Children born in the North of Scotland during the 1950s and early 1960s had a tough upbringing. Parenting was Puritan and very strict, and since my brothers and I engaged in our fair share of mischief, our bottoms were regularly set alight. However, even then, there were well-entrenched differences in how I and my brothers were dealt with. Many of their misdeeds were dismissed as ‘boys being boys’ and dealt with by a seve...

My brothers John, Harry, James, Robert, and I (Jean) lived with our mother (Ailsa) in North Scotland during the 1950s and early 1960s. We had a good and relatively happy upbringing, albeit a strict one. Mum was austere and did not tolerate misbehaviour; her hairbrush or plimsoll regularly lit up my bottom for my misdeeds. By contrast, I had a charmed life at school until I reached eighteen and moved into the all-girl clas...