Patrick Moore Become an Iconic Symbol of Sir Patrick Moore in with Countless Books and a 55-Year-Old Monthly TV Program, Britain’S Astronomy Community

A knight’s tale To step inside Moore’s house in Selsey, England, Visiting Britain’s legendary is to walk through decades of astronomical Pete Lawrence Pete The weather vane at his home in Selsey has history. Patrick Moore become an iconic symbol of Sir Patrick Moore in With countless books and a 55-year-old monthly TV program, Britain’s astronomy community. Sir Patrick Moore is synonymous with the wonders of the cosmos and British eccentricity. by Stuart Clark Of cats and planets sound-bite sentences and uttered with a dry To step inside Moore’s house in Selsey, Eng- sense of old English humor. Although the land, is to walk through decades of astro- voice is quieter now, and occasionally a little nomical history. Everywhere you look, tremulous, his delivery is unmistakable. books, photos, or other memorabilia com- He points to the mantelpiece, where memorate a lifetime of astronomical work. carved bookends hold together a collection f you have ever seen the televi- Before going inside, though, first you see of small blue books. “One of those is called Patrick Moore and the BBC premiered The Sky sion program, you would be a handwritten sign on the front door. It The Story of the Solar System by G. F. at Night in April 1957. The broadcast company forgiven for thinking Sir explains that cats live in the house, so the Chambers,” Moore explains. “I picked that originally slated the monthly program for three porch door and the front door must never up when I was 6 and read it through, and I episodes to see how viewers would receive it; it has been running continuously in mostly the Patrick Moore delivered be open at the same time, lest they escape. was hooked. My education was completely same format ever since. BBC Photo Archive The Sky at Night from a “I’m very much a cat man,” explains knocked out through no one’s fault. The idea Ifilm set. Globes and equipment, Moore. “I’ve had cats all my life.” was: prep school, Eton, Cambridge. I never In April, he published a book called made it to any of them. I was laid low by a all-consuming interest in astronomy books and charts surround him Miaow! Cats really are nicer than people! wretched heart problem, which I overcame hadn’t wavered, though. — all decidedly antique in flavor. (Veloce Publishing Ltd.). “I chose the title when I was 15, but then the war came.” Between his early bouts of illness, Yet this is no set. This is Patrick for my book quite deliberately,” Moore Moore had joined the British Astronomical writes in its pages. “Obviously, it is danger- Astronomical exploration Association. “I was their youngest ever Moore’s home, suitably lit for filming and ous to generalise [sic], but given a choice It is part of the lore that surrounds Moore member at 11,” he says. “I published some without any real set dressing required. between the average person and the average that he lied about his age to join England’s research about the Moon — my first paper For 55 years, Moore has presented The cat, I would opt for the cat, and in this book Royal Air Force during World War II. was ‘Small Craterlets in the Mare Crisium,’ I will try to explain why.” “Swindled my way in,” is how he describes when I was 13.” Sky at Night for the BBC. This unprece- The short, sharp anecdote is a trade- it. “I was nowhere near the right medical Yet it took until Moore was in his 30s dented achievement has turned him into a mark. Moore’s thoughts are distilled into grade either.” for his first book offer to come along. “I household name in the United Kingdom. After spending those war-filled years as was darn lucky. The publishers found me. Stuart Clark (www.stuartclark.com) is a noted a navigator in Bomber Command, he still W. W. Norton wanted a book about the Monocled and brusque, yet with a well- astronomy journalist and the author of The Sun held an offer to study at Cambridge Uni- Moon. I wrote it, and it took off, so they : William Zuback (1929); Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Thinkstock (1939); BBC Photo Archive (1940) Archive (1939); BBC Photo Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Thinkstock (1929); Hemera Zuback William : : Astronomy Kings (Princeton, 2007). versity, but he chose not to pursue it. His wanted another.”

developed sense of humor, he is synonymous ine l

with astronomy and British eccentricity. In Time 2001, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to the popularisation [sic] of sci- A knight’s ence and to broadcasting.” life 1936 1929 Publishes first 1943 Reads The Story of 1939 research paper, Begins to wear Fiancée Lorna, the Solar System “Small Craterlets a monocle after an a nurse, is killed Patrick Moore’s 12-inch telescope and becomes in the Mare oculist tells him his during a German at his home observatory in Selsey, fascinated with Crisium” 1940 bombing England, has been his instrument 1923 right eye is weaker astronomy 1934 1937 Becomes a naviga- of choice since World War II. Born Patrick than his left Joins the British Invited to run a tor in the Royal Air BBC Photo Archive Alfred Caldwell- Astronomical small observatory Moore on March 4 in Force Bomber Association in East Grinstead, Pinner, Middlesex, Command Sussex, England England © 2012 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form • 62 Astronomy Novemberwithout permission 2012 from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com www.Astronomy.com 63 pursue a career in astronomy, he will have nothing of it. “I don’t Numbering inspire them. It’s the sub- ject. I just happen to be more than 700 there. I’m surprised at the way the audience episodes and counting, has held up; more The Sky at Night is the than a million people still watch us every longest-running month. I’ve made a lot of friends.” Using his famous 1908 Woodstock typewriter, television program Is there anyone he Sir Patrick Moore has written more than 100 wishes he could have books, mostly about astronomy. Before arthritis set in about a decade ago, he could use just two in the world. interviewed? fingers to type 90 words per minute. BBC Jane Fletcher “Halley,” he says immedi- Patrick Moore covered many events of the Soviet Union’s and the ately, referring to the 17th- United States’ Moon exploration programs for the BBC, from the first Luna century English astronomer and “I’ve written more than a hundred missions in 1959 to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. BBC Paul Johnstone adventurer Edmond Halley. “He was a books, but I’ve just written my last, I think.” great man. His very last words were to call The Sky at Night: Answers to Ques- That was in 1953. Reviewing the book in none of it remains in print now. “My science for a glass of wine and drink it. He was tions from Across the Universe (BBC the August Journal of the Royal Astronomi- fiction was only for boys, teenagers,” Moore everything. Undoubtedly, he would have Books, 2012) celebrates the 55th anniver- Sir Patrick Moore now tapes The Sky at Night from his home in Selsey. He has done so since his cal Society of Canada, R. J. Northcott noted says. “I only wrote one novel for adults. been a great man to go out for a drink with.” sary of the show by collecting answers to confinement to a wheelchair in 2004. BBC Photo Archive that he was “not convinced of the need or Having written it, I sat in here, and I read it questions that viewers have sent in over the advisability of speculation concerning space through. I held it over the wastepaper bas- An aging knight years. One includes a dispute between an travel” that Moore included in Guide to the ket and dropped it. It wasn’t very good.” Ptolemy the cat appears, with an exquisite 11-year-old girl and her father. She appeals “My one contribution, if I have made Ending an era Moon — ironic considering what was jet-black coat. Moore drops his hand beside to Moore to settle the argument over which one, is my interest in other people,” he It’s impossible not to feel a sense of sadness around the corner with Sputnik in 1957. An icon is born his wheelchair, and the cat does the rest, is the better galaxy: grand-design spiral continues. “Bringing them onto the show, that an era in British astronomy may be “I thought space travel would come Moore’s transition to TV came when The stroking itself to and fro. The astronomer M81 or starburst irregular M82. Always it’s all I can do. I’ll never retire. I’ll go on drawing to a close. As I walk through his along much faster than it actually did. It Sky at Night began in 1957. The BBC began to lose the use of his hands and legs to happy to supply an opinion, Moore lists the as long as I can. But I feel now that any- home, I pass a rack of perfectly ironed changed the public perception of astron- decided to make an astronomy program and arthritis about a decade ago. After his con- attributes of M81 before finally siding with thing I can do I have done. I think that’s it Hawaiian shirts, these days a Moore sarto- omy,” says Moore, who had been a member contacted Moore to be the presenter. That finement to a wheelchair, the BBC started the girl and M82. now. I don’t see what else I can do except rial standard. It serves to reinforce that of the space advocacy group the British was 55 years ago. Numbering more than 700 recording The Sky at Night in his home. “I don’t want to stop writing,” he adds the program.” there is no pretense here, that what you see Interplanetary Society since the 1930s. “I episodes and counting, it is the longest- “Since this has hit me, I can’t type any- with a plaintive hint noticeably different Moore has lived his life as part of the of Moore on television is what you get in was a teenager, and that’s where I met [the running television program in the world. more,” Moore says. “I used to do all my from the rehearsed anecdotes, “but I’ve community in Selsey without celebrity pre- real life. In an age of celebrity grooming, now-famous British science-fiction author] “I choose the guests — always have done own typing. I was very quick, 90 words a been stopped. I can’t type anymore. I have tension. He has shown many friends and there is a refreshing honesty about it. Arthur C. Clarke for the first time. We and always will,” Moore says. “I view the minute on that machine.” He points to an to dictate. I’m not very good at dictating. It strangers his astronomical collection and Before I leave, I wonder how different his struck up an immediate friendship that program as theirs, not mine. We used to iconic 1908 Woodstock typewriter, the does upset your fluency.” his observatory. If he had his way, they life might have been had he followed his lasted all our lives.” have one guest per program, just them and typescript of which is as characteristically He also claims to have delivered his last would continue to be able to visit after his intended path of education. “I would have Clarke died in 2008 at age 90. Moore me.” Today, each episode consists of a cen- Moore’s as his own handwriting. “Now it’s public lecture. “About two years ago, I did a death. “I’d like this place to be a retreat for taken science,” Moore says before a gleam celebrated his 89th birthday March 4. tral interview that Moore conducts, bol- very different. I can’t write with a pen, I lecture at Herstmonceux [in East Sussex, people to come and work in, or just to lights his monocled eye, “and then I would Although Clarke made his name as a stered with other items and interviews led can’t play the piano, I can’t compose. But England] about the Moon. About halfway meet in at weekends,” he muses. “But I’ve have done exactly what I have done.” novelist, he wasn’t the only one interested in by other presenters. I’ve had a long run. Just 12 years ago, I was through, I realized I was so far below my no one to leave it to, and it would cost so science fiction. Moore, too, wrote fiction When I ask him about having inspired still playing cricket.” His bat is part of the old standard that the time had come to give much to run. I hope they don’t flatten the Learn more about Moore’s Caldwell Catalog at www.Astronomy.com/toc. about space exploration for decades, though so many people to take an interest or even collection in his study. up. So I’ve never given another.” place after I’m gone.”

1945 1957 1959 1965 1968 2004 First episode Is the first Westerner to see Appointed director Elected a Fellow Returns to 2001 Misses his first of The Sky at Night and share the photographs of the Armagh 1975 of the Royal England and Knighted (and only) The Sky premieres in April from the Soviet Union’s Planetarium in Composes and Astronomical 1961 settles in Selsey by Queen at Night episode in Luna 3 probe to the Moon Northern performs the opera Society In September, becomes 1986 Elizabeth II July due to a near- 1953 Ireland Perseus and Releases The Music the first person to show fatal bout of food Publishes Andromeda 1982 of Patrick Moore 2004 a live broadcast of a 1995 poisoning 2011 first book, Becomes Earns a telescopic view of a planet Compiles Caldwell Celebrates 700th Guide to the president of the Guinness World Record during the 50th episode of Catalog of 109 episode of The Moon British Astronomical as the “most durable The Sky at Night deep-sky Sky at Night Association through TV presenter” objects 1984

Timeline: Astronomy collection (1953); NASA/NSSDC (1959); Pete Lawrence (1968); Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Thinkstock (1986); T. A. Rector (UAA)/H. Schweiker/WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF (1995); BBC Jane Fletcher (2011) www.Astronomy.com 65