Sir Captain Tom Moore: The Hero, The Legend, The Inspiration

This week brought the terrible news of the death of Sir Captain Tom Moore. Unless you've been hiding under a rock for a year, this name will ring familiar to most living in the UK. The World War II veteran turned celebrity took it upon himself, aged 99 years old, to raise money for the NHS during the early stages of the pandemic and quickly (and inadvertently) turned into the nations hero.

On the 6th April 2020, then Captain Tom Moore of Bedford, took it upon himself to walk 100 lengths of his garden in attempt to raise money for the struggling NHS. With an original target of £1000, the goal was quickly reached and raised to £5000. As Tom caught the eye of the media, his endeavour was becoming known across the country and the donations started flooding in, raising the target sum to a whopping £500,000. But it didn't stop there....

In April 12th, Moore made an appearance on Michael Ball's Radio 2 Sunday morning programme, later leading to the two making an unlikely duet, releasing a version of You'll Never Walk Alone for the same charity. Released on the 17th April, it sold almost 37,000 copies in 48 hours. And on the 24th April was announced UK Number 1 on the Singles chart, making Captain Tom Moore the oldest person to have a number one spot. April 16th marked the completion of Moore's 100 lengths. He was met at a safe distance by a guard of honour by 1st Battalion of Yorkshire Regiment and vowed to carry on and complete a second 100 lengths! On the morning of Tom's 100th birthday, 30th April 2020, his extraordinary attempt had earned donations from more than 1.5 millions people, bringing the final donation total to an astronomical £32,796,475 (plus another £6,173,663.31 expected in tax rebates under the Gift Aid scheme), smashing the previous Just Giving record of £5.2 million.

Captain Tom explained his motivation, "When we started off with this exercise we didn't anticipate we'd get anything near that sort of money. It's really amazing. All of them, from top to bottom, in the National Health Service, they deserve everything that we can possibly put in their place. They're all so brave. Because every morning or every night they're putting themselves into harm's way, and I think you've got to give them full marks for that effort. We're a little bit like having a war at the moment. But the doctors and the nurses, they're all on the front line, and all of us behind, we've got to supply them and keep them going with everything that they need, so that they can do their jobs even better than they're doing now."

The UK's oldest and dearest hero received an number of awards for his efforts, including being made Honorary Colonel of the Army Foundation College, Harrogate, a Pride of Britain award, granted freedom of the City of London and, most notably, given a knighthood by the Queen on 20th May, making him Sir Captain Tom Moore.

After many media appearances, including a virtual appearance on The Royal Variety Performance, and an interview for Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Sir Captain Tom Moore became a national hero. He inspired a nation, and was loved by many far and wide, represented in tributes, including mentions in the Prime Ministers addresses to the country and the Queens Christmas speech, and artistic murals up and down the country.

On January 12th 2021, Sir Captain Tom was admitted to Bedford hospital with pneumonia and treated. He was let home 10 days later. Tom was regularly tested for Covid-19 and first tested positive on the day of his discharge, 22nd January 2021. He was treated at home for 9 days, but after suffering with breathing difficulties, was readmitted to Bedford hospital with Coronavirus and pneumonia. Whilst no official statement was made on his condition, concerns were raised after it was announced that his family were at his bedside. He sadly passed away on February 2nd 2021, aged 100 years old.

Tributes poured in from all sides, including the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson announced that the flags at 10-11 Downing Street were to fly at half mast and appealed to the country to join at 6pm on the 3rd February in a national clap for Moore, calling him 'a hero in the truest sense of the word'. Amanda Holden also appealed for a statue of Sir Captain Tom to be erected in his memory on her morning radio show on Heart.

A hero and an inspiration to a nation.

R.I.P. Sir Captain Tom Moore

30th April 1920 - 2nd February 2021