​​The lasting legacy of Sir Patrick Moore, the man who gave the world an insight into the universe

Sir Patrick grew up in East Grinstead and went to school at Hill Place School in Crawley but spent much of his life at Farthings in Selsey. A much-loved stargazer, author and broadcaster, he was best known for hosting the BBC's Sky at Night programme for more than 50 years, until his death at home in December 2012.

It was only right that Selsey led the nation in mourning, as Sir Patrick was a huge part of the community – a local treasure as well as a national one.

He published 170 books on astronomy and wrote them all on his famous 1908 Woodstock typewriter, now part of the Science Museum Group collection. He claimed to be able to type at 90 words a minute, using only two fingers.

Having lost his fiancée Lorna during the Second World War, Sir Patrick never married. He moved to Selsey with his mother in 1968 because of fond memories from childhood of time spent at his grandmother’s holiday house in Bognor Regis.

He built his own telescope in his garden and began to observe the moon. The lunar atlas he produced, with detailed maps of the moon’s surface were used by both NASA and the Soviet space authorities as part of the preparations for robotic and crewed missions to the Moon.

Sir Patrick was also deeply involved with local projects, including the Bognor Birdman, which he helped to start in Selsey, and as patron of the South Downs Planetarium and Science Centre in Chichester.

The planetarium, where Sir Patrick is remembered as an inspiration and faithful friend, was honoured with the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK and the equivalent of an MBE, in November and the presentation will be made tomorrow by the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Lady Emma Barnard.

Sir Patrick also campaigned avidly on local issues he cared about, like the Save St Richard’s movement, to which gave his wholehearted support.

The Chichester Observer campaigned tirelessly for him to be honoured and it was in the 2001 New Year Honours List that he was knighted for services to the popularisation of science and to broadcasting.

Another of his other great loves was music and in addition to being a virtuoso on the xylophone, he composed two light operas that were performed at Shoreham Community Centre when it was first built.

Shoreham Light Opera Company was created to stage Sir Patrick’s first opera, Perseus and Andromeda. The show enjoyed its world premiere in Shoreham on October 2, 1974, and Sir Patrick himself performed. The show was a tremendous success and eight years later, the company was honoured to be asked to present Patrick’s second opera, Theseus and the Minotaur.