'It's incredible how close we were – but still so far apart'

John Moore was abandoned as a baby on Christmas Eve in 1944. Eight decades later, he and his half-brother were finally reunited by a Christmas gift.

- Nicole Wootton-Cane

On Christmas Eve in 1944, as London was hit by the intense bombing of the “Baby Blitz”, John Moore was left abandoned on the street. Just days old, he was picked up by a policeman and taken to St Thomas’ Hospital - but his origins and details of his family remained a mystery. Four years later, he was adopted into a loving family in Kennington, south London, where he lived a “happy” childhood. Between school and helping his neighbours with their market stalls on weekends, his busy life left little time for wondering where he had come from.

Little did he know that his biological father and his half-brother, Lucas Borg, who was 11 years younger than him, were living just a mile away in Kennington. The two boys grew up within touching distance, but remained unaware of each other’s existence until a Christmas present from Lucas’s daughter changed everything.

“I had a happy life,” John tells The Independent. “I had a wonderful mother and father and two brothers. My only concern growing up was: did my biological family know that I survived, that I was safe and had a good life?”