The author is the son of the 'title person', number 5 in a family with 10 children. As a lad, he just lived his life that changed when he became a schoolboy, going his own way and rather avoiding his father. Every day he could be found on the vast grounds near their house that stemmed from the defence works surrounding Maastricht, where the police was not to be seen and the boys were making fires or could be found in the extensive system of underground casemates. It was the time when spanking a boy's bottom was still common. The other family members had great fun when one day he disclosed having stuffed his bottom with three pieces of underwear to dampen the pain. Even his dad granted him a smile from the wrong side of his mouth. Once in secondary school, all of that stopped and he even got lessons from his own dad in Biology. At age 18, he started his study at the University of Wageningen. Near the completion of his study, he married his all-time wife, Mieke, who joined him abroad and gave birth to two daughters and a son.