Astronomy

Sir Patrick Moore – A Legend Passes

4th March 1923 – 9th December 2012

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Sir Patrick Moore today.  I had the pleasure of meeting him in the 1970s, at his home in Selsey, West Sussex. My friend and I (both keen amateur astronomers) were staying at my aunt’s house in Bognor Regis, West Sussex (where Patrick once lived), not too far from Selsey. We arranged through his secretary to meet him. The following morning We walked along the beach/coast from Bognor to Selsey, the long walk was worth it.   

Patrick came out to meet us larger than life. He took the time to show my friend and I around his home and telescopes, while chatting.  He was a friendly and genial man. We then met Mr Spry, who made some of Patrick’s telescopes, he showed us around his workshop located in the big back former bedroom of his house!

I met Sir Patrick again a few years ago at the book  signing of his biography. I mentioned that I had met him before at his Selsey home and mentioned Mr Spry. in his characteristic manner he replied that Mr Spry was “Sadly no longer with us” having passed away some years earlier.

Patrick Moore brought astronomy to many and inspired many to take up the telescope, including Professor Brian Cox,  Brian May, rock star guitarist of Queen, who trained as an astrophysicist.

Brian May, who published a book on astronomy written with Moore, described him as a “dear friend, and a kind of father figure to me”. He said: “Patrick was the last of a lost generation, a true gentleman, the most generous in nature that I ever knew, and an inspiration to thousands in his personal life, and to millions through his 50 years of unique broadcasting. It’s no exaggeration to say that Patrick, in his tireless and ebullient communication of the magic of astronomy, inspired every British astronomer, amateur and professional, for half a century. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one.”

British space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock said she was first inspired to “look at the night sky” through Sir Patrick.

“Through his regular monthly programmes he was telling us what to look for and what was out there and that was a real inspiration.

“Why [The Sky At Night] was so successful is because of his passion. He branched an amazing era, he was broadcasting before we actually went into space and so he saw a change in our understanding of the universe and he took us all the way through that, right up to today.”

He believed he was the only person to have met Orville Wright, the first man to fly; Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. Patrick also met Einstein.

Queen Elizabeth knighted him in 2001 for “services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting”.

He was able  to  explain the intricacies of astronomy the universe and put in laymans terms. He was a gifted amateur who acquired the knowledge of a professional. Indeed he was an expert on the moon, his favourite celestial body, his lunar maps and data were used by both NASA and the Russian space agency.

His trade mark monocle, wit and idiosyncratic style of speech endeared him to an army of fans spanning the generations.

Besides his astronony he was a musician proficent in playing the piano and his favourite the xylophone

He appeared in many TV shows factual and fun including Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy , Dr Who and Gamesmaster (an early review/contest using PC games). e was an impressionists delight because of his idiosyncratic manner, he did not mind this and enjoyed self parody.

From Global Granary last year

Patrick said that he has no family, his fiancee, Lorna, who was a nurse was killed in an air raid in London when they were both 20 during the war. On her death, he knew that he will never going to get married. Fortunately, he was very close to his mother so Patrick was not totally alone. She lived with him in his house in Selsey in Sussex till her death at the age of 94.

Patrick recalls that he was a fairly studious boy and was already reading P. G. Wodehouse when he was nine years old. His education was already mapped out from an early age. He was to go to a prep school and then Eton and finally Cambridge. However, Patrick ended up being home-schooled as he was found to be suffering from a heart condition. He did pass his entrance to Cambridge but the WWII happened and joined the Air Force instead.

With his Woodstock typewriter, Patrick wrote more than a hundred books, including Science Fiction novels but his first book was a translation of a book by a French astronomer about Mars. His first “own” book was Guide to the Moon which is still in stock today.

Patrick Moore is a cricket enthusiast. He played as a spin bowler but had to give up at age 78 when an old spine injury from the war has started to bother him. Patrick can no longer walk, he can use his hands with great difficulty, which meant giving up his trusty old Woodstock  typewriter on which he had written over 170 books, he eschewed using a word processor/ computer.

Patrick was devoted to his cats, Jeannie and Ptolemy. The cats have their own fountained garden, ensuring that they are safe from harm and diseases like cat-flu. There is a note in his house saying “The house is maintained entirely for the convenience of the cat.”

Despite his health, Patrick still writes. His latest is The Data Book of Astronomy. His interest in Astronomy was started from reading his mother’s copy of GF Chambers’ The Story of the Solar System. He got himself a binoculars and then saved up for a little telescope. At the age of 11, he joined the British Astronomical Association and became the youngest member.

Patrick Moore has presented The Sky at Night every month, bar one, beginning 1957. As Astronomy is Patrick passion, his work was more of a hobby.

From BBC a few minutes ago

British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore has died, aged 89, his friends and colleagues have said.

He “passed away peacefully at 12:25 BST this afternoon” at his home in Selsey, West Sussex, they said in a statement.

Sir Patrick presented the BBC programme The Sky At Night for over 50 years, making him the longest-running host of the same television show ever.

He wrote dozens of books on astronomy and his research was used by the US and the Russians in their space programmes.

A statement by his friends and staff said: “After a short spell in hospital last week, it was determined that no further treatment would benefit him, and it was his wish to spend his last days in his own home, Farthings, where he today passed on, in the company of close friends and carers and his cat Ptolemy.

“Over the past few years, Patrick, an inspiration to generations of astronomers, fought his way back from many serious spells of illness and continued to work and write at a great rate, but this time his body was too weak to overcome the infection which set in, a few weeks ago.

Through his regular monthly programmes he was telling us what to look for and what was out there and that was a real inspiration”

“His executors and close friends plan to fulfil his wishes for a quiet ceremony of interment, but a farewell event is planned for what would have been Patrick’s 90th birthday in March 2013.”

Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born at Pinner, Middlesex on 4 Mar 1923.

Heart problems meant he spent much of his childhood being educated at home and he became an avid reader. His mother gave him a copy of GF Chambers’ book, The Story of the Solar System, and this sparked his lifelong passion for astronomy.

When war came he turned down a place at Cambridge and lied about his age to join the RAF, serving as a navigator with Bomber Command and rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

Patrick said last year  “I am near the end of my life now but I don’t think it ends here. If it did, the entire thing would be pointless. No, we go on to the next stage, Who knows? It might be somewhere I can learn to bat decently.”

– Patrick Moore on Afterlife and playing cricket.

To me, there truly will never be another like Patrick Moore, and it was a pleasure to meet him and follow him on TV and in books. I hope you get your batting average up in the next life!