John Drewe - Early Life

Early Life

Drewe was born John Cockett in 1948 in Sussex, England. His childhood friend later said that he told tall tales about himself even in school. At the age of 17 he dropped out of school and changed his surname to Drewe. He worked briefly with the British Atomic Energy Authority, having initially convinced his superiors that he had a Ph.D. in physics. He resigned two years later, after this was found to be false. After that, there is a 15-year gap in official records about him - no employment or tax records.

According to himself, Drewe joined the student protests in Paris in 1968, moved to Germany and studied physics in the Kiel University. When he moved back to the UK, he taught experimental physics at the University of Sussex for a year and received a second degree in physics in SUNY Buffalo. None of those educational institutions have his name on their records.

In 1970 Drewe, claiming a PhD in physics, worked for a year as head of the Physics Department of Bexhill Grammar School in East Sussex.

In 1980, Drewe met wealthy Israeli expatriate Bat-Sheva Goudsmid and soon moved in to her house, having charmed her with claims that he was an advisor to the Atomic Energy Authority, a British Aerospace board member, and worked for the Ministry of Defence. In fact, he was teaching physics in a Jewish private school in Highgate until he was apparently pressured to leave in 1985.