Researching Patrick Moore

Moore was president of the British Astronomical Association; co-founder and president of the Society for Popular Astronomy; author of over seventy books on astronomy; and presenter of the world's longest-running television series with the same original presenter, BBC's The Sky at Night (from 1957). He became known as a specialist in Moon observation and for creating the Caldwell catalogue. Idiosyncrasies such as his rapid diction and monocle made him a popular and instantly recognisable figure on British television.

Moore was also a self-taught xylophonist and pianist, as well as an accomplished composer. He was an amateur cricketer, golfer and chess player. In addition to many popular science books, he wrote numerous works of fiction. He was an opponent of fox hunting, an outspoken critic of the European Union and a supporter of the UK Independence Party, and he served as chairman of the short-lived anti-immigration United Country Party. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Since leaving Greenpeace, Moore has frequently taken sharp public stances against a number of major environmental groups, including Greenpeace itself, on many issues including forestry, nuclear energy, genetically modified organisms, and pesticide use. Moore has also denied the consensus of the scientific community on climate change, for example by claiming that increased carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is beneficial, that there is no proof that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for global warming, and that even if true, increased temperature would be beneficial to life on Earth.
These views are contradicted by the scientific consensus on the effects of global warming, which expects climate change to have a significant and irreversible negative impact on climate and weather events around the world, posing severe risks like ocean acidification and sea level rise to human society and to other organisms.

Moore was born in Bristol, England on 17 March 1918, the son of Alice Moore (née Lofthouse) and her husband, New Zealand surgeon Arthur Eisdell Moore. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School, and then studied medicine at the University of Otago, from where he graduated MB ChB in 1943. On 21 December 1942, he married Beth Beedie in Dannevirke.

In the 1982 New Year Honours, Moore was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to otolaryngology and the community, and he was made a Knight Bachelor, for services to otolaryngology, in the 1992 New Year Honours.

Moore died in Auckland on 18 June 2015. His wife, Beth, Lady Moore, died on 7 August 2017.