A man who has been looking for his father for 20 years is in Malta to try and dig out more information about his origins.

Brian Wallace, or David Noone by birth, is cycling and camping it across the southern Mediterranean, looking for a man who was in London in August of 1974, probably as an engineering student.

Although he says he managed to track down his biological mother, the 39-year-old has very little information about his father and his main tool is DNA information. Mr Wallace is in fact looking for volunteers who would sponsor genetic tests on themselves and on him so that he could at least narrow his search to specific regions.

“Malta is of interest to me as I could find matching segments here and try to tie down my ancestry to a region. So far I have found distant cousins in Western Sicily,” he tells this newspaper in Valletta.

Mr Wallace is of haplogroup J1, like some eight per cent of Maltese men, he says. A haplotype is a combination of closely linked DNA sequences that are often inherited.

Since he has run out of money, he relies on volunteers who sponsor genetic tests.

Equipped with a solar charger that he hooks his tablet to, he rides a second-hand bike, camps in caves, or when lucky, on a stranger’s sofa.

His search started when he was 18 in Galway, Ireland.

I don’t want to move in with my biological parents, but I just want closure. I want peace of mind. I want to tick that parenthood box and move on with my life

“I always knew I was adopted, but it wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I could really look into my origins.

“When I was 26 I managed to get hold of my birth certificate and what is known as ‘non-identifying information’.

“These documents refer to my father as an engineering student, probably Italian, who was in London in 1974. I was born in June of 1975, so he should have been there in August for sure.”

He eventually tracked down his biological mother and sent letters to her but he did not get much information out of her, he says.

“I did, however, meet a couple of distant relatives in Galway by tracing back the family tree once I discovered who my biological mother was.

“I gave up my post tertiary studies and in 2012 I set off from Ireland in search of my father. My search has brought me to Malta. So far I have carried out four tests,” he says.

Apart from the genetic track, there is one other obvious way Mr Wallace could find his biological father. He believes his mother was a medical student and he knows her maiden surname is Noone as his full name on the birth certificate says David Noone.

Having run out of money but not out of motivation, Mr Wallace relies on the providence of people he meets on his trip for closure.

“I don’t want to move in with my biological parents, but I just want closure. I want peace of mind. I want to tick that parenthood box and move on with my life.

“If you don’t know your origins, you can never feel at home anywhere. Some people who are in my same position will be bothered by this lack of closure for the rest of their lives and I know of some, whom I’m trying to help out, who are on their deathbed and are still looking for their relatives.”

Mr Wallace updates his blog https://amancallednoone.wordpress.com regularly and can be contacted on wallacebrianedward@yahoo.co.uk.