The Sky at Night - A telescope for Christmas - Dec 1999

In 1997 Patrick (and John Watson of Springer Verlag publishing) asked me to write a book in Patrick's Practical Astronomy Series called 'Astronomical Equipment for Amateurs'. It was published in late 1998 and proved popular, so Patrick asked me to appear with him on the December 1999 Sky at Night giving advice on buying a telescope for Xmas. Patrick had just endured a major knee replacement operation (in Sept 99) and turned up for the recording on December 4th with a black eye where he had fallen in the bath, as he was still very unsteady after the op! The make up lady managed to make the black eye totally invisible though! Once again the show was filmed in a straight take of a 20 minute chat between us and it was broadcast the next night, Dec 5/6. I was very pleased with this prog., not least because it was the very last Sky at Night of the 1900s. The studio was full of telescope boxes (out of camera shot). The big UK telescope dealers had sent crates full of their gear along to the show, hoping for a free plug! I think I remained suitably neutral in my opinions. The Radio Times for that week even mentioned my book, which was great! Patrick brought his childhood 3-inch refractor along that day in the chauffeur driven car the BBC had laid on to get him from Selsey to the TV Centre and back. The producer, Ian Russell, asked me if I knew any young astronomers who could be filmed outdoors testing telescopes at night. I suggested Patrick's young undergraduate apprentice Chris Lintott and his friend David Reid. But when Patrick heard of this idea he blocked it, totally, saying he wanted me to do the whole show, as with me involved no-one else was ever needed......!