Moore: I'll go on as long as I can

Sir Patrick Moore has promised he will keep on presenting The Sky At Night until he feels his standards are slipping.

The 89-year-old astronomer has been presenting the BBC show for 55 years and while he laments his voice is weakening, he's very clear about the future of the show.

Moore said: "It will go on indefinitely, I hope. As for me, I will go on as long as I feel I can do it reasonably well."

He added: "Let me tell you a story. About a year ago I gave a lecture about the moon, my own subject, and halfway through I realised that my lecturing standard was far below my old standard, so I thought it was time to give up. If I notice it, other people soon will.

"I haven't got the voice I had, and I do worry about that."

Moore said the only thing he feels has changed about the show over the years is, "it was purely me, I did the entire thing - I chose the subject and did it myself."

"The BBC does things differently now," he added.

He also admitted he has a gripe about the timeslot.

"The main programme first goes on after midnight sometimes and I don't like it a bit. There was one occasion we had an astronaut who had just come down from the space station, specially for an interview with me, and they put it on at half past two in the morning. That didn't please me one little bit."

:: The Sky At Night celebrates its 55th anniversary on BBC One on Sunday, May 6.