Sir Patrick Moore
 

Sadly Sir Patrick passed away today ...

During WWII 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.

Such an inspirational character ...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...-2_306x488.jpg

Rest in peace ...

Coff.

That's sad - brought an interest in the stars and astronomy generally to very many people.

RIP

I wonder what will happen to his RAF nav's tie. An old Bomber Command flight engineer chum of mine sent him one around 1980 - I wouldn't be surprised if that was the same one he always wore. Other than when he was wearing a bow I don't think he wore another tie in the last 30 years or so.

Might give mine an airing in lieu of a black armband!

Sir Patrick Moore Death: Astronomer Dies Aged 89

As I posted on Farcebewk:

This bloke was the first person to make 'space' a magical thing for me. I recall watching 'The Sky at Night' with the intro music and this fat ol' duffer would sit there and explain complex stuff in a simple way & it was illustrated by beautiful photographs - I trust him and Douglas Adams are having a couple of shandies tonight somewhere and having a giggle

His genius was in making it so accessible whilst maintaining both the magic & beauty and the simple fact it was science & truth not 'belief' & feelings.

There is a new star in the sky tonight.

Unclenelli - So well put - thanks

Sir Patrick Moore
 

Two fine astronomical figures gone in the same year.
RIP Neil Armstrong & Sir Patrick Moore

A fine and distinguished gentleman from the barking eccentric school of life, of which there are far too few members in this clinical and profit driven era.

I did read somewhere that on one mission he clambered over the bodies of the FE and pilot to rescue his stricken Lancaster, not something you heard him talk about very much if at all. And that was on top of being one of the very few individuals to have met Orville Wright, Uri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong and having his private research used by both NASA and the Soviet Space Programme. Quite a tally over an incredibily distinguished career.

I shall be looking out of the window tonight and wouldn't be suprised to see Polaris glinting that little bit brighter.

Sky At Night Cyprus
 

In the earley 80s he visited Cyprus and came down to the Sqn on Golf Dispersal at Akrotiri. A true gentleman. Very interesting, but barking mad.
He gave a Sky At Night talk at the Curium which was fantastic. The setting, the man and his choice of music captured the imagination of all present. What a shame that later generations do not produce such eccentric and interesting people.

He was one of those special people that no matter what ones age group, he would instantly adhere to you with his passion for the stars.. RIP

Had the great pleasure of shaking hands and accepting my scroll from Sir Patrick at my graduation in 1989. I was just joining the RAF and we had a brief 5 minute chat much to the annoyance of the other students.

He gave me a huge boost towards my keeping on the straight and narrow to finish my Nav course. Thank you, Sir, you were an inspiration to me. I'll raise a beer in your honour tonight, fellow Navigator.

LJ

During our Freshers' Week at QMC back in 1969, Patrick Moore was one of the guest visiting lecturers. His enthusiasm and passion were clearly evident and he held us spellbound with his talk. He also had a brilliant sense of humour and was easily able to deal with questions from stroppy students!

Astonishing that he also had enough spare time to be an accomplished xylophone player, even composing music for the instrument!

Queen's Brian May PhD wrote:

How very true. The only time I ever heard him get rather hot under the collar was when some interviewer was unwise enough to raise the topic of astrology.....:uhoh:

RIP

Very sad news about Sir Patrick, but very nice to see a thread here.
A fantastic person with a great vision on life, who was an inspiration to so many people, including myself. A very sad loss to our world and the universe. If only there were more like him around. I will raise my glass to my telescope tonight.

He was also, briefly, the finance minister for the Monster Raving Loony Party, of whom he said "They had an advantage over all the other parties, in that they knew they were loonies."

Well said sir, RIP

Sad day ,but a good innings for him all round!

RIP Sir Patrick!

I watched his last Sky at Night a few days ago. A remarkable man who will be missed by all. I always laughed at his "Hey diddle diddle the stamps in the middle" pranks - much to the annoyance of the Post Office. RIP Sir.

Farewell to a true gentleman - I've often looked up at the heavens and remembered fondly that it was Sir Patrick that sparked my interest at about aged 10.

At about aged 12 I wrote to him to ask for his autograph - he responded almost immediately with a signed business card and great words of encouragement to a kid interested in space.

A lovely man, a true eccentric, and one who will be sadly missed.

AS

Such a pity that they gave him so little air time and resources for his
program ("The Sky at Night" was it?) - he could have easily filled an hour slot and still kept us captivated - imagine what he could have done today with the ready affordability of telescopes in getting young people into it.
The rush to get as much as possible into the short time slot did exaggerate any eccentricity he had but in a way it conveyed the enormity of the field of astronomy and defined one's impression of his character that is unforgettable.
Interesting that he died close to the time of the first man on the moon - while Princess Di's passing was perhaps eclipsed by coinciding with the passing of Mother Theresa, I don't think I'll remember this time any more for Neil Armstrong than for Patrick Moore, he is right up there too.

Sir Paul Nurse (Pres Royal Society, I think) was talking about him on 'Today' this morning. He remembered Sir Patrick giving a lecture on stage, with a roving microphone. As he paced up and down, he got closer to the edge of the stage, until eventually he fell off, backwards, and disappeared. Sir Paul said "We couldn't see him, but we could still hear him".

He managed to crawl back onto the stage, and just kept going without missing a beat.

What a pro.....

If you want to hear it
BBC News - Today - Sir Paul Nurse: Patrick Moore was 'total enthusiast'

airsound

I had the pleasure of going for a curry with Sir Patrick Moore about 15 years ago. Apart from his obvious appreciation of spice, he was certainly an interesting character to share stories with. He told the story about having to take over the controls of a Lancaster at a tender age after the Pilot and FE were injured. It really brought home to me what courage and bravery had to be brought into play; when you compare that with some of today's young people of a similar age, how many would be found wanting?
He definitely represents an era of very different standards and expectations.

Taybird wrote:
<< ... It really brought home to me what courage and bravery had to be brought into play; when you compare that with some of today's young people of a similar age, how many would be found wanting?
He definitely represents an era of very different standards and expectations.>>
It's not the times but the environment - the young people of Rhodesia still had outstanding qualities as late as the '70s.
Like the earlier British generations, they had cultural and national identities - and pride in them.
WW2 was, in effect, fought against such values - you should not destroy one's cultural fabric without careful consideration of what you are going to replace it with. I suspect that there was very little discussion at the time as to whether we were going to abandon all forms of nationalism (indeed there was probably a lot of deception - for examples, the Russians being told that they were fighting a "Patriotic" war and Churchill warning of the threat to the British Empire) - too late now as you are too multi-cultural to define a national identity other than with practically meaningless soundbites. Just don't blame the young - your forebears left them in social limbo. Make the best of it by talking with other men as to what kind of community you want in future, what can be salvaged, etc - too late to cry over spilt milk.

Reunited with his fiancee Lorna, after all of these years.

RIP Sir Patrick. The stars will shine brighter tonight in your memory.

Patrick Moore's death reminds me of a guy called Geoffrey Perry (who died in 2000) who was a science teacher at Kettering Grammar School. Geoffrey Perry followed events in space with rudimentary equipment (a coat hanger featured in one piece of equipment), momitored and gave evidence to the US Senate on Russian progress in space. He also fired the imagination of generations of youngsters, some of whom went on to careers in the space industry - I have no doubt GP and PM are shering a couple of beers in the celestial bar. RIP

Per Ardua Ad Astra seems most appropriate for this star of Astronomy.

He's been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

Thank you for that, RIP sir.

RIP

Sir Patrick Moore
 

In answer to Walter Kennedy's post, I once had the pleasure of working with Sir Patrick on "Sky At Night" back in the early seventies. I asked him why the programme was so short and broadcast so late at night. he replied with words to the effect that "The BBC like to keep eccentrics like me tucked away in a corner so as not to upset too many people and astronomy is considered to be a very minority interest programme!"
RIP Sir.

Best piece of advice I heard from him was in a slim volume of his called "How to Annoy Bureaucrats" or similar.

He suggested rubbing candle-wax on the bits of forms marked "For Official Use Only", thereby making them unusable!

I think we should all try and do that once soon in his memory! :ok:

RIP Sir, there'll never be another like you.

Sir Patrick Moore: Astronomer, Broadcaster and Eccentric
 

currently on BBc1

Teeteringhead
 

The book you refer to was called 'Bureaucrats: How to Annoy Them'. It was written by Sir Patrick using the pen name R.T. Fishall. A very amusing read and typical of the man's sense of humour.

Sun.

He was asked why he joined The Monster Raving Loony Party in the 80's....he said "they have an advantage, they already know they are loonies".

:D

Just watched Tuesday night's tribute, and was reminded within seconds of another eccentric genius, sorely missed - Magnus Pyke, although Dr Brian May looked considerably younger (hair colour) than he does now - see 2010 picture v 2011 lower down v 2012 appearance at Olympic Ceremony.

Sir Patrick Moore was awarded a Bafta for services to Science & Broadcasting and comments were that he met the first man in space and the first man to fly.
I disagree with the "first man to fly" - Was this Sir George Cayley's Coachman/Footman/Butler, d. ???, or Grandson, d. 1878, (some ambiguity), Augustus Herring, d. 1926, or Wilbur Wright, d. 1912 - 3s flight 17 Dec 1903.

Since Sir Patrick Moore was born in 1923, there is only the chance that he could have met Cayley's Coachman/Footman/Butler, seventy+ years after the event (1853) or Augustus Herring before his (Patrick's) 3rd birthday, or Orville Wright, d. 1948 - 2nd to fly powered.
(I've discounted all "Lighter Than Air" pilots - Montgolfier's 1700's, Zeppelin 1800's)