Patrick Moore in the 1950s; Moore argued against Lord Dowding and other UFO proponents. He was invited to present a live astronomy programme and said the greatest difficulty was finding an appropriate theme tune; the opening of Jean Sibelius's "Pelléas et Mélisande" was chosen and used throughout the programme's existence. The programme was originally named "Star Map" before "The Sky at Night" was chosen in the "Radio Times". On 24 April 1957, at 10:30 pm, Moore presented the first episode about the Comet Arend–Roland. The programme was pitched to casual viewers up to professional astronomers, in a format which remained consistent from
Patrick Moore favourite two countries were Iceland and Norway. On 7 March 2006 he was hospitalised and fitted with a pacemaker because of a cardiac abnormality. He was a friend of Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May, who was an occasional guest on "The Sky at Night". May bought Moore's Selsey home in 2008, leasing it back to him for a peppercorn rent the same day to provide financial security. May, Moore and Chris Lintott co-wrote a book "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe". In February 2011, Moore completed (with Robin Rees and Iain Nicolson) his comprehensive "Patrick Moore's Data Book