Quicksand Fans

Astronomer, writer, broadcaster and Great British Eccentric Patrick Moore died today at the age of eighty-nine.

He presented The Sky at Night on television from 1957 to 2012 - by some distance a record, though he did miss one programme due to illness in 2004. He also inspired countless kids - including me - to look up and wonder.

With his monocle, his dishevelled appearance, and his weird manner of speaking when he got excited, he was for some decades the living embodiment of benign lunacy. He was a National Treasure, and will be sorely missed.

I was a backyard astronomer from the youngest age I can remember and had several of his books. He was in invaluable resource for the amateur in the time before everything was available online.

I'm still a keen astronomer, though I find myself observing from the armchair a lot more now! I live in one of the darkest parts of the UK and, thanks to the inspiration of Sir Patrick, have enjoyed countless nights of magic. I've been to his talks on many occasions and he really was a larger than life person. He will be missed.