The renowned astronomer Sir Patrick Moore passed away on Sunday. He was author of over 70 books on astronomy and the presenter of The Sky at Night making him the Guinness Book of World Records holder of the worlds longest serving television presenter having presented every episode, bar one, since the programmes inception in 1957 (what turned out to be his final episode only went to air the Monday before he passed away). He was also a keen pianist and accomplished xylophone player and was thought to have been the only person to have met the first man to fly (Orville Wright), the first man into space (Yuri Gagarin) and the first man to land on the moon (Neil Armstrong). And he was never afraid to send himself up as his many appearances on The Goodies attest!
But Sir Patrick will be remembered as one of the great educators of modern television. Following his death, scientist Maggie Aderin-Peacock was quoted as saying: "What he did was something very straightforward - he would tell us what to look for and where to look for it, which for budding astronomers everywhere is what we need - that information. 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."
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