Sky at Night

Blimey, tonight in the wee small hours a TV landmark will take place as Sir Patrick Moore presents the 650th episode of The Sky At Night, as the show enters its fiftieth year. Okay, as Patrick might say, in astronomical terms fifty years may not be much, but for a quiet, academic show on astronomy it is pretty amazing. I really can't see many stars, living in the city these days, but I still follow astronomy and space exploration, an interest since I was five and despite - or perhaps because of - the often cheap, no-budget visuals used in the Sky At Night I've always quite enjoyed it. And whether you love him or can't stand him, Moore is quite a character and he has done a lot to publicise science (another reasons he and Carl Sagan were always favourites of mine). In a link to a recent posting he is also a friend of Evelyn (now Dame Evelyn) Glennie and has played music with her.And he must be one of the few people who can get away with wearing a monocle.