As mentioned in my previous post, the realism of the world of Jeff Hawke was enhanced by Sydney’s use of

real personalities in the stories. Another well known face that appeared in the strip was that of the late Sir Patrick Moore who made a cameo appearance in the story “Shorty’s secret”.  The story opens with a reprise of the last moon landing, that of Apollo 17 in 1972, the first few panels of which show one of Cernan and Smitt’s expeditions onto the lunar surface. The scene then switches to the television studios in London where Patrick Moore is explaining the situation to viewers at home. Patrick was such a well known broadcaster and astronomer , that just by reading the speech bubble in the strip you can almost hear him uttering the words in his own inimitable style. Patrick Moore , astronomer and eccentric, had the unique gift of imparting not only information to his viewers but also his huge enthusiasm for his subject. His “Sky at night” astronomy programme was broadcast on the BBC from 1957   and Patrick never missed a show until his death in December 2012. Also a prolific writer on Astronomy and spaceflight , he popularised   the subject for an entire generation in the U.K. Although his is not longer with us you can still watch many of his “Sky at night” programmes and interviews on Youtube.

Skipper Prossit