Since being mugged in Toronto

two years ago, his past has been a blank. And no one

has come forward to identify him. Is there anybody can tell me who I am?

“I, a person suffering from amnesia, in the City of Vancouver,”

begins one of the more unusual affidavits to come before the

Canadian courts in recent years. It was a statement of a man

who may or may not be 26, who may or may not be British, and

who may or may not be named Philip Staufen. All he knows, in

the words of the affidavit, is the following: “I am a white male,

Caucasian, about five feet, nine inches. I weigh 150lbs. I have no

visible marks on my body. I have no memory of any events prior

to waking up in the hospital in November of 1999.”

The man stumbled into Toronto general hospital with a bloody

face, a damaged nose, a British accent with perhaps a hint of

Yorkshire in it, and very little else. No wallet, no identification

and no idea who he was. His hair was dyed blond and his

clothes were from brands available anywhere in the world, with

no identifying labels. When the hospital authorities insisted he

provide a date of birth and name, any name, before they could

treat him, he came up with the first name that flashed across his

mind, Philip Staufen, and the first date he could think of, June 7

1975.

The Guardian UK