WHEN actor John Simm agreed to join Life On Mars co-star Philip Glenister on ITV show DNA Journey, he got rather more than he bargained for.
He discovered he wasn’t the biological child of the father he idolised.
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“It’s turned out to be such a massive thing in my life and all I was doing was a favour for Phil so he didn’t have to do it on his own,” says John, 54.
“It spun my world and everything I thought I knew, wasn’t real.”
He’s not alone.
A study released in 2005 suggested that one in 25 UK-based fathers may not be the biological parent of the child they believe to be theirs.
READ MORE FROM JANE MOORE
That was nearly 20 years ago and, at the time, the researchers from Liverpool’s John Moores University warned that governments were behind in understanding how DNA testing was lifting the lid of a “Pandora’s box” of hidden sexual behaviour.
I’m glad my dad isn’t alive to see this because I’m sure he’d be shocked and upset.
John Simm
Another study in 2016 put it at one in 50.
Now, of course, it’s commonplace for people to upload their DNA profile on to websites like ancestry.com and potentially unearth a family secret that those involved assumed would stay hidden for ever.
Children born out of wedlock and put up for adoption, only to appear on your doorstep decades later.
Discovering the woman you thought was your older sister was actually your mother all along.
And perhaps most commonly of all, the man you thought was your biological father turning out not to be.
“I’m glad my dad isn’t alive to see this because I’m sure he’d be shocked and upset,” says Leeds-born John, who is married with two kids.
He adds that his mum Brenda, now 73, was also “absolutely floored by the news”.
The story goes that Ronald, who died in 2015, and Brenda were both young when they met, split up for a while to be with other people, then got back together and had John.
Love and support was undiminished
So there’s a strong chance neither of them knew what was to unfold 54 years later.
John pressed on with the TV show so he could trace his biological father, a man called Terence Naylor who died in 1998 and often frequented the same working men’s clubs where Ronald and John played guitar together.
It’s likely that he didn’t know either.
But, going back to John’s comment that everything he thought he knew “wasn’t real”, he should take comfort from the fact that, actually, it was.
People say, ‘You’ll get over it,’ but I don’t want to get over it. I always want to remember my dad
John Simm
Even if Ronald himself suspected that John wasn’t his biologically (and there’s no evidence of that), his love and support for his son was undiminished.
So much so that, in an interview before he learned the news, John spoke of the “huge black hole” that Ronald’s death had left in his life.
“People say, ‘You’ll get over it,’ but I don’t want to get over it. I always want to remember my dad.
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“I’ve still got his number in my phone.
“Every so often I see something on TV that I think he’d like and I pick up my phone to text him, still.”
That’s as real as you can get.
Being John’s much-missed “dad” is something Ronald earned; sperm has nothing to do with it.
SCIENTISTS say that regular exercise will reduce the full horrors of a hangover.
And what about those who are always too hungover to even start?
No Cloo where Harry and Meg’s invitation went
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THE Clooneys have hosted their third Albie awards to celebrate those who spend their lives fighting for justice.
The glittering event was held in New York last Thursday and attended by A-listers such as Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt and Sting.
But where were George and Amal’s, ahem, close pals Meghan and Harry?
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If you remember, the Clooneys were given a prime pew at the front of the Sussex’s 2018 wedding to the bafflement of many, including George himself, who reportedly told a fellow guest they didn’t know the couple well, if at all.
And as they keep telling us, Harry and Meghan are unwavering warriors for world peace and justice.
So . . . were they invited but both washing their hair that night?
Or, shock horrorhas the already tenuous friendship now withered to total oblivion on the fickle vine of showbiz mwah mwahs and no invitation was forthcoming?
Clara needs justice
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DJ Clara Amfo – who competed on Strictly in 2020 – has revealed she was sexually abused by a family friend from the age of five.
She says it went on “for quite a while. And it stopped because one of my brothers found out. But the innocence just dies in you.”
How could it not? Clara, now 40, also reveals she suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of 18 when “the enormity of what happened to me really hit . . . ”
To add insult to injury, she says she has never been able to bring her abuser to justice because the police urged her not to try to take her case to court.
Why on earth not? One assumes that time passed and lack of concrete evidence might be factors.
But, at the very least, the family “friend” should have their collar felt and be made answerable to the accusation.
Times are changing, and abuse victims are being heard a lot more than they once were.
So if Clara feels up to it, she should perhaps revisit her local police station and insist they take her story seriously enough to at least start an investigation.
Medic tests
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A POLISH heart doctor who has worked in the UK for 18 years has been suspended for the fifth time after failing an English test for the tenth time.
Dr Tomasz Fryzlewicz, who moved here from Krakow in 2006 and has worked as a locum at various NHS hospitals, will now face an 11th hearing over his language issues next year.
While he may be an excellent surgeon, being able to communicate well with patients (as well as colleagues during operations) is surely a prerequisite to working in such a high-pressure, high-stakes line of work?
Begging the question: Shouldn’t senior medics pass an English test before being allowed to practice here?
Trans court sense
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IN a triumph of common sense, a biological male rapist who went on trial “as a woman” has been sent to a man’s prison.
Sentencing 35-year-old Lexi Secker to six and a half years, the judge at Swindon Crown Court said the rape was perpetrated by a man “clearly attracted to women’ and focused on “sexual gratification” after luring his drunk victim to woodland in Wiltshire.
The crime was, quite rightly, recorded as being committed by a male.
The judge added: “You now identify as a woman and are attracted to men.
“At the time of this offence, you were a man. You identified as a man and you were, on the evidence, clearly attracted to women.”
If ever there was a case that highlights the tricky balance between respecting transgender rights while also protecting the rights and safe spaces of women, this is it.
Because, however well-intended most people are, there are always those who will try to abuse the system.
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WHILE those who defaced Van Gogh’s 1888 Sunflowers painting with tomato soup should indeed face some sort of punishment, it’s disconcerting to see them sent to jail (one for two years, the other 20 months) while, simultaneously, violent criminals are being released early to ease prison overcrowding.
I know which I’d prefer to encounter on a dark night.
A sore point at till
BRITS have revealed the items they find it most embarrassing to buy.
Condoms top the list, followed by lubricant, thrush cream, vibrators, tampons (oh do grow up) pregnancy tests and erectile dysfunction treatments.
Some customers have even disguised themselves at the checkout with fake beards, sunglasses and wigs.
I’m not easily embarrassed, but in the latter stages of pregnancy, I suffered from haemorrhoids and discreetly handed a tube of cream towards an assistant at my local chemist.
She picked it up, saw it was unpriced, and bellowed over the heads of other assembled customers: “MARY, HOW MUCH IS THE ANUSOL?”
Talk about piling on the agony.