A Belfast man's story of finally meeting his Ghanaian father will be told on radio tomorrow, writes Margaret Canning.
A west Belfast man who supposedly died at birth before his real mother contrived to "adopt" him has travelled to Africa to meet his father for the first time.
The story of how journalist Tim Brannigan (41) met "Michael", a prominent doctor, in Ghana last month will be told on Radio 4's It's My Story tomorrow at 8pm.
"We met for the first time under African skies and got on famously," Mr Brannigan said.
"I was happy to meet him and we will be meeting again. I've been on a bit of a high ever since."
His mother, Peggy, was married with three sons when she met Michael, whose full name cannot be used, when he was a medical student in Belfast in 1965.
"My mother was rediscovering a social life and she was at a dance in Belfast city centre with some other girls and saw this handsome black man.
"Some of the other girls were intimidated by him and recoiled and said, 'I'm not dancing with a black man', but when it came to 'ladies' choice', my mother asked him to dance."
She fell pregnant by Michael but was terrified of giving birth to a black baby in a conservative, Catholic society and agonised throughout the pregnancy. The affair ended as it came to light that Michael was married with a family.
When she gave birth, medical staff conspired in a lie that the baby had been stillborn.
Her husband, Tom, colluded in the deception and the baby was taken to a children's home in another part of the city where Mrs Brannigan visited him until "adopting" him when he was one.
"My mother had visited the home for a long time and always used to take the black children for a visit home because no one would adopt black babies. She did the same with me.
"My uncle, who was wise to what was going on, only told me last year that he said to her: 'If you like that baby so much, why don't you adopt him to replace the one you lost?' That was just what she needed to hear."
Mr Brannigan grew up believing he was adopted until he was told the truth at 19. "I cried, but it was tears of joy because my mother had been a great mother and to know that she was my real mother was fantastic."
He said his mother, who died in 2004 from a brain tumour, was determined he should succeed in life. "She always pushed me and made sure I did well at school and I became the only member of my family to go to university."
The family were staunch republicans and Mr Brannigan was in Sinn Féin in the 1980s. He served four years in the Maze for possession of explosives and weapons.
He trained as a journalist, working in broadcasting and newspapers and winning awards for his work.
"People saw a black guy in a suit and thought I was English. Nobody would ever have thought I was in the H-Blocks, so race played to my advantage."
He is now writing a book about his life called Where Are You Really From? "That's just how it is. People ask me where I'm from, and I say, "Beechmount [ west Belfast]. They look at the colour of my skin and say, 'Where are you really from?'"