The magazine produced a series of popular videos with high production values during the early 1980’s. The St Winifred’s Trilogy (below), The Disciplinarian and the Moral Welfare videos were among the best films available on the market at the time. They sadly disappeared from the shop following the introduction of the Video Recordings Act 1984. there were to be no niceties. I thought about how school pupils felt knowing that they had an appointment with the Headmaster at some point in the future knowing they were going to be caned. In March 1994 Janus saw it’s first major change of staff for well over a decade. Following the publication of its second 100th issue a new editor, St John North, took the helm. St John (who was better known to Janus readers as ‘Christian’, the husband of Sophie Fennington) would edit the magazine for the remainder of it’s run. Also at this time, the magazine began to run some "true" articles from women who described their upbringing or their current lives, always involving a healthy dose of spanking. These were even longer and more detailed than the letters, and typically they would describe corporal punishment growing up on a farm, in a large family, etc. and then the current situation the writers were in - always involving either a spanking husband or, in one memorable letter, belonging to a spanking club which had its own private island!

In April 2011 the Janus shop shut its doors for the last time. Barely a month later in May, Gordon Sergeant died peacefully in his sleep aged 82. With the closing of the shop and Gordon’s death coming just a month apart it was the passing of an age. As access to spanking related material became increasingly more easily available online the Janus publication schedule slowed down with only 4 to 6 new issues being produced each year. When Janus 167 was published in 2007 there was no indication at the time that this was to be the final issue. Despite an excellent re-launch in Janus 161 the magazine had reached the end of its natural life. The Internet had finally seen off the longest running spanking magazine in the world. The army wife who insisted on wearing micro-miniskirts without panties in public and who was spanked by her husband with a ruler to get her to wear underwear (come to think of it, there seemed to be a lot of letters from military men in this era, when Vietnam was just winding up);

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When the lease on Irving Street ran out in 1977 the main Janus shop moved to 4 Greens Court off Brewer Street (below). In the late 70’s the lease on Green’s Court also expired and the main Janus bookshop settled in to it’s final home at 40 Old Compton Street. But then I turned to the "Letters to the Editor" (with the motto "Want to give the Editor the business? Here is where you can"), and my eyes popped out. There was a very long, descriptive letter from a husband describing how he had come to give his wife weekly disciplinary "whippings" (for some reason the writer avoided calling them spankings, but they clearly were) after learning the ins and outs of disciplining a wife from his neighbor. The first whipping was given because his wife was exposing herself to the neighborhood by going outside to hang up the laundry (no fancy clothes dryers for them) wearing sheer underwear. Why the wife would want to show her lacy undies off to the neighborhood was never explained - I guess it was just assumed that all women were exhibitionists, but the spanking, using birch and paddle, was vividly described. Janus extended its portfolio of magazines in 1995 and Stephen Sims, who had been a regular contributor to Janus over a number of years, took on editing duties for Privilege Plus and Privilege Club Magazines. Every so often I would have to fuel my need, and my ex boss was always happy to oblige. I enjoy undressing in front of him and his complimentary remarks about my body (I go to the gym at least three times a week). I enjoy bending across his desk knowing he is focussing on my bare bottom. As to the caning itself, I always tell myself to be brave, but in reality it is the after effects that are the most enjoyable.

In truth the idea appealed but I was also very nervous. I assumed that if I agreed it would involve baring my bottom and that it would be the organiser who would actually administer the caning. A few minutes later he came over to ask if I was ‘willing’, and confirmed my suspicion that the beer mug was a collection for me to receive a caning. I felt somewhat as if the decision had been taken away from me, but I didn’t want to appear to be a spoil-sport. I told him I’d do it, provided I only received six strokes of the cane. He asked me if I wanted a strapping first to warm me up, to which I said ‘why not’. As he proceeded to give me a real thrashing, I just concentrated on staying position despite the extreme pain that he was creating in my bottom. After the second and third strokes he gave me a slightly longer break as I tried to come to terms with the pain. A classic caning is so much worse than the house canings I have enjoyed earlier in the year, with the combination of the longer cane, the difficult position and my ex-boss just caning me harder making all the difference. This was undoubtedly the best and worst caning I have ever experienced. The worst because it was so painful and certainly beyond my ‘comfort zone’. It was also worse than the final six strokes I took at the party – where I had benefited from a warm-up, had a relatively comfortable trestle to bend over and had the pain slightly dulled by several large V&T’s. Here I had taken a severe caning ‘cold’, without the benefit of alcohol and having to stay in position touching my toes.There is a big difference between electing for a caning (as I have this year with my ex-boss caning me for no reason other than for fun) and having to submit to punishment. I went to the bar to buy my ex-boss a drink, and when I returned he was in conversation with the organiser. Clearly my ex-boss had told the organiser that I was no stranger to the cane and I was asked if I had any interest in putting on a ‘finale’. Earlier I had wondered what it might feel like to be caned in front of so many people, but had not actually considered that it might actually happen. I told them I’d think about it. In conversation with my ex-boss, he said that it might be fun and if I agreed I could clearly dictate what I would receive. I told him there was no way I would be able to take the number of strokes that these girls were taking, and he replied that he thought the organiser was simply talking about ‘six of the best’.

The Punishment Book’ by ‘Tom Horner describes Anthony Conrad’s last day as headmaster at St Edmund’s and contributions from readers includes a wonderful account of a relationship that came about through the Privilege Club prefaced by an introduction from the much missed Gordon Sergeant. and I opted for the A framed trestle, which was padded and turned out to surprisingly comfortable. As I stretched down, the organiser asked if I minded having my g-string removed – which he did before I had answered, although I had lifted my hips slightly to make it easy for him to slide them down. I think about this moment a lot – here was I bent over with my bare bottom on display to twenty men including my ex-boss plus several waiters about to receive a strapping followed by a caning. I used to fantasise about being a stripper, and perhaps I was living out something else at this point.He said that as the ‘warm up’ he would give me six strokes with a leather strap followed by six strokes with a leather paddle. My relationship with my ex-boss had been exclusively with the cane and I was surprised how pleasant a strapping actually is, especially the large oval shaped paddle. After the twelve strokes, which had certainly warmed me up, it was time for the cane. Having never been caned by anyone except my ex-boss, I didn’t know what to expect and I thought again about the audience all focussing on my bare bottom which was offered up for punishment in an incredible revealing position. In truth, the first three strokes were very mild, and I think the organiser was treading very carefully, not wanting to go beyond my limits. He leaned over and asked if the strokes were ok. By this stage I’d build myself up for a decent caning and told him that the strokes were very mild and that he should give me three more strokes in a similar manner before When the last two girls had received their final canings, the organiser told the audience “I have a special ‘finale’ to finish our fun for the day – our guest Sue who I understand is not entirely a stranger to the cane is going to bend over and take a strapping as a warm up, before getting ‘six of the best’ with the cane”. Alan Bell, the owner and editor of Roue was approached to become editor of Janus and, for a short period (Janus 8-10), he was editing both magazines. As part of the new team Alan brought Peter French and Vic Barnes with him and it was Peter and Vic who took over full running of the magazine as editor and photo editor respectively from issue 11 (below). Initially they produced the magazine from offices above the shop before moving to new premises in Golden Square. The next few years were something of a golden age for Janus. Featuring artwork by Paula Meadows and fiction by writers such as Richard Manton and R T Mason the magazine set the standard for its competitors producing innovative photo stories of a consistently high quality even when censorship restrictions were at their peak.