a serious health risk. International career Thompson was selected for England's summer tour to North America in 2001, where he did well. He made his test debut for England in the 2002 Six Nations with a win against Scotland. He scored his maiden test try against Italy in the 2003 Six Nations, a tournament which saw England win the Grand Slam. Thompson made a significant contribution to England's southern hemisphere tour in June 2003, playing in both victorious tests against New Zealand and Australia. He was a member of the England team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, playing a part in all but one of England's World Cup performances in Australia. He scored his second test try in England's opening World Cup match against Georgia in Perth. Thompson continued as an England regular in the Autumn games of 2004. He was selected for the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand; on the tour he seemed to have regained some of his form after a poor 2005 Six Nations. On 19 May 2009 Martin Johnson gave Thompson a surprise call up for England's summer games against The Barbarians and Argentina. Thompson was recalled to the England squad for the 2009 autumn internationals along with 2003 world cup winners Jonny Wilkinson and Lewis Moody. In the 2011 Six Nations he scored the only try for England in their match against Ireland on 19 March 2011, a tournament which saw England win the Six Nations, but were denied the Grand Slam and Triple Crown with defeat to Ireland in Dublin. He also played in England's 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign, and was one of a minority of players whose reputation did not suffer. Post-retirement Thompson has been based in Dubai and has acted as an ambassador for the Christina Noble Children's Foundation. He has also been appointed as sports ambassador for security and facilities management services company Transguard, and worked in the media as rugby analyst for OSN and ESPN (UK). Health and dementia In December 2020, Thompson, aged 42, revealed that he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated blows to the head (CTE can only be confirmed by post-mortem dissection of the brain). He said that he has no memory at all of events such as winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup and sometimes forgets