Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore dies at 89: Broadcaster passed away peacefully at home with close friends and his cat Ptolemy
- Broadcaster 'passed away peacefully' at his home in West Sussex
- Monocle-wearing Sir Patrick died after failing to fight an infection
- Queen guitarist Brian May pays tribute to 'dear friend and a kind of father figure to me'
By LARISA BROWN
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British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has died at his home at the age of 89.
The broadcaster 'passed away peacefully at 12.25pm this afternoon', at his home in Selsey, West Sussex, a group of his friends and staff said in a statement.
He died in the company of close friends, carers, and his cat Ptolemy, after failing to fight an infection.
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Patrick Moore, pictured, has died aged 89. He passed away peacefully at his home in West Sussex
The statement read: '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.'
Monocle-wearing Sir Patrick, who served with the RAF during the war, began presenting The Sky At Night in 1957.
He presented the BBC programme 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.
Sir Patrick, who celebrated the 55th anniversary of his programme in April, had battled ill health in recent years.
The stargazer had become wheelchair-bound and unable to look through a telescope.
The statement went on: '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.
'He was able to perform on his world record-holding TV Programme The Sky at Night right up until the most recent episode.
'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.'
Queen guitarist Brian May paid tribute to a 'dear friend and a kind of father figure to me'.
He said: 'Patrick will be mourned by the many to whom he was a caring uncle, and by all who loved the delightful wit and clarity of his writings, or enjoyed his fearlessly eccentric persona in public life.
'Patrick is irreplaceable. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one.'
Sir Patrick Moore with one of his cats, Ptolemy, at home in Selsey, West Sussex, last year
Born in 1923, at the age of six he moved from the Middlesex village of Pinner to Sussex where he has lived ever since.
Between the ages of six and sixteen Patrick was mostly educated at home as he was prevented from attending school due to illness.
During this time he picked up his mother's copy of 'The Story of the Solar System' which sparked his lifelong passion.
Since then, he concentrated upon studies of the Moon. In 1959, the Russians used his charts to correlate the first Lunik 3 pictures of the far side of the Moon and he was involved in the lunar mapping before the NASA Apollo missions.
Knighted in 2001 - he was the astronomer who, more than any other scientist living or dead, could explain to the world at large the marvels and intricacies of the universe - and beyond.
Patrick Moore in 1961 on his television programme. Once he said he would like to be remembered as an amateur astronomer who played cricket and the xylophone
TV personalities come and go, but Moore, famous for his monocle, outlasted them all.
For more than 40 years, he presented BBC TV's popular The Sky At Night programme, a wonderland of information for the expert, the novice and his huge army of fans who had no particular scientific bent at all.
MEANING BEHIND NAME PTOLEMY
Sir Patrick died at home with his cat Ptolemy.
The word Ptolemy is a masculine Greek name, derived from the Greek word polemeios, which means 'aggressive or warlike'.
The world famous Ptolemy was a Greek geographer, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer.
Although his original Greek name is Claudius Ptolemaeus, in English he is simply referred to as Ptolemy.
His knowledge of outer space was prodigious and he possessed a unique ability to transmit that knowledge in a comprehensible and attractive form to the layman.
But Moore, despite an occasional irascible nature and a tendency towards eccentricity, was a kindly man and modest with it.
Once he said he would like to be remembered as an amateur astronomer who played cricket and the xylophone.
At the age of eight he was given a 1908 model Woodstock typewriter on which all of his 170 books were written. He claimed to be able to type at 90 words a minute - using only two fingers.
Then, when he was 11, he was nominated as a member of the British Astronomical Association - the youngest never member. He published his first paper, on small craters in the Mare Crisium on the Moon at the age of 13 - exactly 50 years before he was to be president of the association.
Sir Patrick Moore with the pipe he was presented with in the shape of a telescope for being Pipeman of the year, an award given to honour a famous pipe-smoking individual
The paper was accepted and he was asked to present it. 'I wrote back saying, 'Thank you for your letter. I'd be honoured but you've got to understand I'm only 13'. They replied: "We don't see what that's got to do with it".'
As a young man Moore knew Albert Einstein. He said of him: 'He was an interesting man: totally unworldly. He was a violin player and I accompanied him playing Saint-Saens's 'Swan'. I wish I had a tape of it.'
He served with the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1945, as a navigator in Bomber Command
He served with the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1945, as a navigator in Bomber Command. To get into the armed forces at only 16 he had to lie about his age and fake his medical.
‘Reliable rumours’ of his derring-do included how as a Flight Lieutenant he once climbed over the dead bodies of his pilot and co-pilot to land his Lancaster bomber safely.
The girl he was to marry was killed during the war in an air raid. He said since: 'My whole life ended in one day. These things happen. You accept them. As far as I was concerned, that was that. It's the reason I have never married. But I don't like living alone.'
Nevertheless he did live alone for most of his life at his beloved Selsey in Sussex.
His career as an astronomer blossomed. Whereas hardly anybody could name the Astronomer Royal, Moore became a household name. Within the span of half a century he observed what must be the most spectacular period in the history of any science.
His popularity as an astronomer incurred the jealousy of those who regarded themselves as superior to him.
One Fellow of the Royal Society once said: 'We would never elect Patrick Moore as a Fellow, not even for his achievement in science education.'
Was this, the Fellow was asked, because he had no degree? 'No,' came the reply, 'because he makes science popular.'
Nevertheless, his scholarship was highly respected. He would take minute pains to double and treble-check his facts.
His 1970 book, The Atlas Of The Universe, despite all its magnificent and bold illustrations of planets and star clusters, is a masterpiece of cautious accuracy.
One of his great triumphs was to explain, on TV, the existence of a giant black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. Various scientists tried to do it, unsuccessfully, in a variety of weird and wonderful ways.
Celebrating his 88th birthday last year, Sir Patrick, pictured with his typewriter, said: 'I can't use my dear old typewriter on which all my books have been written. I can't play the piano. I can't play the xylophone'
Moore had a map of the Milky Way drawn on the floor of the studio. He walked towards the centre and then, by some feat of conjuring, disappeared.
One of his most frustrating moments as a broadcaster was when he said: 'We'll hear the voices of the first men round the Moon in 20 seconds. This is one of the great moments in human history. And at that moment they switched over to Jackanory.'
But he remained loyal to the BBC throughout, even though he had tempting offers from others. 'I have no contract with the BBC at all, but I do have a gentleman's agreement, which is totally unbreakable,' he once said.
Moore passionately wanted to go into space himself. 'But I'm the wrong age, the wrong nationality and the wrong medical grade. Besides,' he joked, 'it would need a very massive rocket to launch me.'
He used to gaze at the stars and say: 'We are a very, very small speck in the universe, about as important as a single ant in the whole of the world.'
He was also an accomplished player of the xylophone and composed music for this instrument. He was also a zestful cricketer, who remained a useful and occasionally dangerous medium-pace bowler well beyond his youth.
Sir Patrick is pictured resting in his armchair with his black cat Ptolemy, who he died next to
TRIBUTES PAID TO THE ECCENTRIC STARGAZER
Sir Patrick 'inspired every British astronomer, amateur and professional, for half a century'
Tributes poured in immediately for eccentric stargazer Sir Patrick Moore as news of his death broke.
Queen guitarist Brian May, who holds a PhD in astrophysics, led the chorus of praise, saying the world had 'lost a priceless treasure that can never be replaced' and he had lost a 'dear friend and kind of father figure'.
May said in a statement: '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.
'Patrick will be mourned by the many to whom he was a caring uncle, and by all who loved the delightful wit and clarity of his writings, or enjoyed his fearlessly eccentric persona in public life,' he added.
'Patrick is irreplaceable. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one.'
Professor Brian Cox, who presents a number of science programmes for the BBC, tweeted: 'Very sad news about Sir Patrick. Helped inspire my love of astronomy. I will miss him!'
Former BBC science correspondent and fellow astronomer Dr David Whitehouse told Sky News that Sir Patrick had 'loved astronomy more than he loved himself'.
'He was passionate, he was dedicated and had an unselfish love of astronomy and he passed that on to everybody who knew him and he came across.
'He was a difficult person personally to deal with on many occasions, he was sometimes awkward, truculent, stubborn but that was Patrick, that was part of his remarkable personality which so many people came to enjoy and love.
'I think many people realised he was a unique person.
'He was not a professionally trained astronomer and yet did professional quality work, particularly when it came to mapping the Moon in the 1950s - I think every astronomer in the world owes something to Patrick Moore.'
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock said she had got her first inspiration to look at the night sky from Sir Patrick.
She told BBC News: 'He was broadcasting before we actually went into space and he saw a change in our understanding of the universe, and he took us all the way through that, right up until today.'
'What he did was something very straightforward, he would tell us what to look for and where to look for it and for budding astronomers everywhere that is what we need, that information,' she added.
'But he would tell us more, he would go into depth, he would take us on a journey through space and we can't ask for better than that really.'
Dr Marek Kukula, the Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said Sir Patrick had been a 'very charming and hospitable man'.
He once described his idea of perfect happiness as 'bowling to a nervous batsman on a sticky wicket'.
In 2000 he suffered a paralysis in his right hand which considerably restricted his activities as a musician and a writer. He was also forced to cancel lectures.
This disability even prevented him from opening the letter telling him he was being considered for a knighthood.
The astronomer pictured when he was aged approximately 3 or 4 years old, left and pictured in 1961, at Jastrebac, after watching a solar eclipse, right
The paralysis occurred just after he had written a wedding march for a friend. 'I wrote it down, then played it to make sure I'd done it correctly, then closed the piano. It was quite uncanny actually. That was the last time I could play the piano. The next morning I couldn't move my hand.'
Moore became an OBE in 1968 and a CBE in 1988. He was knighted in the 2001 New Year list 'for services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting', an honour which earned him congratulations from around the world.
In July, 2004, at the age of 81, Moore by his own admission 'nearly died' after a severe bout of food poisoning caused, he believed, by a duck's egg he had eaten.
Patrick Moore on the BBC's Sky at Night programme which he presented for over 50 years
He battled on and in 2007 presented a special 50th anniversary episode of the show from his back garden with special guests including Queen guitarist Brian May.
Five years on he hit the headlines again when in an interview to mark the show's 55th anniversary he warned of the danger of another world war and declared 'the only good Kraut is a dead Kraut'.
Speaking at a party to celebrate the anniversary, Sir Patrick said he hoped the stargazing series would continue 'indefinitely'.
He said: 'I'm absolutely staggered. I never thought when I began doing television shows that I'd be on for another year, let alone 55 years.
'I didn't know if I was going to be good enough or if the subject matter would hold up. I think I'm exactly the same now as I was when I started. I just haven't got the voice I once had.'
The last programme was broadcast on Monday.
Sir Patrick has only missed one episode since it began in 1957 when he was struck down by food poisoning.
The broadcaster after receiving a special award at the British Academy Television Awards, 13 May 2001, left, and pictured with one of his cats, right
His trademark monocle, unique delivery and occasional performances on the xylophone made him a familiar target for satirists and impressionists, but his scientific credentials were never in doubt.
The show's guests have included many prominent scientists as well as Goon Show star Michael Bentine and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
But the demands of live television have led to the occasional blooper, with Sir Patrick famously once swallowing a fly live on air.
Sir Patrick said in an interview last year: 'I’m near the end of my life now.
He was knighted in the 2001 New Year list 'for services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting', an honour which earned him congratulations from around the world
'It doesn’t worry me. I don’t think it ends here, you see. If it did, the entire thing would be pointless, but the universe is not pointless. No, this isn’t the end. We go on to the next stage. I shall be interested to see what it is.'
'Who knows? It might be somewhere I can learn to bat decently.'
Celebrating his 88th birthday, he said: 'I can’t use my dear old typewriter on which all my books have been written. I can’t play the piano. I can’t play the xylophone.
'Still, I’d rather be as I am, with a mind that’s still there. I’ve had nearly 90 years so I can’t complain. I’ve had my run.'
Speaking at the time he said, 'I shan’t have a funeral', and continued: ‘They can take my bits and use them for experiments and chuck the rest away. In my will I’ve left a sum of money to have a party when I’ve gone.'
VIDEO: PATRICK MOORE'S STELLAR TELEVISION PERFORMANCES
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