Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»TV by Decade»TV Shows - 1950s
    TV Shows - 1950s TV Shows - 1960s TV Shows - 1970s TV Shows - 1980s TV Shows - 1990s Variety 2 Mins Read

    Sky At Night, The

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 5 7 – 2 0 1 2 (UK)

    The Sky At Night first appeared on British television sets on 24 April 1957, hosted by Patrick Moore, and opening to the stirring At The Castle Gate – a segment from the opera Pelléas et Mélisande by Jean Sibelius.

    At a time when pulsars, quasars and black holes were unknown, the show – initially to be called Star Map – was scheduled to run for three months

    “I thought The Sky At Night would last only a few months,” Moore once said. “It’s nobody’s enemy. It’s cheap and non-controversial. It is no skill on my part.”

    When the series started, there was no space race and no expectation that a man might one day stand upon the surface of the Moon.

    It was, in fact, Moore who first told British viewers with absolute certainty that life on the Moon was a fantasy (it had been a matter of debate even into the early 1960s).

    skyatnightThe programme became a television institution and Moore stayed with it for more than four decades. During that time, he missed just one episode when he was struck down by food poisoning in July 2004.

    Patrick’s proficiencies saw him crop up on all sorts of programmes over the years, from serious lunar discussions (NASA used maps of the moon which Moore produced to help plan the moon landing) to fooling around on The Generation Game and Blankety Blank.

    Whether discussing spectroscopic binaries or deflecting cosmological speculation (will it crash into the earth? will there be little green men? was there a Big Bang?), Moore’s breathless pace and infectious enthusiasm generated its own romance of the subject.

    skyatnight_000His speciality was balancing knowledgeable talk with schoolboy eagerness when observing eclipses and comets or when interviewing celebrated figures like Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin or NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong.

    He was also a popular target for impressionists such as Mike Yarwood and hosted a computer games show called Gamesmaster in the 1990s.

    He was knighted by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on 2 March 2001.

    Sir Patrick Moore passed away on 9 December 2012 at his home in Selsey, West Sussex.

    Audio

    Related Posts

    • Thriller
      Thriller
      1 9 6 0 - 1 9 6 2 (USA) 67 x 50 minute episodes Hosted by famous horror movie star…
    • Mike and Bernie's Show
      Mike and Bernie's Show
      1 9 6 6 (UK) 9 x 45 minute episodes 1 9 6 8 (UK) 6 x 45 minute episodes Mike…
    • Big Night Out
      Big Night Out
      1 9 6 1 - 1 9 6 3 (UK) 54 x 30/50 minute episodes This occasional Saturday night variety…
    • Jack Docherty Show, The
      Jack Docherty Show, The
      1 9 9 7 - 1 9 9 9 (UK) 109 x 40 minute episodes Debuting in March 1997, Channel…
    • Night Spot
      Night Spot
      1 9 6 4 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Magician Frank Berry (pictured above with regular Norma Ronald, from…
    • Stage Show
      Stage Show
      1 9 5 4 - 1 9 5 6 (USA) The opening of Stage Show featured the camera - used as…
    • Sky Hawks
      Sky Hawks
      1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 1 (USA) The Sky Hawks were a team of aviation specialists who also…
    • Bruce Forsyth's Big Night
      Bruce Forsyth's Big Night
      1 9 7 8 (UK) 1978 was not Bruce Forsyth's year. Since 1971 he had dominated popular television in The Generation Game which…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleTraining Dogs The Woodhouse Way
    Next Article Nice Time

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    You May Also Like
    • Holocaust
      1 9 7 8 (USA) 1 x 180 minute episode 2 x 120 minute episodes 1 x […]
    • Life With Johnny
      1 9 6 9 (UK) 6 x 25 minute episodes Tyne Tees Television […]
    • Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953)
      Having run out of exotic backgrounds on Earth, Bud Abbott and […]
    • Antoinette
      Born Marie Antoinette Daly in Southend, Essex, between the ages […]
    • Lou Reed
      Born into a wealthy New York Jewish family, Lewis Allen […]
    • Joy Luck Club, The (1993)
      Faithfully adapted from Amy Tan’s bestselling book, […]
    Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

    OUR LATEST FACEBOOK POSTS

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64442824 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Television frontman Tom Verlaine dies at 73

    www.bbc.co.uk

    His band rose to fame in the 1970s New York punk scene, scoring UK hits including Marquee Moon.
    3 hours ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64418847 ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Mr Blobby costume sells for more than £62,000 on eBay

    www.bbc.co.uk

    The character, made famous by BBC show Noel's House Party, had been in storage since the 1990s.
    1 day ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Put some beefiness into your mid-week menu with these recipe ideas published in a Birds Eye advertisement from the Radio Times on 30 September 1965.

    Put some "beefiness into your mid-week menu" with these recipe ideas published in a Birds Eye advertisement from the "Radio Times" on 30 September 1965. ... See MoreSee Less

    1 week ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 3
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    They were awful. An overpowering savoury flavour that lingered in your mouth for hours. Heaven knows what unmentionable parts of a bull went into making them 😳

    More sad news 😪

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    US rock legend David Crosby dies aged 81

    www.bbc.co.uk

    Crosby, who co-founded both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, had been ill for some time.
    1 week ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 1
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    This is what they promised us when I was a kid. What happened? 

All I have is 700 channels of rubbish on the TV in High Def, TikTok, Facebook and a phone I can take photographs with . . .

    This is what they promised us when I was a kid. What happened?

    All I have is 700 channels of rubbish on the TV in High Def, TikTok, Facebook and a phone I can take photographs with . . .
    ... See MoreSee Less

    1 week ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 54
    • Shares: 22
    • Comments: 7

    Comment on Facebook

    I thought we would have moving pavements by now when I was a kid 😂

    Totally agree!!!

    The new Tesla, 4.6 next century.

    We got transvestite story hour instead

    We appear to be going backwards

    There's actually a very good David Graeber essay on this very topic: thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit

    The Jetsons strike again.

    View more comments

    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-r/renee-geyer/

    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

    nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-r/renee-geyer/
    ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 0
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    That is so sad to hear 😥 rest in peace 🙏 🕊 xx

    Gina Lollobrigida: Italian screen star dies at 95
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64292026

    Gina Lollobrigida: Italian screen star dies at 95
    www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64292026
    ... See MoreSee Less

    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 4
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    😍😍😍😍

    Vale Jeff Beck. Dead at 78. 😢

    ... See MoreSee Less

    Link thumbnail

    Jeff Beck: British guitar legend dies aged 78

    www.bbc.co.uk

    One of rock's most influential guitarists, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
    2 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 1
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 0

    Comment on Facebook

    Hi everyone. Were in the process of moving www.nostalgiacentral.com to new dedicated servers to better cope with the volumes of traffic. Please ignore any SSL security errors you may receive when visiting the site over the next 24 hours while the move completes.

    Hi everyone. We're in the process of moving www.nostalgiacentral.com to new dedicated servers to better cope with the volumes of traffic. Please ignore any SSL security errors you may receive when visiting the site over the next 24 hours while the move completes. ... See MoreSee Less

    3 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 5
    • Shares: 0
    • Comments: 2

    Comment on Facebook

    Ironically, this post has jumped off the page at me. You'll probably get most traffic today because everyone will want to see what they might be missing!

    Martin Platt

    RIP Fred White, drummer with Earth, Wind and Fire, who has died aged 67. 😢

    RIP Fred White, drummer with Earth, Wind and Fire, who has died aged 67. 😢 ... See MoreSee Less

    4 weeks ago
    View on Facebook
    · Share
    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
    View Comments
    • Likes: 4
    • Shares: 2
    • Comments: 1

    Comment on Facebook

    Great band

    Load more
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.