Going through old newspaper archives, you discover the most interesting things. For instance, the April 8, 1900 edition of “Washington Post” contained, apparently, an article entitled “Flogging in Europe”. (You never know when people in Washington may need to find out all about the whacking habits across the ocean.) The table of contents looks ever so enticing:

  • Lash for Youthful Offenders Favored by England
  • Russia’s retention of the knout
  • Corporal Punishment in England and Germany Bids Fair to Be Extended to Minor Violations of the Law
  • Great Men of England Who Have Been Whipped at School -Lord Salisbury Holds the Record in that Line at Eton — Gladstone Never Flogged.

Shame you have to pay $11 to get the copy of the article itself. I’m not that dedicated, I’m afraid.

But: “Gladstone never flogged”? Where on earth did he go to school, that he managed to escape it?

EDIT: But of course it was 1900, not 1990. Sorry, so sorry!