Sir Patrick Moore Dies Aged 89 130
First time accepted submitter Tastecicles writes "Patrick Moore, the monocled surveyor of the sky who awakened in millions of people an interest in galactic goings on, has died at 89. His love of astronomy began at the age of six, and that childhood curiosity developed into a lifelong passion. It was a passion he shared through his program, The Sky at Night, which he presented for more than 50 years, only ever missing one episode due to illness. Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born at Pinner, Middlesex on 4 Mar 1923. Heart problems meant he spent much of his childhood being educated at home and he became an avid reader. His mother gave him a copy of GF Chambers' book The Story of the Solar System, and this sparked his lifelong passion for astronomy. He was soon publishing papers about the moon's surface, based on observations made with his first three-inch telescope. His 1908 vintage typewriter enabled him to publish more than a thousand books on subjects ranging from astronomy, his first love, to cricket, golf, and music."
Will be Sorely missed (Score:5, Interesting)
A passionate and knowledgeable presenter, even if you had no interest in astronomy his programmes would draw you in. I have never read any of his written work, but will make the effort.
Also, summary missed out one of his other great TV appearances : as 'the gamesmaster', a virtual god-like entity who would dispense hints and tips to those poor mortal gamers who couldn't find their way past a certain end of level boss, or a clue in an adventure game. This showed his fun side and probably introduced a whole generation to his other work. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GamesMaster)
An inspiration (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Shining a light into the darkness, one last tim (Score:2, Interesting)
Funny thing was, I switched on the t.v and his last show was on - it had been a while since I had seen one. Mercury, Venus and a crescent Moon are all visible if you have a clear sky and get up about 6:30 a.m. And if you look hard enough, you might see a new star in the sky.
So? (Score:0, Interesting)
When my grandma died a couple years ago no one posted anything online, no news stories, no gathering of people online or on tv to lament about her life.
Yet people do so in a hallow and vain attempt at honoring someone they never met or even knew. People obsses over famous people as if they were their own family but walk over and ignore anyone that isnt noteworthy and generally treat an average person like a lesser lifeform when compared to the god like presence of someone who is famous.
Re:He was also a racist mysoginist (Score:4, Interesting)
Selective quoting? How about this, from the Wikipedia article you linked to:
Proudly declaring himself to be English (rather than British) with "not the slightest wish to integrate with anybody",[60] he stated his admiration for controversial former MP politician Enoch Powell.[64]
That would be Enoch "rivers of blood" Powell. Moore also wrote:
"homosexuals are mainly responsible for the spreading of AIDS (the Garden of Eden is home of Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve)"
I really liked most of his work as well, but unfortunately his political views were pretty bad.