Very sad to see the passing of Patrick Moore. Sky at Night was such a great programme over the years - he seems to have been around so much of my life - I recall he used to show up on Blue Peter way back when.
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That news made me really sad, last time he was on The Sky at Night it was obvious that he was not his former self and not likely to last long. However, to be positive, he inspired many, including me, to be dark sky tourists. -
Amazing what he was able to see, through that eyeglass....
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John,
He HAS been around all of your life! Nice bloke, he used to turn up at our local back in seventies. No such thing as coincidence - we have friend round today to watch Patricio Guzman's excellent ' Nostalgia For The Light 'Last edited by Guest; 09-12-12, 19:36.Comment
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Originally posted by Anna View Post
Agreed, totally
He changed the life of a great friend, by being willing to meet him with his parents to discuss astronomy, career options etc when my star-struck (in an astronomical sense) mate was at school. RIP
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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He came to talk to us at school a couple of times, over 50 years ago - I was at a small boarding school in Sussex closely modelled on the one in "Decline and Fall" and PM lived nearby and was a friend of the headmaster.
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It is always sad when someone who has brought a niche interest to a wider public and been a passionate advocateOriginally posted by Paul Sherratt View Post
but
He wasn't really a "nice bloke"
he had some more than a touch of misogyny about him i'm afraidComment
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According to Wiki, The Sky At Night was "the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history".Originally posted by Caliban View Post
Agreed, totally
He changed the life of a great friend, by being willing to meet him with his parents to discuss astronomy, career options etc when my star-struck (in an astronomical sense) mate was at school. RIP
And a musician too
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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His enthusiasm was infectious. After watching The Sky at Night, I would invariably pop outside afterwards with a pair of binoculars to check on things he had pointed out.
Btw, if the sky is clear tonight, check out Jupiter and its larger moons. A great view at the moment.Comment
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His fiancee was killed by a bomb, he never married. I don't think misogyny, more rage about the war.Originally posted by MrGongGong View Post
I thought he was great.Comment
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For all the undeniable good he did in keeping astronomy alive, and inspiring youngsters to go into science, the BBC should have dropped him from the programme (or more likely, replaced what was HIS programme) a couple of years ago. It was quite absurd how slurring and unintelligible his autocue reading had become. You don't keep someone on at licence payer's expense just because they've become a national institution of sorts. It's quite possible no one at the BBC had the heart to axe or replace the show, being the longest running show, but that decision has now been made for them - unless they hire a new anchor.Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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Sadly, I think his attitude to women (and i'm remembering a woman scientist telling me this after meeting with him) stankOriginally posted by Anna View Post
which is NOT to take away his obvious achievements in bringing Astronomy to a wider publicComment
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He was a very kind man who lived up to his screen persona with a rather schoolboy type of humour. on one occasion at Lime Grove during the moon landings he was recording some commentary with us when he was called back to the studio. "I'd better do my hair" he said, and produce a comb. It had one tooth at each end, all the others were missing!
He gave us all an open invitation to visit him in Selsey, but sadly we did not. His solar eclipse programmes were always a highlight for me, and when I was lucky enough to see totality in the 1999 eclipse, I found myself thinking of him. A great survivor from television's golden age.Comment
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Sir Patrick was a keen musician, and composed several pieces of music, including opera. He once accompanied Albert Einstein on the piano when he played Saint-Saens "Swan" at a reception.
He had a great sense of humour. A magazine reviewer of his book "Atlas of the Universe" said it was "not a very pretty book". Patrick referred him to the many children's books on the subject, "which are very pretty indeed, and clearly much more suited to his needs"!Comment
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My stargazing was completely inspired by Sir Patrick.
RIP
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