England rugby legend Brian Moore has revealed that he was sexually abused by one of his teachers as a child.
The 47-year-old, who won 64 caps for England and five for the British & Irish Lions, talks about the ordeal in his forthcoming autobiography, 'Beware of the Dog', currently serialised by the Telegraph newspaper.
Moore said he was sexually abused on an overnight field trip by a teacher, who was also a close friend of his adoptive parents, when he was aged nine or 10.
The abuse continued when he returned to school and he said the ordeal played a key role in shaping his fiercely competitive attitude on the field.
"If you have been abused, you feel tainted by association with the awfulness of the crime," he said.
"Anyone with similar issues will understand that it is possible to come across as bullish, argumentative, forceful, mouthy and yet be absolutely crippled emotionally. It's a compensation mechanism."
Moore is currently best known for his out-spoken, no-nonsense commentary on rugby for the BBC, but he is also a qualified solicitor and manicurist.
He refused to name the man who abused him, who is now dead, and admitted he felt angry when he learnt the news of his death.
He said: "I felt cheated when I heard he had died. I wrote him a letter, explaining the effects of what he did, but he died before I could send it. What happened to me cannot have been an isolated incident. It had probably been going on for years."
Moore, a father of two, also said he had to cope with feelings of rejection after his mother, a single parent, gave him away for adoption when he was a baby.
"You believe it is done for the best of motives because if you think about it the other way, it's so awful, but fatherhood gives you another perspective," he said.