Sir Patrick Moore: 1923-2012

Legendary British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore has died, aged 89, according to his close friends.

According to a statement he "passed away peacefully at 12.25pm this afternoon", in Selsey, West Sussex.

After a short spell in hospital last week, it was determined that no further treatment would benefit him, and it was his wish to spend his last days in his own home, Farthings, where he today passed on, in the company of close friends and carers and his cat Ptolemy.

Sir Patrick Moore was famous for his contributions to astronomy but also for his memorable role as the GamesMaster on the cult UK gaming television show of the same name, where he would introduce several taxing challenges for the contestants to accomplish, all while looking ominously cool. Many a 90s gamer had him to thank for dishing out helpful advice and tips on how to complete those devious SNES and Mega Drive games.

Gamers in the UK will always fondly remember him in this role, but his life was largely dedicated to the final frontier. The ever-enthusiastic astronomer was a part of The Sky at Night, BBC’s flagship astronomy programme, for an incredibly long time. In April the show celebrated its 55th year of existence with Sir Patrick only missing one episode in all that time due to illness; an extraordinary contribution to science and education.

A farewell event is planned for what would have been Sir Patrick's 90th birthday in March 2013.

We certainly have fond memories of Sir Patrick Moore here at Nintendo Life. Check out his GamesMaster debut (he first appears at roughly 1:40 minutes) and share some of your favourite memories of the great man below.

[source news.sky.com]