwear going up to 13 so if a size 11 was used it could be quite a small one.
The two slipperings that I received at school were from a plimsoll.
On the first occasion the teacher used the boy’s plimsoll on the front desk, I’d guess a size five.
For the second slippering, the same teacher found out who wore the largest plimsoll, size nine came out on top and that was used.
My wife’s headmistress used one of her old mule slippers to punish her with, having seen her I would estimate her shoe size was seven or eight.
But regardless of size, we both found it uncomfortable sitting down afterwards, as both teachers were very experienced in the art of slippering.
Interesting question. In my early teaching days (around 1970) there was indeed a plentiful supply of old plimsolls in a lost property basket in the changing rooms. Trainers were not unknown but in school virtually all pupils had plimsolls and got through many pairs, swiftly worn smooth and discarded. I remember selecting for myself two or three very suitable slippers – odd that we only ever called them slippers when they were employed for punishment, never when worn – and keeping them handy in a locker. Because they were pupils’ plimsolls, they did indeed range from small – size 2 or 3 – to medium/large – size 7/8/9, but the majority would not be larger than about 6 or 7. That is actually quite a good size: the sole is wide enough to cover a good area, and more importantly, the heel end is small enough for easy grip.
I recall occasionally asking a boy for his own gym shoes, but only when I could see he had a suitable one. I remember once telling each of the three boys in front of me to supply a slipper, and then choosing the most suitable. Flat smooth soles were always preferable to ribbed or patterned ones, and also fairer on the victim’s bottom!
A few colleagues, even if not involved with PE or Games, had acquired themselves a favourite slipper which they kept in a drawer or cupboard, and some gave them names including Tonker, Mr Slap, and Sammy the Slipper.
In boarding, we more often used a carpet slipper. In the junior house, there was one specific one, conveniently hanging in a little staff cloakroom under the stairs between boys’ and girls’ quarters. It was thus easily to hand for immediate use or – since the cloakroom was not locked – a pupil could actually be sent to fetch it. It was no larger than maybe a size 8, with a springy rubber sole and classic tartan upper; but someone (before my time) had actually cut away the heel fabric, to allow a better grip (and to leave nobody in any doubt of the slipper’s purpose!).
I remember the senior housemaster more than once actually showing the slipper to prospective parents, as evidence of the firm but “homely” regime in the boarding house. We did also sometimes reach for any pupil’s slipper which was handy when instant justice was required – again of smaller rather than larger size.
The slipper survived, both in day and boarding, for a good few years – beyond the 1987 ban which of course only applied in state schools. We phased out the rather random and casual use by staff in classrooms and changing rooms, limiting it to two or three specific staff who would apply it in their office.
In boarding I cannot recall the exact last time it was applied, but it reduced from an almost daily application in the 70s to perhaps half a dozen times a term by the end of the 80s. But, significantly, the slipper outlived the cane by several years, and rightly so: it was always possible to deliver a slippering that made a smart point but did no damage, and left no real ill feeling, whereas the cane by definition was more severe.
I feel I must correct this. The use of a smooth slipper was described as “fairer on the boy’s bottom.” I think this is rather misleading. The reason teachers used a smooth sole slipper was that a greater part of the sole made contact with the boy’s bottom, rather than just the tread, and this made it sting more. It was not as if a shoe with tread marked the bottom any more than a smooth one.
There was great diversity in slippers/shoes that were used, as unlike the cane it was an unofficial punishment, and the implement did not have to be approved.
As head, I did use a slipper. I used it when I felt the offense did not deserve a caning but deserved something stronger than a lecture or detention/lines. I did have a proper slipper, with the top cut off, a size 9. By a proper slipper, I mean one that started life as a house shoe. Mine dated back to about 1930 and in those days they had a fairly thick, but flexible leather sole. In most cases two whacks with this across a boy’s pants was enough, to provide a short sharp sting. It was very rare for me to slipper a boy on his bare bottom.
I do recall one time when a new boy was sent to me for the slipper for flicking a rubber across the room. At his old school the slipper had been used across trousers, and on his way to my office, put on an extra pair of pants. Needless to say, he was shocked to learn that i slippered on pants and he had to take his trousers down. Of course, i saw the extra pants and the punishment increased. Instead of two on his pants, he got four on his bare bottom. The slipper on bare flesh does not mark or hurt so long as the cane, but for a few seconds after contact, it stings more than the cane as a greater area is whacked.
As regards the size of shoe used, it did change from teacher to teacher. Those that used it in the classroom, tended to have one that they kept in the desk. These slippers were mainy about size 9, as this was thought ideal for whacking most of the most receptive part of the boys bottom each time. These slippers were given names like “Charlie”, “Fred” or “Mr Sting”.
I always found that PE staff made the greatest use of the slipper. In most cases, this was a gym shoe that was in lost property or one borrowed from another boy. If this was a junior school, the chances were that the slipper was fairly small, maybe as small as a 4 OR 5.
If the boy was young or of small build this whack most of his bottom each time as was preferred to a larger slipper, which would be heavier and more likely to bruise a young bottom, certainly where the tip landed. This may result in a parent’s complaint if they saw the bruise on the boy’s bottom when bathing him. Some PE teachers used the small slipper on larger boys as it was less likely to bruise, but here one of the slippers meant one whack on each cheek. Many boys found it stung a lot more when a small slipper was applied just to one cheek rather than a larger one right across the bottom.
I do think most teachers took care to select a slipper that was suitable for its purpose. Having said that for a short while some teachers used large Green Flash plimsolls that had thick, chunky rubber soles. These tended to leave a bruise in the shape of the sipper on the boy’s bottom.
One thing needs noting. Most PE staff just used the size slipper that was handy at the time not one kept in a special place just for the purpose. It is also worth noting that they did it on the boy’s shorts, and as pants were not allowed in most schools for PE/games the sting was much more intense.
PE teachers often said they would slipper the boy back into the changing room. Many called the boy for the slipper just as he was going for a shower or was drying himself. The boy would then have to take it on his bare bottom. From the PE teachers’ point of view the less grip on the slipper the better as it would sting more. It was often more painful to have a size 6 with no grip than a size 9 with plenty of grip. PE teachers often use to pride themselves in just how hard they could slipper a boy’s bottom and make it hurt.
Of course, the slipper also had a strong deterrent effect when used by the PE teacher. Many would rather use a larger slipper that would whack both cheeks each time, than use a smaller one, leaving a small red mark where it was applied to just one buttock at a time. The reason being, the boy would have to shower and so the rest would see the marks. A completely red bottom was more of a deterrent to others than one that just had a small red mark on each cheek.
I do think the tales of size 13 adult slippers being used may not be entirely true. These would be very heavy and more likely to bruise. On a more practical point, the heel would be hard for the teacher to hold, unless, like his feet, he had a large hand.
PE teachers were the cause of most lads getting slippered at some point in school (mid to late 70s) but part of that I am sure was down to the fact they were in a less controlled environment and with lads often out of direct view unlike in a classroom and needed to establish just what the limits were.(Craft/woodwork/metalwork teachers could be known for using the slipper quickly too) As George says seeing a lad or lads get slippered there and then as PE tended to do soon made the rest of us toe the line and behave.
I would say most of the extensive use the PE masters put the slipper too certainly to let the lad feel it but was often a warning to sort themselves out and a warning that if they or anyone continued to mess up a fuller “of the best” slippering would be given out and they certainly didn’t worry about given out real hiding when they deemed it deserved – my only real gripe would be that PE teachers were more often into group punishment and didn’t worry about finding the wrongdoer – if there was a group of lads together a disturbance they often the whole group found themselves doing press up, gym laps or even at times each getting a quick few strokes of the slipper.
I would go so far as to say that the PE teacher in my senior school, as well as being a vertically challenged taffy person born out of wedlock, was also a sadistic bully.
He managed to slipper many lads every lesson if not the whole class. If he performed the same with other classes I would guess he used the slipper at least 60+ times a day.
Beyond any comprehension, someone could fuel his predilections so easily.
As for slippers, technically speaking a smooth slipper does not have any air cushioning the blow on impact. A good noisy stingy whack followed producing a red imprint. The use of the ” green flash” type tennis shoe with more pronounced tread produced a duller more bruising effect.
If anyone is in doubt then try it out! ( rhymes)
I can’t imagine that sneakers or trainers would be much good as “slippers”, they might well bruise but they wouldn’t have the sting they were after. Certainly our male PE teacher used the tried and tested large well-worn rubber gym shoe, which we did indeed call a pump for some reason. It was white, the rule was white pumps in the gym, black ones for outdoors. I don’t know where it came from but I imagine there would have been some creep of a prefect only too willing to donate one upon leaving the school, which would explain why it looked around size 10+.
I’ve seen various mock-up photographs and clips and it’s clear that none of them have ever seen a real slippering, they hold the thing in the middle and sort of shove it at the recipient, but our PE teacher held it by the end of the heel thus allowing the flexible rubber to slap into your bottom with a real crack. He also made you touch your toes, whereas the Headmaster just had you bend over with your hands on your knees.
I don’t know if the female PE teacher used a similar implement, in fact I don’t know for sure if she used a slipper at all although I suspect she used something as the occasional girl would look a bit upset and red-eyed after gym. The Headmaster of our senior school never used a slipper, it was always the cane on the bottom. The senior mistress used the cane on girl’s bottoms, but she had a separate office and her own cane(s) so maybe hers were less severe.
when it comes to slipperings they were always gym pumps that were used. I recall that several staff in our school and the gym mistress who used slippers in the girl’s school did have their ‘own’ slipper ….it was a large black or white plimsoll, always with a ‘ worn smooth’ sole from which they cut away the canvas near the heel, and a little further forward, to give them a more flexible rubber sole which really ‘whipped’ into your backside when applied with force.
In good weather during senior years several of us from both schools who had ‘music room passes’ as musicians of various sorts ( from both schools) used to relax on the balconies which overlooked the girls playing fields. If you were lucky you would see some unfortunate underperforming hockey players getting anything from a couple to six good whacks from the gym mistress- traditional touching toes position,
Some PE teachers would use a boy’s own plimsole and other teachers would sometimes ask for boys in the class to offer their plimsolls when a boy was called to the front and, for whatever reason, the teacher did not have his own slipper. There was usually a chorus of boys offering their plimsolls and it was often the one from the biggest boy – who was likely to have the largest shoe size – that was accepted.
However, most teachers kept their own plimsoles, in their desk drawers or cases. These did vary in size but were all adult sized. I don’t think the effectiveness varied just in proportion to the plimsole’s size – the skill and experience of the teacher and the force used were probably more important.
I have never thought about it before but reading through this thread has made me wonder where my teachers at primary school got their `slippers` from.
Of course when you are small and facing an irate teacher pulling a plimsoll out of a draw, that plimsoll suddenly takes on fearsome proportions! I am fairly sure they were adult size though.
I wonder where they got them from? None of the teachers ever got changed for PE they would just stand and bark orders. I have my doubts any of the plimsolls had ever been worn by the person wielding them. They must have got them specially for the purpose of punishment.
The teacher would threaten the slipper but we children would refer to it more accurately as getting the pump.
I am the youngest of my family to attend that school. There is a fairly large age gap between myself and my siblings, interestingly my eldest sibling does not recall any teachers using a slipper in the classroom, they did sometimes use their hands. He does recall children (including himself) being sent to the head fairly frequently. It seems by the time I attended the school, teachers ( who were pretty much the same ones that taught him) had took to using classroom punishment more frequently while sending the pupils to the headless.
The slipper gave me my first introduction to CP and also started the CP addiction that has stayed with me for the last 35 years I first recall at the age of 12 seeing 3 boys being slippered outside with a class full of girls witnessing this punishment this had a very strange effect on me and I can remember the day very well, whilst I only really received cp once in my 5 years at school I was also vacationed to be witness to the punishments every day cp was used the familiar sound of a slippering would echo around the school building, in fact,
if a slippering was taking place in the gym itself the noise echoing around the gym could last another 30 seconds or more after the punishment had finished, I have also witnessed slippering on very thin tight shorts with no pants underneath and also bare bottom as been mentioned before taking place before or after a shower. In some way the school slipper as brought me much enjoyment and relief! with my interest in CP, however, i also believe I am now a CP addict
Yes of course lost property is the most likely answer. The school is donkeys years old so I expect they had all sort of things accumulated over the years.
I am quite amused by the idea of those teachers wishing to arm themselves with a `slipper` having a root around in lost property to find the most effective
They would have wished to have their own on hand, they could not rely on a willing pupil to come up with one. The wearing of `pumps` in school was frowned upon and as far as I can remember we only brought PE kit to school on days we were scheduled to do PE. The teacher would have most likely come unstuck with a request for a slipper.
When they were required to give up their slippers I wonder if they binned them or returned them to lost property.
Actually they are probably still languishing in the desk drawer!
Years ago I went back to my school on placement from college. I did not want to be at this school but it was virtually on my doorstep so the lure of being able to fall out of bed and into school was greater than my dislike of the place I was searching in a classroom cupboard for something one day and came across a small cane. This was still when SCP was legal, however, the cane in the classroom had long disappeared.
When my father attended the school the class teacher kept a small cane that they would pass to the child and order them to cane themselves! If the cane I came across was the same cane my father had to whack himself with it had been hanging around in that cupboard for fifty years. In that case I would not be at all surprised the slippers used in my day are still to be found in the depths of the desk drawer.
I don`t think they were told how many strokes they had to give themselves, they just had to make it look like they had put some effort into it. My father is left-handed but because this was discouraged in his day the teacher automatically passed the cane into his right hand and ordered him to cane his left. Although he is able to write with both hands he favors his left for anything requiring strength, he was told to whack himself again if it didn`t look like he was putting the required effort into it!
The school was mixed, my aunts all attended the school and yes girls were also required to cane themselves. This school does seem to have gone through a variety of corporal punishment regimes but it seems punishing girls alongside the boys stayed consistent.
It was my primary school but my father’s only school, he left at fourteen. I am fairly certain there was at least one lady infant teacher but my dad can not really remember much about her, he only seems to have had one teacher ( a male) in what would be the juniors so approximately aged eight to fourteen. I don`t know if the teacher employed this method throughout the whole of this time or just in the younger years.
The self caning seem to have taken place in class but I am not sure if they were required to come out to front of class. From the way my father has described it I get the impression the teacher approached them armed with the cane while they were still sitting at their desks.
The headmaster of the school also used a cane and he must have caned in front of other pupils. My father and his pals with their wonderful array of nicknames went in for a bit of baiting to amuse their fellow pupils. When called out for a caning they would goad the head by being uncooperative. He would get so angry his eyes would bulge, the idea was to try to be the one who actually got his eyes to pop out! According to dad they would end up getting an absolute thrashing but it was worth it for the amusement it caused! I gather this only happened when they had an audience so I presume must have been during some sort of assembly. I think Dad still regrets he never got to see those eyes pop
As regards self punishments, I recall one episode at my junior school. A teacher ordered two boys out, produced his cane, and then, instead of caning them himself told one of the boys to bend over, and handed the cane to the other boy and asked him to cane this other boy. This boy did so very reluctantly and gave him two very feeble strokes. And that was it. The other boy didn’t have to respond and they were sent back to their desks.
This only happened once, and the teacher went back to administering proper canings in future.
At my secondary school in the sixties, most teachers used the slipper to a greater or lesser extent. The PE teacher was the biggest fan of the slipper although strangely for someone who must have slippered several boys each and every day, he didn’t use a favorite slipper just whatever came to hand at the right time. It must have been the excitement of the lucky dip from the lost property box or whichever boy was close by who could oblige with a loan of his plimsole.
I was slippered by him on numerous occasions often in front of the class which always created a buzz of excitement with a group of boys lined up for the entertainment of the class. The girls sitting in the front rows always seemed to get the most enjoyment out of seeing the boys lined up waiting for their turn and trying to look cool and pretend it didn’t hurt. Most of the other male teachers,the occasional slipper users, usually had their own preferred weapon of choice and some had gone as far as giving them pet names.
This was just to set the scene I did want to tell you about my most unfair slippering. I was subjected to an intense amount of bullying in my class with not just the 2 or 3 top class bullies picking on me or anyone else they thought weak, but several of the 2nd or 3rd division bullies encouraged by the results the top of the pile were getting also started pushing around a few of us weaker individuals. This was the choice of fight or be pushed and so I ended up getting pushed.
One day we were coming out of the woodwork class and a couple of 2nd division bullies were giving me a hard time the next class was lined up outside waiting to come in, this was the year younger than us and one of the kids in that class was watching me getting pushed around. He sought me out in the playground and although he was smaller than me as he was a year younger decided to try his luck and start in on me.
Well, the old expression of everyone having to draw a line sooner or later had arrived as I realized that if I let this kid push me around I would be a laughing stock and a target for the whole school. So I told him where to go and pushed back when he started pushing me and then I punched him, and knocked him flat on his back and within seconds with him still lying on his back in the playground the teacher was there.
I had seen this teacher around for the last year or so but had never been in his class, he was tall but very skinny. ” I can’t stand bullying,” he said as I stood over my tormentor. ” nor can I sir,” I said but he didn’t believe that a smaller and younger kid would try and bully an older boy so he sent me to his room to await my punishment. The first thing I did on getting to his classroom was look for the slipper that I was likely to get whacked with.
Nothing on the desk or in clear view so hunted around in his cupboard looking for the slipper. I found these enormous gym shoes which were definitely a size 12 or so but also with an inch and a-half thick soles and weighed about three pounds each. He can’t be thinking of using those to slipper me I thought he must have another shoe he uses.I couldn’t find anything else in the room so I waited and wondered what was coming.
He arrived about 10 minutes later with more lectures for me about bullying and not able to believe a word I said, quite understandably, and then went to his cupboard and produced that enormous slipper. I was terrified that thing is going to knock me off my feet I thought as I bent over and waited. Whack!! huge whack from the weighty slipper but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. I got four whacks from him for bullying and was told to go to my class. The slipper hurt but because it was so big and heavy and not as whippy as the Samller shoes it didn’t sting as much but did leave me with a huge glow all afternoon. So the big slippers are a different experience.
I got the slipper plenty of times at primary school, but never secondary, and I can safely say that it varied from teacher, at least at my school. The PE master had a monster size of 14 feet, and he kept one of his old ones handy – it was pretty awful. The other masters usually had one from lost property – ranging from my very first teacher who kept a very feeble, tiny little one which must have only been a size 1 to my final teacher there, who had a size 9 one left behind by some mammoth child of previous years.
