80 Not Out: My autobiography by Patrick Moore, Contender Books, 拢17.99, ISBN 1843570483
AIRBORNE crockery 鈥� flying saucers to the rest of us 鈥� does not impress astronomer Patrick Moore. The wonders of the heavens, cricket and chess do. So also does the memory of the young woman he wanted to marry. Now 60 years after Lorna鈥檚 death during the Second World War he writes that he can occasionally pass half an hour without thinking of her.
This is as deeply into his personal life as Moore鈥檚 autobiography invites us. For the most part, in text as infectiously enthusiastic as its writer, we are treated to a tour of his life as a broadcaster and reporter of events beyond Earth鈥檚 atmosphere.
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Occasionally Moore shows himself puzzled. On the one hand the Second World War has left him with a strong discomfort with Germany, on the other hand he acknowledges the courage of rocket pioneer Herman Oberth, who saved colleagues during the RAF鈥檚 bombing of Peenemunde, the site where he, Wernher von Braun and colleagues were developing V2s. Wisely Moore attempts no resolution of such human dilemmas.
By contrast his embrace of the space age is unequivocal. 鈥淚n time to come, few people will remember 1066 or 1914, but 1957 will not be forgotten so long as humanity lasts,鈥� he writes. Perhaps: yet he also writes that it is 鈥渙nly too easy to see what you half expect to see鈥�, words of caution he was intending for astronomers, but equally applicable more generally.
And that leads to my observation that some 鈥� only some 鈥� of his attacks on the follies of political correctness are too glib, and misunderstand how certain words can cause deep hurt. That said, this autobiography is the book of a thoroughly decent person who has lived life on his own terms. It is high on chuckle quotient. How sad that Lorna could not have shared more of his journey.