It was one of those unexpected telephone calls; the type that when you think back on you can safely admit changed your life. Yet, discussing such a telephone call yesterday the former BBC Newsnight presenter, Peter Snow, admitted to feeling so surprised at finding out he had a son from a relationship in his youth that he responded: "Don't tell me you're my son. Are you tall, dark and handsome?"
Luckily the comment caused his son, Matthieu, to laugh out loud.
A month before, Mr Snow had been intrigued by a message on his BBC answering machine to telephone a number in Paris. After tracking down the man who had left the message he discovered the caller was his son, Matthieu.
"I don't think the story shouldn't be told," Mr Snow said yesterday. "I feel very happy about it. When Matthieu rang me and mentioned his mother's name, he asked me if I remembered her.
"I said that, indeed, I remembered her. I really am proud and delighted to be Matthieu's father, and she is very happy that he has found me."
The woman in question was Sabine, who was described in the British press as a "coquettish French journalist" in Egypt for a holiday in 1964 when she met Mr Snow aboard a cruiser on the Nile.
At the time, Dublin-born Mr Snow was a 25-year-old reporter for the fledgling British television station ITN. He later carved a niche as a diplomatic and defence correspondent, covering the Nigeria and Vietnam wars.
After their brief relationship Sabine discovered she was pregnant. However, insisting that it was a private matter for their families, Mr Snow said yesterday he would not discuss why his former lover had not told him about their son.
After the Nile cruise Mr Snow went on to marry twice. Sabine married a Paris-based lawyer who raised Matthieu as his own son.
Mr Snow said his son had become an instant, welcome addition to his family in the past few weeks. He had travelled on the family's boat and they had both come to realise how similar they were.
"I have the same long nose and the same chin," Matthieu has admitted. And there was yet another surprise for Mr Snow: he is a grandfather. Matthieu is married with two young children and it is "really wonderful, very exciting indeed," said Mr Snow.
With his children, Shane (30) and Shuna (28), from his first marriage and Daniel (20), Rebecca (18) and Kate (15) from his second marriage to Canadian journalist Ann MacMillan, Mr Snow said news of another son "came out of the blue. I'm absolutely thrilled about it and so is my family.
"It is a delight to find out I have another son. I've been telling my family about him over the last few weeks. I had no idea about it before."