I really wasn’t talking down to anyone or trying to be nasty and I’m really sorry if it came across in that way. You are right that the BA is only one data point and it was wrong of me to take him as representative of the “interested public” in the US. It was a poor attempt to give an example to justify why those of us under 30 in the UK might not be aware of the great Carl Sagan. In fact, I generally don’t expect folks in the US (or France or Nigeria etc) to be aware of UK factual programming presenters because I don’t expect other countries to show much (or any) of our TV or play our radio programming; they generally make their own.

I am aware that Patrick Moore’s books are sold in the US but I wasn’t aware of his TV programmes being shown (I think they have been shown in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa at various times). So, I didn’t expect him to have had much impact into the popular conciousness as opposed to that of amateur/professional astronomers. In the UK, Patrick has appeared on many kids programmes and chat shows over the years so pretty much everyone knows who he is here. He is the main image of an astronomer (mature man with white hair and monocle) in the minds of most of the UK population. Of that I’m pretty sure because I’ve sampled a large number of random people over the past 10 years

Best not to generalize from one data point. Many of us DO know of Patrick Moore and David Attenborough. It has been my pleasure to read Patrick Moore’s works, and have met him several times. And, I’m one of those colonials, you know.

“Cosmos” is on every Tuesday night on The Science Channel, but I also have the DVD set; I find it uplifiting to watch. Sagan is someone who just exudes joy in learning and gaining knowledge. It’s sad that he died relatively young – if he were alive today he’d be a year younger than my father with so much more life left in him. We need more Sagan-like scientists, or just Sagan-like people in general.

The Unknown Sagan