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What lies beneath ...

What i’m trying to do here, Jeremy, is understand you. 

  • How did a lager lout teenager who twice fell short on his A-levels, ascend to the pinnacle of power in academia?

We've looked at your schooling, Vietnam, but not your parents - the itinerant childhood.

As you say: Inevitably it has a big influence, I think, on the way you see things and your approach to the world.

In turn, your approach to the world has had a big influence on the world - so let’s reverse engineer that.

Born in Singapore,1961, the usual media intro is: His father was an English teacher .. who moved his family often. The family lived in Yemen, Egypt, Cyprus, New Zealand (6-months - hated it), and Libya, among other countries. Farrar, the youngest of six, came along after Yemen and Egypt. (my brackets)

At the NIH lecture, you list the countries of your childhood as: Singapore, Malaysia, Aden in Yemen, Cyprus, New Zealand, and Libya (7 years).

That’s since you were born. The last of six children. It's an interesting array of countries - for an English teacher.

I’ve gotta ask the obvious question:

Was Dad a spy?

There are other explanations, which we’ll explore, but it'd make sense if he was - your affiliation with the world of underlying forces from a formative age - your obsession with global politics ...

Next question would be:

Are you a spy?

The question after that would be:

Does Wellcome function as a spy organization?

Last question:

Which side are you on exactly? Totalitarianism or Freedom?

Final Last question:

What even is the politics of your average spy organization?