Patrick Moore

But I, I was on, I was with my nan on my nan's balcony, and I just literally...

It was on the news all day, watching old Patrick Moore at Greenwich.

Oh, Patrick.

And, uh-

And I was up against a really difficult chap who won't be known in America, but he's very well known here.

So Patrick Moore was his name.

And he was a massive debunker of UFOs.

He was an astronomer.

He's the one who coins the phrase the Big Bang, dismissively in a conversation as it happens.

He, a bit like Patrick Moore, who's also in the same tradition, he makes astronomy and cosmology light entertainment.

And you can trace, like Barnes-Wallace, These figures, you can trace a through line through them to Patrick Moore, to Magnus Pike, through to the Brian Cox's of the day.

People who are experts in their field, who are able to talk concepts for a general viewer.

Slightly shabby, rough around the edges.

And so it was very devastating and I felt very bad for the poor student too.

And we'd been on Sky After Dark with Patrick Moore, I think his name was.

I think that by now many people have heard about the reported discovery of a new planet.

And I don't mean a planet in our own solar system.

He

calls his wife the boobie, doesn't he, or something like that? He went mental, Patrick Moore, didn't he, when they moved Sky At Night to later on for some other show.

He just went absolutely mental.

No one watches him.

Yeah, but you can't mid-show just leave...

We've done a lot of impressions today, haven't we? Yeah.

Patrick Moore, Bob Dylan, Mark Lawrenson.

Yeah.

one of your quick voices?

Well, Patrick Moore is the one we always go to.

Okay, let's do Patrick Moore.

All right, Patrick Moore.

Dear Madam Moog and Beringer Polyphonic.

That's...

I couldn't tell you.

Anyway.

that.

I'm going to start calling you Patrick Moore.

Do you remember him?

Who's Patrick Moore? Who's Patrick Moore? Sir

Patrick Moore, he was an English astronomer.

Astronomer?

Yeah.

He was very famous.

I'm in one of those moods.

I, [chuckles] I remember years ago, and this isn't immediately obvious why I'm talking about this, I had Patrick Moore on the show.

W-w-well, I was quite wet behind the ears.

I was quite new on the program, and I was still doing that thing where I was trying to be provocative and, you know, edgy.

Uh, challenging enough for you.

And I, I, I said something to Patrick Moore along the lines of, "But why do we still send craft into space? What's the point? Imagine what all the other things we could spend the money on." And he, he, he just sort of-- I couldn't see his face 'cause he was on the phone, but I-- if I could have seen his face, I think what I would have seen on his face would have just been pity.

How can you not be transported by thoughts of space and by the excitement of exploring it? We touched on this a couple of weeks ago, didn't we? When we tried to work out what was so exciting about the eclipse.

Do you remember why some people thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, other people weren't even gonna step out onto their own patio to have a look at the sky? Why? And I think the answer is wonder.