Tomorrow was a good day, thanks to Captain Tom

Picture: The Captain Tom Foundation

In a year when, for a few months at least, we clapped for the heroes on the front line of the coronavirus, an unlikely hero - an actual war hero, in fact - emerged. Captain Sir Tom Moore was that quintessential British national treasure: in his 100th year, the plucky former Royal Armoured Corps officer, who'd seen Second World War service in Burma and India, and whose previous own brush with fame was a 1983 appearance on Blankety Blank, turned the humble idea of celebrating his centenary by walking 100 laps of his garden for charity into an emblem of the nation's fight against COVID-19. But instead of remaining just a quirky "and finally..." item on News At Ten, his modest plan to raise £1000 by the time of his 100th birthday became more than £32 million (closer to £40 million if you take tax benefits into account). A phenomenon was born.

For those of us who've struggled to get off the sofa during lockdown, seeing this sweet little widower, hunched over his walking frame as he padded up and down outside his Bedfordshire home, was a genuine inspiration. Last April, in early spring warmth, he became a beacon of hope, too, not just for the fundraising but also for his endearing personality and seemingly ever-ready ability to deliver a pearl of wisdom on demand. "Tomorrow will be a good day" became his catchphrase, but also a note of positivity in an otherwise depressing landscape of lockdowns and an absence of hope in the short term. 

Too right that he was rewarded with a knighthood. Too right that the RAF's Battle Of Britain Flight flew a Hurricane and Spitfire over his home to mark his 100th birthday (a moment that, soppily, still brings a lump to my throat in the footage of the centenarian, wrapped in a blanket and sat in a wheelchair, waving at the planes as their Merlin engines roared throatily overhead). "I'm one of the few people here who've seen Hurricanes and Spitfires flying past in anger," he said at the time. "Fortunately today they're all flying peacefully."

News on Sunday that Captain Tom was being treated for COVID-19 following a bout of pneumonia was met universally with the grim expectation that there wouldn't be a good outcome. Today that inevitability came to fruition. Thomas Moore, born on 30 April, 1920, in Keighley, Yorkshire, passed away. His daughters, Hannah Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeira, called the final year of his life as "nothing short of remarkable". "He was rejuvenated and experienced things he'd only ever dreamed of," the sisters' statement added. That, presumably, would have included having a Number 1 hit single (with Michael Ball - a charity recording of You'll Never Walk Alone), writing (or co-writing) an autobiography, and even getting into the Guinness Book of Records for the money his walk raised. 

For the birthday that actually started it all, Tom received more than 140,000 cards, so many in fact that a dedicated sorting office was set up at his grandson's school. In December he became the oldest person to appear on the cover of GQ as one of its 2020 Men Of The Year. "Not only was he the oldest person ever to grace our cover, he was one of the most gracious," editor Dylan Jones said tonight. "He was a hero, a genuine old-fashioned hero, and I feel blessed that we were in his orbit, albeit for a very brief time." 

The tributes that have been paid have gone rightfully beyond the normal platitudes of condolence. The ceremony, last July at Windsor Castle, to confer his knighthood by the Queen - a mere six years Moore's junior - put another smile on the nation's face, an occasion Buckingham Palace acknowledged in its statement: "Her Majesty very much enjoyed meeting Captain Sir Tom and his family at Windsor last year. Her thoughts, and those of the royal family, are with them, recognising the inspiration he provided for the whole nation and others across the world." Tonight's comments from Downing Street added to this further: "Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country's deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit. He became not just a national inspiration but a beacon of hope for the world."

In tributes to other figures, that might sound hyperbolic but in the short space of time that Captain Tom was in our consciousness, he managed to transcend the mounting misery of the virus. His fundraising for the NHS even attracted well-wishers from all over the world, who flooded his home with cards and donations. He also stood for something old fashioned, traditional, unsurprising in an individual of his generation. But he was more than just a novelty, no flash-in-the-pan media event like Brenda from Bristol. In a matter of weeks he was elevated from humble war veteran, doing his bit, to the status afforded to Sir David Attenborough. His fame may have been fleeting - spanning just the nine months or so to today - but his memory will last long after the virus that ended his remarkable life has been brought under control.

"I am still very proud of our country. There is nowhere like ours," he once said. Tonight, his country is proud of him. Rest in peace, Captain Sir Tom Moore. And thank you. You were the one bright spot in this last year of so much gloom.