Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England on March 30, 1945. Clapton's father, who already had a wife, returned to Canada after World War II. His mother, was not able to bear the shame of raising an illegitimate child (a child of unmarried parents) in post-war Britain. She left Clapton with his grandparents Jack and Rose Clapp (Clapton by her first marriage) and moved to Germany where she married another Canadian soldier. Clapton was raised believing his mother was his sister. His grandmother did not tell him the truth until he was nine years old.