Miracle skull man Gordon Moore has Christmas request

Dec 24 2009 by Rob Pattinson, The Journal

PENSIONER Gordon Moore has been given the all-clear by surgeons who discovered he had miraculously regrown his skull.

The 72-year-old, who was told by astonished medics the entire section of skull-bone from his eye to his ear and backwards to the top of his head, had regenerated 50 years after it was smashed in a car accident, now wants the metal plate back for Christmas.

Neurologists at Newcastle Hospitals have been so pleased with the great-grandfather’s progress, they have discharged him entirely from their care.

They had expected the patient to wear a crash-helmet for up to six months to protect his brain, while his infected plate was replaced.

Gordon, of Hexham, Northumberland, said: “It would be great to get it back for Christmas. It certainly has some sentimental value.

“It would be a fantastic present. I spent a lot of time with it and it served me very well. If I got it I certainly wouldn’t be short of talking points at Christmas parties.

“Failing that a nice peaceful year would do for me.”

The titanium plate was fitted by doctors in 1954 after Gordon was injured in a car crash. A second smash three years later left a dent in the plate the contours of his new skull have copied.

Now Gordon says his skull has “never felt better”.

With his head back intact he now plans to pursue his passion for visiting war-zones and danger hot-spots across the world.

After becoming one of the first tourists to enter Iraq since the outbreak of war there, in 2003, he wants to break the final taboo, by taking a holiday to North Korea. Gordon, who used to run a post office on Brooklyn Terrace, North Shields, then an off-licence on Shibdon Bank, Winlaton, Gateshead, until 1990, said: “Next year I’m planning to go to China and Vietnam and North Korea if I can arrange it.

“I’m sure I can get in, perhaps by train, but that’s where I’m keen to go. If I don’t make it then I’m planning to go back to Afghanistan later in the year. I want to visit the Wakhan Corridor, which I’ve heard is very remote.”

Something Gordon is particularly looking forward to in 2010 is heading to his far-flung destinations without causing a stir at airport security.

“My head would always set off the metal detectors. I could end up spending a long time explaining, then I just learned to put my head back through the machine and the customs guys would laugh. You’ve got them when they laugh.”

It would be a fantastic present. I spent a lot of time with it and it served me very well