One of my favourite photos of Sir Patrick Moore

[John]

As per the title of this thread, each time I come across this picture of Sir Patrick alongside his Cooke 5 inch refractor at Selsey, it puts a grin on my face 😃

It was almost certainly a posed shot but it seems to capture the excitement and anticipation of amateur astronomy and observing the night sky.

Interesting to see that the scope is fitted with an eyepiece turret in this photo loaded with what look like vintage Swift eyepieces.

Makes me want to get out and get observing, but unfortunately it's cloudy again 🙄

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by John

[mikeDnight]

Fabulous!  Thanks for posting this John, as I can't remember seeing him stood alongside his 5" refractor before.  It was this telescope that really caught my eye when  I first bought his little Observers Book of Astronomy. £1.99 it cost me. Little did I realise just how much influence that photo would have on my enthusiasm and decision making. Or how much money would flow out of my bank account as time passed.

The hours I must have spent in my early days staring lustfully over the photograph of this refractor, I'm surprised I haven't worn the picture away.  In 2007 I eventually got to play with it during our stay at Patrick's. It was at that time in need of some TLC. Of course it has since been renovated. I wonder where it is now?

Edited April 18, 2023 by mikeDnight

[John]

My avatar is the restored Cooke 5 inch. I think that quite a lot of Sir Patricks equipment went to the South Downs Planetarium but I don't know if that includes the Cook refractor.

 

[JeremyS]

I was at the BAA Winchester weekend last weekend. A video of the 1972 event was shown which has good shots of Patrick

https://britastro.org/videos/baa-winchester-weekend-1972

 

 

[RobertI]

Wonderful picture of Patrick with his classic instrument - he looks curious, thoughtful and determined all at the same time! 

[mikeDnight]

3 hours ago, John said:

My avatar is the restored Cooke 5 inch. I think that quite a lot of Sir Patricks equipment went to the South Downs Planetarium but I don't know if that includes the Cook refractor.

 

Your avatar hadn't gone unnoticed by me John. 

Thanks for the info on his equipment. 

 

[Ags]

21 hours ago, John said:

It was almost certainly a posed shot but it seems to capture the excitement and anticipation of amateur astronomy and observing the night sky.

To me, it looks like SPM is trying to stare a hole in 100% cloud

[Telescope40]

Blimey @John  That photo kicked off a memory or two.  I have a astro book that I bought as maybe a 10 yr old back in the 70's. How to recognize the Stars by the main man himself  SPM and Lawrence Clarke.  This photo adorns the front and back cover. 

Bought at the planetarium at Alton Towers. Family trip each year to Alton Towers and was the only place I could get a "astro fix" at that time. Was magical.  Think was only the 2nd astro book I'd bought by then. First was the Ladybird book - The Night sky - I still have that to hand too.  Rather mad to think how far things have moved on since. 

Thank you   John 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Telescope40
Photo

[Mr Spock]

Sure is a lovely scope 👍

[Highburymark]

Even though he had a great sense of humour, I loved how Sir Patrick would get deadly serious whenever the subject of astronomy or telescopes came up. This photo captures that perfectly. 

 

In 2007 I eventually got to play with it during our stay at Patrick's. It was at that time in need of some TLC. Of course it has since been renovated. I wonder where it is now?

Would like to hear more about this Mike

[mikeDnight]

On 20/04/2023 at 15:19, Highburymark said:

Even though he had a great sense of humour, I loved how Sir Patrick would get deadly serious whenever the subject of astronomy or telescopes came up. This photo captures that perfectly. 

 

In 2007 I eventually got to play with it during our stay at Patrick's. It was at that time in need of some TLC. Of course it has since been renovated. I wonder where it is now?

Would like to hear more about this Mike

That's a very happy memory for both myself and my wife Chrissy. It was during a telephone conversation that Patrick invited us to visit him at Farthings, the name given to his thatched cottage in Selsey by a previous owner. He also invited us to have dinner with him, and to stay over night due to the distance we'd travelled. I was impressed by just how much of a gentleman he was towards Chrissy. Also, he didn't care for the title 'Sir', and prefered plain old Patrick. There was no treading on eggshells around him, he was just one of the lads.  During the time we were with him we got chance to play with all his telescopes, which sadly by that time were in need of some TLC. Patrick was in quite poor health and suffered terribly with arthritis in his hands. The walls of his home were covered with paintings of alien worlds and little aliens, all painted by his mother.I love clocks, and spent some time quietly admiring his Grandfather clock, as well as a cuckoo clock in his study that cuckoo'd whenever it felt like it. He never had it repaired, and I think its quirkiness kind of suited his sense of humour.  After dinner we all sat in his study just chatting about astronomy, and anything else that took his fancy. I remember it was around 2am when we decided its bedtime.  

 Sadly, although we took loads of photographs, nearly all turned out blurry, as some clott-head had the camera on the wrong setting. Mobile phones weren't so well equipped back then as they are now, so we'd used a throwaway camera.  Patrick gave us a copy of his mother's book Mrs Moore In Space and tried his best to sign it with hands that didn't work, finally apologising for his poor signature. He would often use a stamp with his signature on it, so may be we have one of his last physical signatures he ever made? It's certainly precious to us at least!

 Here's a pic of yours truly sat in the great man's chair, preparing my opening comments for our new tv program The Sky With Mike. 😂 (Just joking of course)!

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Highburymark]

Fantastic - what a great story Mike. Thanks for posting.