The story of the man with the monocle! (Patrick Moore: 80 Not Out - The Autobiography - Sir Patrick Moore)

Member Name: markos9

Product:	Patrick Moore: 80 Not Out - The Autobiography - Sir Patrick Moore
Date:	14/06/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tells Sir Patrick's story, as only he could.

Disadvantages: Reveals some aspects of his character that are not nice.

Surely Sir Patrick Moore needs no introduction. He has done more to popularise astronomy than anyone else ever has. Sir Patrick has been hosting his 'The Sky at Night' TV program, almost uninterrupted for over fifty years making this the longest running TV series with the same presenter.

As the title suggests, Sir Patrick is now over 80 years old. His health is deteriorating, he can no longer operate a telescope or walk without the aid of sticks, but his mind is as sharp as ever. In his autobiography he looks back over an illustrious career as an author, science publiciser, TV presenter, and selenographer (person who studies the moon).

Patrick Moore is, of course, a larger than life character famous for his many eccentricities (wearing a monocle, for example), but he is also a superb writer. He has led a very fortunate (he, himself, admits this), productive, and interesting life. This all lends itself to a fascinating autobiography; I was not disappointed.

Sir Patrick skirts over his early life, mentioning his childhood only briefly and his time in the air force during World War II almost in passing. He does, however, explain why he never married and an aspect of his character I never suspected, unrelenting hate, rears its head.

He had a childhood sweetheart who was killed, in Sir Patrick's words by, "the activities of the late unlamented Herr Hitler" in 1943. He goes on to state that this explains why "I know that if I saw the entire German nation sinking into the sea, I could be relied upon to help push it down". He explains that, occasionally, half an hour goes by without him thinking of his beloved Lorna.

After the war, he spent a few years as a teacher in a public school (basically waiting for his writing career to take off). Readers of the book will be struck by the difference between school behaviour in the 1940's and the present day. He recalls that, due to severe discipline, there was no bullying, and seems scornful of the "modern do-gooders" who allow bullying to occur unchecked today.

Several 'highlights' of his time as a teacher are recounted, including the time he and several pupils tried to detect and kill a creature (nicknamed 'Hubert') that was digging up the cricket pitch (Sir Patrick was and still is, very fond of cricket):

"Around 5th November we packed the largest hole with gunpowder, covered it up, and left a trail in the direction of the cricket pavilion. Watched by a crowd of boys we lit the trail...It was much more violent than expected and it was lucky that we were far enough away to dodge the debris". Hubert survived to dig more holes.

Try doing that at your local comprehensive and see how long it takes for the police to turn up!

He begins his story proper, with the publication of his first book in 1952 (he has so far published over 60). His writing career took off with the publication of a book about the moon in 1953. It is still in print, although re-titled 'Patrick Moore on the Moon' (Sir Patrick states that the title is incorrect, he has never been there)!

Soon after, he was asked to present a monthly program on astronomy and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Because of his high profile career and his Sky at Night program, Sir Patrick has been fortunate to witness many of the important events in astronomy, first hand. He was presenting live at the first moon landing and recounts the relief at hearing the immortal words "the Eagle has landed". The Apollo program was almost entirely without safety backups and any mishaps would have doomed Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin to a cold, lonely death.

Many of the other important space missions such as Viking and Voyager had Sir Patrick presenting to Britain, often from the site of mission control in the USA. His insight into those fascinating, important missions makes this book worth reading for that alone.

Possibly due to his great age, Sir Patrick is extremely old fashioned in his thinking. He appears to detest Political Correctness in all its forms:

"There is outrage at the use of the term mankind for the human species; the crackpots insist on the term humankind".

His brief pages on the topic of PC appear almost as a rant against this topic! He also appears less tolerant of religious and cultural differences than is expected, these days.

Partly due to his never having married, Sir Patrick was always very close to his mother. Reading the book gives the reader a real sense of this, and an understanding of the hole that she left in his life when she died, aged 94, in 1981. In his words, nothing was ever the same again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having watched Sir Patrick on TV for many years, and read many of his books, I'd naturally formed an opinion of what he was like. Most of my impressions of him are borne out by the book, but there were a few surprises concerning his character; making him seem more human, but less likeable.

His excellent style of writing had me once again hooked from the first page. I often found myself laughing out loud at his descriptions of escapades during his careers, as well as with a lump in my throat sharing his pain at the low points in his life. Anyone who wants to learn more about Sir Patrick should read this book. Highly recommended.

The book is available from Amazon resellers for £2.76.

Summary: Fascinating read about a larger than life character.