Patrick Moore Was the Forrest Gump of the Space Age: Watch His Greatest Hits

For over fifty years, Patrick Moore was the very British face of the space age – an eccentric, xylophone-playing, monocle-wearing mix of Carl Sagan, Jack Horkheimer and Walter Cronkite. As host of the BBC’s flagship astronomy program, The Sky At Night, he witnessed the very beginnings of space exploration and continued to present up until his passing yesterday at the age of 89 – only ever missing one single episode due to severe food poisoning caused by a typically British hazard: a contaminated goose egg.

His last show, which aired on December 3rd, saw him relaying news from NASA’s Messenger mission to Mercury and interviewing Dr. Katie Joy about lunar rocks and Apollo 17. The moon was Moore’s favorite astronomical subject, and his observations led to him describing still-mysterious ‘transient lunar phenomenon’ events for the first time in NASA Technical Report R-277: Chronological Catalog of Reported Lunar Events.

Besides being named ‘Pipeman of the Year’ in 1983 by the British Pipesmokers' Council, Moore was proud to be the only person to have interviewed Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong. Guests on his show included everyone from rocket men Wernher von Braun and Buzz Aldrin to sci-fi authors like Arthur C. Clarke and Fred Hoyle. Like a British, space-obsessed Forrest Gump, he was there for all the key moments, covering Apollo for the BBC, relaying the first images from the Soviet Luna 3 probe and later reporting on Voyager and the Space Shuttle. A living fossil in more ways than one, Sir Patrick Moore epitomized a certain style and a peculiarly old-fashioned British take on space – but inspired generations along the way. To salute him, Motherboard takes a look back at some of his greatest hits.

Moore predicts manned bases on the moon by the end of the century in this clip, which features a vintage introduction to The Sky at Night.

Moore meets a man fluent in over three forms of space communication in this bizarre clip from the BBC documentary series One Pair of Eyes.’

Sir Patrick quizzes Buzz and co about seeing stars on the moon, in this clip seized upon by conspiracy nuts.

Moore gets technical with Neil on all things lunar.

Carl and Patrick discuss alien life in this clip from the Sky at Night.

Sir Patrick breaks down the dos and donts of buying a telescope in this clip from the late 80s.

Moore opens with a tough question for Shuttle astronauts Kenneth Ham and Piers Sellers.

The monocled one was also a keen musician, as the following clips show. The first is him playing a composition by the astronomer Herschel on The Sky At Night while the other two show him in action on the xylophone, which he composed for, on weird British TV shows.