QI, Series I

[On corporal punishment]

Stephen Fry:
Children were always beaten. Really, we are the first generation - Um, I'm not. I was beaten huge about when I was a child in prep school.

Clive Anderson:
Really?

Stephen Fry:
God, yes. From age seven 'til thirteen, at least twice a week. I was a bad boy, and I was always being thrashed.

Clive Anderson:
What for?

Stephen Fry:
Oh, stealing, lying, cheating, um, being cheeky, being a nuisance, evading games…

Clive Anderson:
Bit of a smartarse, were you?

Stephen Fry:
Yeah, being a smartarse...

Clive Anderson:
...being too clever for your own good. That sort of thing. Always telling everyone what was going on.

Stephen Fry:
All things that annoyed people about...

Clive Anderson:
Well, they certainly beat that out of you, didn't they?