Sir Patrick Moore CBE, FRS, FRAS
Born	Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (1923-03-04) 4 March 1923 (age 89)[1] Pinner, Middlesex, England
Occupation	Writer, broadcaster and astronomer
Television	The Sky at Night
Political party	United Country Party (dissolved 1980)
Website
sirpatrickmoore.com/biography/

Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS (born 4 March 1923) is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of astronomy among the British general public.^{[citation needed]}

He is a former president of the British Astronomical Association, co-founder and former president of the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA), author of over 70 books on astronomy, and presenter of the world's longest-running television series with the same original presenter, The Sky at Night on the BBC. As an amateur astronomer, he became known as a specialist on observing the Moon and creating the Caldwell catalogue. Idiosyncrasies such as his rapid diction and monocle have made him a popular and instantly recognisable figure on British television.

Moore is also a self-taught xylophone and piano player and an accomplished composer, and a former amateur cricketer, golfer, and chess player. In addition to his many popular science books, he has written numerous works of fiction, and was the presenter of the 1990s TV series GamesMaster. An opponent of fox hunting, he is an outspoken critic of the European Union, and served as chairman of the short-lived anti-immigration United Country Party. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II; his fiancée was killed during the war and he has never married or had children.

Early life[link]

Moore was born in Pinner in Middlesex on 4 March 1923 to Captain Charles Trachsel Caldwell-Moore MC (died 1947^[2]) and Gertrude, née White (died 1981^[2]) and moved to Bognor Regis, and later East Grinstead (both in Sussex), where he spent his childhood.^[1] His youth was marked by heart problems, which left him in poor health, and as a result he was educated at home by private tutors.^[1] He developed an interest in astronomy at the age of six^[3] and joined the British Astronomical Association at the age of eleven.^[4] He was invited to run a small observatory in East Grinstead at the age of fourteen, after his mentor – the man who ran the observatory – was killed in a road accident.^[5] At the age of sixteen he began wearing a monocle – an unusual step for a young man even in 1939 – after an oculist told him his right eye was weaker than his left eye.^[6] Three years later, he began wearing a full set of dentures.^[7]

Moore lied about his age in order to join the RAF and fight in World War II at the age of sixteen,^[8] and from 1940 until 1945 he served as a navigator in RAF Bomber Command, reaching the rank of Flight lieutenant. He first received his flying training in Canada, during which time he met Albert Einstein and Orville Wright while on leave in New York.^[9] The war had a significant influence on his life: his only romance ended when his fiancée, a nurse called Lorna, was killed by a bomb which struck her ambulance. Moore subsequently remarked that he never married because "there was no one else for me...second best is no good for me...I would have liked a wife and family, but it was not to be."^[10] In his autobiography he stated that after sixty years he still thought about her, and that because of her death "if I saw the entire German nation sinking into the sea, I could be relied upon to help push it down."^[11]

Moore stated that he was "exceptionally close" to his mother Gertrude,^[2] a talented artist who lived with him at his Selsey home, which is still adorned with her paintings of "bogeys" – little friendly aliens – which she regularly produced and which were sent out annually as Moore's Christmas cards.^[12] Moore wrote the foreword for Gertrude's 1974 book Mrs Moore In Space.^[13]

Career in astronomy[link]

After the war, Moore rejected a government grant to study at Cambridge University, citing a wish to "stand on my own two feet".^[4] He wrote his first book in 1952, Guide to the Moon (later retitled Patrick Moore on the Moon), which was published a year later.^[4] He wrote it on a 1908 Woodstock typewriter, which he continued to use in writing every book of his career.^[11] He also began teaching, first in Woking and then at Holmewood House School in Langton Green.^[14] His second book was a translation of a work of French astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs (Moore speaks fluent French).^[15] After writing his second original science book, Guide to the Planets, he penned his first work of fiction, entitled The Master of the Moon.^[16] This was the first of numerous young-adult fiction books based on space adventures (including the late 1970s series the Scott Saunders Space Adventure); he did write a more adult novel as well as a farce novel titled Ancient Lights, though he did not wish to find a publisher for either work.^[17]

During his time as a teacher at Holmewood he set up at his home a 12 ½ inch reflector telescope, which he kept with him into his old age.^[5] He developed a particular interest in the Moon, particularly the far side, a small part of which is visible from Earth as a result of the Moon's libration; the Moon has remained his specialist subject all through his life.^[5] He named the Mare Orientale (Eastern Sea) in 1946,^[18] along with H P Wilkins, though German astronomer Julius Heinrich Franz has also been credited with the discovery.^[19] Moore was also credited with the discovery of the transient lunar phenomenon, describing the short-lived glowing areas on the lunar surface in 1968.^[18]

He made his first television appearance in a debate over the existence of flying saucers following a spate of sightings in the 1950s; Moore argued against Lord Dowding and a few other UFO proponents.^[20] Following this, he was invited to present a live astronomy programme; he later noted that the greatest difficulty was in settling on an appropriate theme tune, Jean Sibelius' Pelléas et Mélisande was eventually chosen, and remained a key part of the show throughout its existence.^[21] The name of the show was originally planned to be Star Map, before The Sky at Night was thought of as a better enticement in the Radio Times.^[21] On 26 April 1957, at 10:30 pm, Moore presented the first episode of The Sky at Night, which was about the Comet Arend–Roland.^[21] The show was pitched to casual viewers up to professional astronomers, in a format which has remained consistent since its inception.^[22] Moore has presented every episode each month, except July 2004, when he was replaced by Chris Lintott because Moore suffered a near-fatal bout of food poisoning caused by eating a contaminated goose egg.^[23] Moore appears in the Guinness World Records book as the world's longest-serving TV presenter, by virtue of having presented the show since 1957. Since 2004, the programme has been presented from Moore's home, as he is no longer able to travel to the studios, owing to arthritis. Over the years he received many more financially lucrative offers to take his programme onto other networks, but has rejected them because he holds a 'gentlemen's agreement' with the BBC.^[24]