I was on my way home to Clapham yesterday evening and, as I got off the bus, I saw this newspaper placard: ONE MILLIONTH TEST-TUBE BABY. I was shocked. Could it be that many already? After all, the first successful in vitro fertilization was as recent as 1978. Surely, I thought, this is typical exaggeration by the media. However, on reflection, I realized that there must now be many thousands of test-tube babies around. After all, there are fifty or so IVF clinics operating in France alone, over forty in Britain and a great many more throughout the other advanced nations. Sooner or later, therefore, even if this particular newspaper report is wrong, that figure of one million will eventually be reached.

Perhaps I had better explain before I go any further how I come to know this kind of detail about the spread of IVF. The fact is (it's still difficult to say it in a straightforward way), my husband and I are unable to have children. This condition is not unusual, I assure you. About one in ten couples are infertile for one reason or another. So when Dr Edwards developed the IVF technique and began to help childless people to have kids, I read everything I could on the subject. Unfortunately, we were too old to try for a test-tube baby ourselves; and anyway we didn't have enough money.