It’s a sad day for me today as the world’s most famous astronomer has died.  Patrick Moore died just after noon today at home, peacefully, aged 89.  I watched The Sky At Night right up to this year beginning as a lad some near thirty years ago.  Moore had his critics and some even accused him of being barmy at times too, but this never bothered me as he was ALWAYS about the science and to say passionate about a subject for so long is very inspiring.  This brings the run of the sky at night to an end as the longest running programme anywhere on TV with the same presenter (being on since 1957 ).  His death sees another part of that generation lost to us all.  That generation of the 1940’s, 1950’s who believed that science could solve anything and that the stars were our right and proper future.

Patrick Moore, to people my age, also has a place in our hearts as the Gamesmaster in the seminal 1990’s TV programme of the same name.  Moving there from science to science fiction.

A sad day indeed.

GBS