When Neil Richardson moved to Braintree he thought it really was the place where everybody knows your name.

Or at least they think they do.

When the former priest moved to Notley Road from west London 18 months ago, he was baffled to be greeted with smiles, waves and a “hello John” everywhere he went.

At the time, he was unaware he is the spitting image of popular former Braintree teacher John Jemison.

The pair finally met last week and they are already firm friends.

Neil, 69, said: “Complete strangers were coming up to me and saying hello.

“On one occasion, in the Quadrant Cafe, someone actually came up to my table and said ‘You are John Jemison, aren't you?’

“The manager was quite sure I was and a couple of weeks ago I asked if I could have a word with him after he greeted me with the words ‘Hello John’ and he didn't believe that Iwas not John.

“I had to prove it by showing him my driving licence.

“I was therefore very interested to meet this man who I thought must be rather good looking.”

The penny finally dropped when they both boarded the same coach for a Friends of Braintree Museum visit to the Magna Carta exhibition at the British Library.

Mr Jemison, 74, said: “I didn’t instantly notice our resemblance when, as I boarded the bus, Neil greeted me with ‘Are you John Jemison?’”

“I was distracted with the thought, ‘Oh dear someone else who wants me to do something.’

“My wife, however, did a double take and we began to look forward to the opportunity to meet at the end of our journey.”

In addition to their remarkably similar appearance, the men have lived similar lives.

Both studied at the College of St Mark and St John in Chelsea in the 1960s, but they never met.

They both went on to become religious education teachers before Mr Jemison, who taught at Alec Hunter and John Bunyan schools, became headteacher at Silver End Primary school and Mr Richardson became a priest.

Both men also married their sweethearts in the 1960s soon after meeting them, and they both sing in choirs.

When the pair had lunch in London, they realised they even had accounts with the same bank.

Mr Richardson said: “There was an astounding moment when we put our cards on the desk to share the cost of lunch and we might even have said ‘snap’, except that the numbers were different."