Patrick Moore Swaps the Stars for Opera ... For most people, the sky is the limit, but to Patrick Moore it is his world. The author of more than 50 books on the heavens has now completed an opera. In 1957 the BBC invited Mr Moore to do a trial programme about astrology and how to look at the skies - just in case this minority subject raised some audience. He hasn't missed a month with The Sky At Night ever since. The opera has been commissioned for public performance, by professional singers with a "real" full orchestra, at the new theatre at Portslade School, near Brighton. It is called Perseus and Andromeda, "based on the Greek myth and jolly light", Mr Moore says. "A bit got broadcast when I did a music programme for the BBC recently. These people promptly contacted me and said, 'We want to do your opera'". So surrounded with globes of the universe and solar systems, Mr Moore who lives with his mother at Selsay, Sussex, spends his time putting pen to paper and when weather permits practising cricket. He is secretary of the local club and as a spin bowler likes to get into the swing early in the season. Patrick Moore with his 12 1/2" telescope.