Adopted - Me? - Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies John Thompson

At the age of 43, during my divorce and a child custody battle, I found out I had been adopted. Shock and disbelief changed to a gradual urge to seek out my natural parents. Years later, I eventually found my mother "hidden in a fairy-tale castle in the forest." That's what it seemed at the time. This then led to a sister, three brothers, a father, and an even larger family of cousins and their offspring. The next thirty years were a mixture of joy, relief, happiness, and fun whilst forging a new life for myself. Later, I experienced sadness, despair, and tragedy whilst helping to alleviate my birth mother's mental illness and caring for and losing four parents. I uncovered a dramatic 1930's love affair and 700 years of family genealogy with high-ranking seventeenth-century offi cials from the Church of England. I also discovered more about my birth father, a World War II RAF fighter pilot who nearly ended up being shot, escaping from Stalag Luft III, who owned a leading sock manufacturing company in the United Kingdom, run by the family since 1882. On the family tree, I found Victor Borge, the famous concert pianist and stand-up comedian. Finding my new family has been a very happy, rewarding, and interesting part of my life.