Why All British Look Alike

Alfred E. Neuman obviously once vacationed in the British Isles.

The growth in genetic checks reveals that 1 in 25 men are bringing up children they mistakenly believe are their own. Finding out the truth can be devastating. IT IS a wise child who knows his own father, as Homer has it. But in Britain, Shakespeare’s aphorism may be more pertinent: it is a wise father who knows his own child.

Research suggests that, as cases of teenage pregnancies, sexual infidelity and multiple partners increase, 1 in 25 fathers could unknowingly be raising another man’s child. With improvements in genetic testing, thousands of fathers every year are discovering that “their” child is someone else’s. A study by scientists from Liverpool John Moores University concludes that 4 per cent of all men are unwittingly bringing up a child they have not fathered.