Sunday 10 June 2012

Sir Patrick Moore

On 9 December 2012, the great English astronomer and broadcaster, Sir Patrick Moore, passed away at his home in Selsey, West Sussex, aged 89.

On the same day, the BBC reported thus:
“Sir Patrick presented the first edition of The Sky at Night on 24 April 1957. He last appeared in an episode broadcast on the Monday before his death... 
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... 
When war came he turned down a place at Cambridge and lied about his age to join the RAF, serving as a navigator with Bomber Command and rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. But the war brought him a personal tragedy after his fiancee, Lorna, was killed when an ambulance she was driving was hit by a bomb. He never married... 
He was a member of the UK Independence party and, briefly, the finance minister for the Monster Raving Loony Party, and attracted some controversy for his outspoken views on Europe and immigration… 
Queen guitarist Brian May... said… ‘Patrick is irreplaceable. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one'.”
Lee Jasper was Ken Livingstone’s principal advisor on race relations when he was London Mayor. Here's something he twittered on 9 January 2012:
"Lesson no 1. Black people in the UK cannot be racist."
This was Jasper's Twitter reaction to Sir Patrick’s death:
“Patrick Moore passed away. I'd offer my condolences but I can't mourn one less racist in the world.”
Thus spake a true racist. Perhaps Jasper said what he said because Sir Patrick had ‘not the slightest wish to integrate with anybody’. Here are some delightfully truthful things he said along the way that may have got up the PC Crowd's nose:
"I may be accused of being a dinosaur, but I would remind you that dinosaurs ruled the Earth for a very long time." 
“Just look at the world now and look at it when we had a bigger say in it. The English are best. Stand up for England!“ 
“People... come here because we are a soft touch... Everything we do for them takes away from what we can do for ourselves.” 
“We are being swamped by parasites. Call me racist but I would send them all back to where they came from.”
There aren't many celebs who would dare to cross the PC fashion of the age in such a frankly ostentatious way.

Patrick Moore's ad hoc presentational skills were beyond parallel. He was, quite literally, never stuck for a word. He was a very observable genius.

In the 50s we used to switch the sound down to see his eyebrows move. In the 60s we grammar school lads cheered him to the rafters on Speech Day.

One last thing: throughout the course of his life as a national treasure Sir Patrick replied personally to the vast majority of those who got in touch with him. I wonder how many Jaspers do the same? RIP Superman.

More here.

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