Fay Weldon After the peace

How many parents does it take to make a baby? In the case of Rosalind Melrose Smithson it took four: one birth mother; one legal father; one interfering neighbour and one turkey baster filled with the defrosted essence of an anonymous donor.

Or not so anonymous as it turned out.

For donor no.

116349, '6ft 1in, blue eyes, blond hair, BA (Oxon), action man.

' is the 9th Earl of Dilberne, who gave his seed back in 1979 as a stripling of twenty-two, and has now conceived a daughter - unknowingly - at the riper age of forty-two.

As they say, the truth will out.

And what will our Rozzie do when she finds out about her patrimony? All we know is that as a true Millennial, she will not take it lying down.