04 February 2021 - Veteran Sir Tom Moore dies of covid aged 100
The nation honours Captain Sir Tom Moore
(Sky News, 03/02/2021)
The nation joined together in a swell of clapping to honour Captain Sir Tom Moore who raised almost 40 million pounds to support the NHS in the pandemic.
Captain Tom walked into his 100 hundredth birthday raising the hope of a nation in lockdown.
Captain Sir Tom Moore obituary
Stephen Bates (The Guardian, 02/02/2021)
It is given to few people after a life of decent and unremarkable obscurity to be catapulted to worldwide fame in the three weeks before their 100th birthday, but that is what happened to Tom Moore. Universally known as Captain Tom because of his former rank in the British army, Moore achieved celebrity by deciding to walk round the garden at his daughter’s Bedfordshire home 100 times in the weeks leading up to his centenary in order to raise what he hoped would be £1,000 to help NHS staff during the Covid-19 pandemic in April last year.
The modest aim of the daily walks, which began on 6 April, was quickly exceeded and the target was adjusted first to £5,000 then £500,000. As images of the old soldier, who has died aged 100, dressed in his blazer, wearing his medals, leaning on a wheeled walking frame, making 10 25-metre laps of the garden each day, were broadcast first nationally, then internationally, the money kept rolling in, soon at the rate of several million pounds a day.
Captain Sir Tom Moore: National clap announced by PM for fundraiser
(BBC News, 03/02/2021)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has encouraged members of the public to clap for Captain Sir Tom Moore at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday.
The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden, died with coronavirus in Bedford Hospital on Tuesday.
Mr Johnson said the clap would also be for "all those health workers for whom he raised money".
Boris Johnson praised Captain Sir Tom Moore but he should be hanging his head in shame
(The Independent, 03/02/2021)
Boris Johnson, with his signature “practised” sad face, says: “Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom…”
Johnson is correct that those were indeed very dark days, but that was because of an external agent. Our current dark-ish days are largely self-inflicted, by governmental incompetence. And let us not forget that Sir Tom became a hero again because he raised almost £33m (an amazing sum) for the NHS to help plug the massive hole created by the Tories. Let us never forget that.