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that I needed a reason to continue with my life. So, as Londoners became more defiant and strengthened their resolve in the war effort, I made intellectual pursuits the purpose of my life, while we aerially bombarded Germany .
    My research began in 1943, a monumental step for me and the zenith of intellectualism. That same year, there’d been synchronous research of iconic status. In Auschwitz, Josef Mengele tortured twins in grotesque investigations into heredity, Erwin Schrodinger lectured at Trinity College , attempting to understand chromosomes and life, and DNA was identified as the manifestation of heredity. Of course, no one then could conceive of DNA’s structure, remember, it was infantile research as of then. My work focused on electro-magnetic fields. Others had a passion for biological life whereas I was more interested in cosmic life, the building blocks and forces of the universe.
    Love didn’t figure in my life. Of course, I dated a number of women, albeit briefly, but they weren’t Madeleine, and I couldn’t bring myself to love again. If anything, I fell in love with my work. Quantum mechanics filled my life with meaning. I felt closer to understanding the universe, and even thought I may find some faint whisper of spiritual life within the cosmos.
    During this period in my life, the war in Europe and Japan concluded, with much celebration in the land. I became part of the real world again and joined in the singing and dancing, the relief of the finality of the conflict. We grieved for the Jews, who were exterminated in the Nazi death camps, and we witnessed via television the destruction of two Japanese cities by atomic bombs. I sensed that although we tasted victory, our governments were developing fearsome weapons with the capacity to wipe out mankind.
    Soon after my doctorate, I fell into lecturing, as teachers often do. I finally started a real job at the ripe old age of twenty seven, and 1948 was also an important year historically. Someone shot Ghandi, the new state of Israel came into existence, the Soviet Union’s blockade of Berlin began, the Kinsey Report into the Sexual Behaviour of the Human Male was published, and London staged the Olympic Games, as no other city wanted to or could afford to act as host. Not surprisingly, Germany and Japan were banned from competing in this post-war era.
    1948 also seemed to signify the path my life would take in the future. The science faculty wished to recruit more students, and asked me to promote new developments in quantum theory as a way of increasing their roll. In one lecture, someone asked if atomic particles formed the basis of the human soul.
    I’d never considered searching for the soul. How could it even be observed, or measured? Reality has always been gauged by the things around us that we can see, touch, or observe. Our world consists of matter, which is comprised of atoms, broken down into neutrons and electrons. The soul is none of the above.
    I thought very little of this interaction at the time, more concerned with a mysterious woman who’d divulged the details of a top secret experiment. Ironically, I never answered his question and the mysterious woman never re-appeared in my life. For a few months, I became preoccupied with her, but the man who pondered the soul did make a re-appearance.   His offer came out of the blue, and may turn out to be something on a par with the Devil’s temptation of Jesus, or the eureka moment every scientist desires. Anyway, by now you’ve realised that I accepted his offer…

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    The Daimler pulled up at Max Richardson’s research facility on a fine day at the end of August 1950.   Paul stared out of the window at a stately manor house, as the tyres of the Daimler crunched on the gravel. Trees surrounded the building, which enhanced its aura of privacy and suggested a closed shop. Max met him at the imposing front door and his personal driver, John Eames, took Paul’s suitcases.
    The