Oh my! I was curious to learn about Jock White in the context of the lyrics, because I was struck by the overtly, dare I say, gleeful, fierce and taunting declarations of murder, threat to murder, and mayhem). I thought that either it must be school children’s hyperbole in the context of the original lyrics, or there had to be some backstory (even if the figure of Jock White were legendary or lost in the mists of history). I certainly wasn’t anticipating what you related. Not so sure I want to do more Googling to find info — there are creepy paedo sites I might click on inadvertently.

Ha ha!

If you really do want to find him, I think he died before the internet became a thing, so there wouldn’t be much. An old Gisborne magazine called Photo News has been uploaded and there are probably pics of him in there. When it was first done I checked it out and I found pics of me as a kid, but I can’t remember if that was because I knew what to look for or if there was a good search engine.

Jock White was a paedophile. He got away with it because of his position in the community – old family, etc and the way kids were taught not to question back then. Maybe one day I’ll write about what I know. Anyway, a good tight jock strap, white or otherwise, would have been the best thing he could have worn.

Brian Tamaki would say, of course it’s divine retribution. Googling to find Jock White, all I got were pics of white jockstraps. so I felt the fool.

I got hit with the ruler too. My Standard 1 (year 3) teacher had been looking for an excuse for a while after I showed her up as being wrong on something. She caught me using my cardigan as a skipping rope, and that was it. The ruler in question was three feet long, and I got it wrapped around my legs several times. When I went back to my seat someone whispered to me, “Did it hurt,” and I whispered back, “No.” I was lying of course. The teacher heard and said, “Just wait ’til next time.”

When KFC opened in Gisborne, there was huge excitement. It wasn’t until the late 70s or maybe even early 80s. There were lines around the block for weeks. Before that it was the highlight of the school holidays – the 8 hour drive from Gisborne to our grandmother’s farm featured a stop in Rotorua for Kentucky Fried.

…And I remember that KFC first opening in Tasmania in about 1973, where I grew up, and my arch enemy in primary school was from a rich family and his father used to bring him Kentucky Fried for lunch sometimes at school, in his sports car. (The kid’s grandfather was German. A rich Bavarian who, um, left Germany shortly after the war, to, um, escape the, um, problems there.)

Ha ha! As I started reading that, my chair started rocking because of a small earthquake – divine retribution? 😀

I wish I was going to Gisborne! All the pohutukawa are in bloom at the moment as well, so it’ll be even more beautiful. Have a lovely time!