A close friend of astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has paid tribute on the first anniversary of his death .

Sir Patrick passed away peacefully at his home in Selsey, near Chichester, having battled with ill health for several years.

The broadcaster presented the BBC programme The Sky at Night for more than 50 years, only missing one show when he fell ill with food poisoning.

It was at the BBC that Sir Patrick first met publisher Sandra Saer from Arundel, who at the time was working promoting BBC book publications.

“I would take him to radio and television interviews and we became very close, ” Mrs Saer explained.

The pair struck up a friendship which spanned almost 40 years.

Mrs Saer said: “My life knowing him as a friend, and we were very good friends, was full of little anecdotes where I would go and see him in Selsey and have lunch with him.

“He was so warm and funny, he had a wonderful sense of humour – I think that’s what those who know him best will remember him for.”

The 89-year-old became well known for his monocle and his occasional performances on the xylophone made him a familiar target for impressionists, but it was his scientific credentials that earned him such great respect.

“It is very sad to reach the first anniversary of his death, ” added Mrs Saer.

“The evening he passed away I saw a bright star and thought golly, that’s him up there.

“And it is where he always wanted to be, among the stars.

“The thing about people like Sir Patrick is he is the sort of personality that will never ever go away because of what they have contributed, one way or another, to the world.”

In 2011 Mrs Saer published a collection of Sir Patrick’s poems titled Within the Glade – a collection of poems written to amuse children of all ages.

The poems had been written years earlier but left forgotten in a drawer until Sir Patrick unearthed them and gifted them to Mrs Saer to publish.

“They are wonderfully funny poems, ” said Mrs Saer.

“They remind me of Edward Lear’s Nonsense Poems like The Owl and the Pussy Cat.

“I think that’s why people like them so much.”

To buy a copy of Sir Patrick’s only poetry book, Within the Glade, visit www.smhbooks.co.uk or contact Sandra on 01903 884 968.