Patrick Moore Interview
Dec 2000
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Take a look at the birth date – March 4, 1923. Hmm -- a Piscean, the ruler's Neptune, so he'll be fond of a drink. And Jupiter, so there's a powerful thirst for knowledge as well.
True and true. But don't go sprouting that astrological claptrap around Patrick Moore – he's an astronomer.
There's no one planet ruling him – it's Patrick who's the earthbound overseer to the whole night sky.
When he checks his stars it's through the business end of a telescope and when he discusses them it's through the business end of a BBC studio camera in a career that's made him one of the best known, best loved and most enduring stargazers around. Strike up the xylophone, here's our postcard.
Patrick's desk
Byrne: He’s presented the truly astronomical TV program, “The Sky at Night” since 1957, and never missed a show. He writes his heavenly scripts on a typewriter 92 years old. He marks planetary time with his 7th birthday present.
19+00
Clock chime/typewriter
Patrick typing
Byrne: Patrick Moore has been described as a living national treasure. He’s the genuine monocle wearing British eccentric - and we’ve had an invitation to lunch.
What better reason to escape the rat race of London?
19+30
Selsey
Music/duck
19+48
Byrne: The village of Selsey lies on the very tip of West Sussex - a quiet place, a gentle, golden speck in a crowded world.
20+00
Selsey does of course have its bright lights - changing constantly, as they say, from orange to red and back to green.
Honest Bill
Honest Bill: It’s fairly quiet, that’s the main thing.
20+24
Byrne: Honest Bill the fishmonger doesn’t find anything strange having a national treasure as a neighbour.
Honest Bill: I don't take no notice of it. [laughs] I just talk to him same as I would any of the other chaps.
Byrne: Selsey may not be the centre of the universe but it’s a good outpost from which to watch it.
20+47
Patrick at telescope
And that’s exactly what astronomer Patrick Moore does. Though he has many, more earthly interests.
20+56
Patrick: I think the first thing we have is a drink, don't you?
Byrne: I think excellent.
Patrick: Here we have a very strict rule to drink in this house. Made by my friend Colonel Edward Ironmonger. You help yourself. It makes mixing so much easier.
Byrne: Thank you so much.
Byrne: At 77 he still rides his boyhood bike when he can - the terror of the town.
Patrick: Somebody said to me, is that bike safe? Of course it’s not safe, it’s a menace to the whole village!
Byrne and Patrick toast
Byrne: Cheers.
Patrick: Cheers.
Byrne: To the moon.
21+31
Byrne: And in the glow of homemade rose petal wine, Patrick Moore described how his passion for astronomy started.
Patrick and Byrne
Patrick: Yes, and I was six years old, and I was sitting in a chair just behind you, and I picked up a book belonging to my mother. A little book called 'The Story of the Solar System' which I have, I can show you. And I sat down in that chair and I read it right the way through and I thought it was interesting. It wasn’t a bad effort, because it wasn't a boy's book and my reading was all right. I was hooked from that moment on.
Byrne: Now so much is known, is it still as intensely interesting?
Patrick: More so. Every problem we solve raises a host of new ones. I remember a remark made to me by Sir Arthur Eddington, the great pioneer of astrophysics. He knew all about the composition of the sun in 1930. Rather less in 1932 and nothing at all in 1936. [laughs]
22+02
Byrne: How do you get your mind around the enormous numbers that we’re looking at - and the tiniest, weeniest numbers -- the scale the dimension of the universe bamboozles most of us?
22+23
Patrick: I don’t. Another memory also -- I once asked a rather clever gentleman if he could really visualise a million miles. He said he couldn’t. His name was Einstein. [laughs]
Patrick's office
Byrne: Not just Einstein, Patrick Moore spans the century. He also met the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, even the first airman, Orville Wright.
These days, it’s the young ones who seek him out.
22+47
Byrne: What's that?
Patrick: It's the front door bell.
23+02
Byrne: Constantly.
Patrick: I'll go and chase them off.
Patrick at door
Byrne: He’s always busy, sometimes a little grumpy.
Patrick: I am just in the middle of a television interview.
Byrne: But always keen to share his interest.
23+08
Music
Patrick takes girls to see telescopes
Patrick: The garden tour of the telescopes, with a couple of star-struck teenagers who dropped in on the great man.
23+16
Music
Patrick: Between these two taps the sun lost 20 million tonnes - don’t panic there’s plenty left.
Byrne at telescope
Byrne: Patrick Moore paid seven shillings for his first telescope at the age of 10. But astronomy is not the only fascination he's had since childhood.
23+45
Patrick puts cassette into player
Music
24+00
Byrne: He's a composer of note.
Byrne: And he hasn’t just written one, he’s written 70. And operas, too.
Byrne: How do you learn these things?
Patrick: I've got one thing, it is no credit to me, don't get me wrong, no credit at all. I know nothing about the theory of music.... perfect pitch and perfect time I've got.
Byrne: And so you taught yourself to play music and compose?
Patrick: Yeah.
Byrne: How do you actually write it?
Patrick: When I was eight I realised I can’t read music. That’s silly. So I bought myself a book and taught myself.
24+18
Patrick plays xylophone
Xylophone music
24+45
Patrick: I like it, simple as that. I’ve always known Selsey, always wanted to live here – First of all I like dark skies. I don't like crowds, I do like country life, therefore Selsey suits me very well!
Byrne: Patrick Moore doesn't just watch stars, he is one – a world figure in a small town.
Patrick: Okay, thanks so much. Cheerio.
Byrne: He used to live with his mother, until she died at 94. Now, he shares his farmhouse with a young cat, Jeannie, queen of his heart
Byrne: And she's just one year old.
Patrick cooking
Byrne: And runs a distinctly bachelor establishment.
25+42
Patrick: Wash the lettuce, make sure there are no beetles in it… Peel the cucumber… Please help yourselves.
Byrne: This is the lunch - Patrick Moore’s famous seafood salad…
…shared with a stranger who came for an autograph and stayed for a meal.
Lunch
Byrne: I've actually heard it said, and seen it written, that you would be – you, Patrick Moore – would be a national living treasure…
Patrick: Good heavens, no.
Byrne: …if you weren't so ornery and not politically correct. Is there some truth in that.
Patrick: I'm totally politically incorrect.
26+15
Patrick typing
Byrne: : Patrick Moore has opinions on most things – astrology.
Byrne: For many people, when you say astronomy, what they think of, is astrology and the stars. What do you think about that?
Patrick: Astrology proves one scientific fact - there’s one born every minute.
26+32
Byrne: Politics.
Patrick: There's one man we now need in parliament – one man in parliament -- Guy Fawkes.
26+48
Byrne: Creationism.
Patrick: If ignorance is bliss, they must be very happy.
Byrne: And -- is there life out there?
Patrick: There must surely be a hundred thousand million stars in our galaxy alone, a thousand million galaxies. Can anyone believe our sun is the only one with an inhabited planet going around it. I don't believe that for a moment. If life can appear, will it? That's what we don't know.
27+03
Byrne: Do you find that thrilling or alarming? Patrick: Thrilling – not alarming. After all, if any other beings know enough to get here, they’ll have put war behind them. They'll teach us a great deal.
27+20
Byrne: 'The Story of the Solar System.'
Patrick: Published in 1898, price, sixpence.
Byrne: It's more than 70 years since this book inspired a six year old. Since then, Patrick Moore has written more than 100 of his own, and broadcast to millions, inspiring who knows how many.
Byrne: Is it still magical to you now, after all this?
Patrick: Oh, very much so. Oh yes.
Reporter Jennifer Byrne
Camera Geoff Clegg
Sound Kate Graham
Editor: Garth Thomas
Producer: Andrew Clark