Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
66 Facts About Patrick Moore
2.
Patrick Moore became known as a specialist in Moon observation and for creating the Caldwell catalogue.
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Outside his field of astronomy, Patrick Moore appeared in the video game television show GamesMaster.
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Patrick Moore was a self-taught xylophonist and pianist, as well as an accomplished composer.
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Patrick Moore was an amateur cricketer, golfer and chess player.
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Patrick Moore was an opponent of fox hunting, an outspoken critic of the European Union and a supporter of the UK Independence Party, and he served as chairman of the short-lived anti-immigration United Country Party.
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Patrick Moore served in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
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Patrick Moore was born in Pinner, Middlesex, on 4 March 1923 to Capt.
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Patrick Moore's family moved to Bognor Regis, and subsequently to East Grinstead where he spent his childhood.
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Patrick Moore's youth was marked by heart problems, which left him in poor health and he was educated at home by private tutors.
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Patrick Moore developed an interest in astronomy at the age of six and joined the British Astronomical Association at the age of eleven.
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Patrick Moore wrote his first book, Guide to the Moon in 1952, and it was published a year later.
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Patrick Moore was a teacher in Woking and at Holmewood House School in Langton Green from 1945 to 1953.
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Patrick Moore's second book was a translation of a work of French astronomer Gerard de Vaucouleurs.
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Patrick Moore translated the book Quanta by J Lochak and Andrade E Silva, published in 1969, from the French.
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Patrick Moore developed a particular interest in the far side of the Moon, a small part of which is visible from Earth as a result of the Moon's libration; the Moon was his specialist subject throughout his life.
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Patrick Moore described the short-lived glowing areas on the lunar surface, and gave them the name transient lunar phenomena in 1968.
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Patrick Moore was invited to present a live astronomy programme and said the greatest difficulty was finding an appropriate theme tune; the opening of Jean Sibelius's Pelleas et Melisande was chosen and used throughout the programme's existence.
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Patrick Moore presented every monthly episode except for one in July 2004 when he suffered a near-fatal bout of food poisoning caused by eating a contaminated goose egg and was replaced for that episode by Chris Lintott.
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Patrick Moore appears in the Guinness World Records book as the world's longest-serving TV presenter having presented the programme since 1957.
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In 1959 the Russians allowed Patrick Moore to be the first Westerner to see the photographic results of the Luna 3 probe, and to show them live on air.
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Less successful was the transmission of the Luna 4 probe, which ran into technical difficulties and around this time Patrick Moore famously swallowed a large fly; both episodes were live and Patrick Moore had to continue regardless.
23.
Patrick Moore was invited to visit the Soviet Union, where he met Yuri Gagarin, the first man to journey into outer space.
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Patrick Moore's stay outside England was short partly because of the beginning of The Troubles, a dispute Moore wanted no involvement in.
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Patrick Moore was appointed Armagh County secretary of the Scout movement, but resigned after being informed that Catholics could not be admitted.
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In developing the Planetarium, Patrick Moore travelled to Japan to secure a Goto Mars projector.
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Patrick Moore helped with the redevelopment of the Birr Telescope in the Republic of Ireland.
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Patrick Moore was a key figure in the development of the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath.
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Patrick Moore was a presenter for the Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 missions, and a commenter, with Cliff Michelmore and James Burke, for BBC television's coverage of the Moon landing missions.
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Patrick Moore participated in TV coverage of Apollo missions 12 to 17.
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Patrick Moore was elected a member of the International Astronomical Union in 1966; having twice edited the Union's General Assembly newsletters.
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Patrick Moore attempted to establish an International Union of Amateur Astronomers, which failed due to lack of interest.
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Patrick Moore compiled the Caldwell catalogue, of 109 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies for observation by amateur astronomers.
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In 1982, asteroid 2602 Patrick Moore was named in his honour.
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Patrick Moore campaigned unsuccessfully against the closure of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in 1998.
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Patrick Moore was a BBC presenter for the total eclipse in England in 1999, though the view he and his team had from Cornwall was obscured by cloud.
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Patrick Moore celebrated the record-breaking 700th episode of The Sky at Night at his home in Sussex on 6 March 2011.
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Patrick Moore presented with the help of special guests Professor Brian Cox, Jon Culshaw and Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal.
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Patrick Moore campaigned for the politician Edmund Iremonger at the 1979 general election, as they agreed the French and Germans were not to be trusted.
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Iremonger and Patrick Moore gave up political campaigning after deciding they were Thatcherites.
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Patrick Moore campaigned on behalf of Douglas Denny for the Chichester constituency in 2001.
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Patrick Moore was a critic of the Iraq War, and said "the world was a safer place when Ronald Reagan was in the White House".
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Patrick Moore wrote that "homosexuals are mainly responsible for the spreading of AIDS ".
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Patrick Moore cited his opposition to fox hunting, blood sports and capital punishment to rebut claims that he had ultra right-wing views.
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Patrick Moore had a particular affinity for cats and stated that "a catless house is a soulless house".
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In 1976 it was used to good effect for an April Fools' Day spoof on BBC Radio 2, when Patrick Moore announced a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event that meant that if listeners could jump at that exact moment, 9.47 am they would experience a temporary sensation of weightlessness.
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Patrick Moore was a key figure in the establishment of the International Birdman event in Bognor Regis, which was initially held in Selsey.
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Patrick Moore appeared in other television and radio shows, including the BBC Radio 4 panel show Just a Minute.
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Patrick Moore was a keen amateur actor, appearing in local plays.
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Patrick Moore appeared in self-parodying roles, in several episodes of The Goodies and on the Morecambe and Wise show, and broadcast with Kenneth Horne only a few days before Horne's death.
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Patrick Moore had a minor role in the fourth radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a lead role in the BBC Radio 1 sci-fi play, Independence Day UK in which amongst other things, Moore fills in as a navigator.
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Patrick Moore expressed appreciation for the science fiction television series Doctor Who and Star Trek, but stated that he had stopped watching when "they went PC - making women commanders, that kind of thing".
53.
Patrick Moore was an enthusiastic amateur cricketer, playing for the Selsey Cricket Club well into his seventies.
54.
Patrick Moore played for the Lord's Taverners, a cricketing charity team, as a bowler with an unorthodox action.
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Until forced to give up because of arthritis, Patrick Moore was a keen pianist and accomplished xylophone player, having first played the instrument at the age of 13.
56.
Patrick Moore composed a substantial corpus of works, including two operettas.
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Patrick Moore had a ballet, Lyra's Dream, written to his music.
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Patrick Moore performed at a Royal Command Performance, and performed a duet with Evelyn Glennie.
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In 1986 he was identified as the co-author of a book published in 1954 called Flying Saucer from Mars, attributed to Cedric Allingham, which was intended as a money-making venture and practical joke on UFO believers; Patrick Moore never admitted his involvement.
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Patrick Moore believed himself to be the only person to have met the first aviator, Orville Wright, the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
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Patrick Moore is portrayed by Daniel Beales in the Netflix series The Crown.
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In 1945, Patrick Moore was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1977 he was awarded the society's Jackson-Gwilt Medal.
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Patrick Moore was knighted for "services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting" in the 2001 New Year Honours.
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Patrick Moore had a long association with the University of Leicester and its Department of Physics and Astronomy, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1996 and a Distinguished Honorary Fellowship in 2008, the highest award that the university can bestow.
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Patrick Moore wrote the foreword for his mother's 1974 book, Mrs Patrick Moore in Space.
66.
On 9 December 2012, Patrick Moore died aged 89 at his home in Selsey.