It Came From Outer Space Wearing an RAF Blazer!: A Fan's Biography of Sir Patrick Moore

Martin Mobberley

Springer Science & Business Media, Jul 23, 2013 - Science - 655 pages

To British television viewers, the name ‘Patrick Moore’ has been synonymous with Astronomy and Space Travel since he first appeared on The Sky at Night in 1957. To amateur astronomers he has been a source of inspiration, joy, humour and even an eccentric role model since that time. Most people know that his 55 years of presenting The Sky at Night is a world record, but what was he really like in person? What did he do away from the TV cameras, in his observatory, and within the British Astronomical Association, the organisation that inspired him as a youngster? Also, precisely what did he do during the War Years, a subject that has always been shrouded in mystery? Martin Mobberley, a friend of Patrick Moore’s for 30 years, and a former President of the British Astronomical Association, has spent ten years exhaustively researching Patrick’s real life away from the TV cameras. His childhood, RAF service, tireless voluntary work for astronomy and charity and his endless book writing are all examined in detail. His astronomical observations are also examined in unprecedented detail, along with the battles he fought along the way and his hatred of bureaucracy and political correctness. No fan of Sir Patrick Moore can possibly live without this work on their bookshelf!

Contents

• The PreWar Years: 1
• The War Years: 21
• The Post War Years: 42
• The First Books and ONeills Bridge: 65
• Desmond Leslie Cedric Allingham and Science Fiction: 85
• The BBC: 107
• Encounters with Russians and George Alcock: 127
• Some Classic 1960s Broadcasts: 145
• Back to the Lunar Section: 161
• The Move to Armagh: 173
• Meteorites Pills Saturn and the Leonids: 183
• St Osyth 2 British Novae Serpents Everywhere and an OBE Hyde and Jekyll?: 197
• Selsey and the Race to the Moon: 207
• Apollo 11: 228
• A Bestselling Author Nutters and More Moon Landings: 239
• Mainly BAA and TLP: 251
• Back in Charge of the Lunar Section: 270
• A Telescope a Comet and the Monte Umbe: 291
• Kohoutek Flops and This Is Your Life: 306
• Not Enough Hours in the Day: 315
• A Naked Eye Nova and a Director Resigns: 327
• An End to Lunar Section Chores: 337
• 20 Years on TV and a Fall in the Bath: 343
• Back in the TLP Driving Seat: 349
• Nursing Mother: 355
• A British Comet Marks the End of an Era: 367
• Musings on Planet 10 Life After Mother: 372
• Halley Recovered as Patrick becomes President: 387
• Fifty Years in the BAA and Halley: 409
• Supernova 1987A Politics and a New Magazine: 427
• Business as Usual at the BBC and the BAA: 435
• A 100th Birthday and Madness in Buenos Aires: 453
• A Nasty Accident and ShoemakerLevy 9: 467
• The Caldwell Catalogue Neptune and More Foreign Trips: 486
• Death of a Friend Selseys Tornado and Serious Health Problems: 503
• The 1999 Total Solar Eclipse and Ailing Health: 521
• A Knighthood a BAFTA and a Fellow of the Royal Society: 531
• A Biography a CoPresenter a Venus Transit and a Deadly Goose Egg: 544
• A New Magazine a Pacemaker and BANG: 561
• 50 Years of the Sky at Night: 569
• Still Alive Despite All the Odds: 579
• Life the Universe and Everything: 593
• Epilogue Patricks Legacy: 620
• Appendix: 625
• Index: 645

About the author

Martin Mobberley holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering from Brunel University and worked as an electronics/software engineer for Marconi for 22 years. He is the author of eight practical astronomy books for Springer, as well as three small children’s space books with Top That! Publishing. He has authored over 300 articles for Astronomy Now, The Journal of the British Astronomical Association, BBC Sky at Night and various other publications. He is the author of the Comet, Eclipse and Minor Planet sections of Macmillan’s ‘Patrick Moore Yearbook of Astronomy’ and the former president of the British Astronomical Association (BAA). Martin was the BAA Goodacre Medal winner of 2000 and appeared as a guest on Patrick Moore’s Sky at Night TV program a total of ten times. He was a personal friend of Sir Patrick Moore for 30 years.

Bibliographic information

• Title: It Came From Outer Space Wearing an RAF Blazer!: A Fan's Biography of Sir Patrick Moore
• Author: Martin Mobberley
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media, 2013
• ISBN: 3319006096, 9783319006093
• Length: 655 pages
• Subjects: Education / Teaching / General; Nature / Sky Observation; Science / Physics / Astrophysics; Science / Space Science / Astronomy; Science / Study & Teaching; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social