Richard Madeley has reflected on how his grandparents' Old Testament beliefs would have clashed with this week's space news, including theories about alien rubbish on the moon and a potentially habitable Earth-like planet.
Writing in his opinion column, Madeley noted that two stories from space this week were largely overshadowed by the feud between the houses of Spencer and Windsor. He said these stories put most earthly quarrels into an almost quaint perspective.
Grandparents' beliefs
Madeley recalled that when he was a child, his Shropshire-farmer grandparents quietly dismissed the "modern" notion that the sun did not circle the Earth. They firmly believed that our planet was the centre of the universe, with the sun, moon, and stars rotating around us, all formed and ordained in a single day by God.
He said they were not stupid, or Flat Earthers, but were the last generation of Old Testament adherents who deeply distrusted scientific explanations for how the universe moves. Madeley noted that these ancient mass beliefs survived right into the second half of the 20th century, even during the Swinging Sixties.
Historical revelations
Madeley traced the roots of such beliefs back to the Greek astronomer Aristarchus, who, 300 years before Christ, studied solar and lunar eclipses and realised they were not supernatural events but simple moving shadows. Aristarchus deduced that the Earth and moon circled the sun, and that stars were suns like our own, proving it with mathematics, but he was not believed. Centuries later, Copernicus came to the same conclusions and was also not really believed.
Madeley said his grandparents were still in denial barely 80 years ago, and wondered what their generation, born while Queen Victoria was alive, would have made of this week's headline: "Alien rubbish may be on the moon."
Alien theories and a new book
Scientists are theorising that if alien civilisations exist or existed and travelled into space billions of years ago, bits of their craft would have become detached, degraded, drifted through the universe, and ended up falling on the moon. Plans are now in place to sift the moon's surface dust to find them, which could provide real, tangible proof of alien civilisation.
Meanwhile, evidence is growing that an Earth-like planet revolving a distant sun similar to our own may have water, oxygen, gentle warmth, and tectonic plates like ours, conditions perfect for life. Madeley said his grandparents would have hated it, while Aristarchus would have loved it.
In a separate item, Madeley praised his Good Morning Britain colleague Laura Tobin's new book, Come Rain Or Shine, which reveals the science behind weather forecasting, the myths, the history, and some jaw-dropping stories. The book is published by New River on October 1.
Madeley also shared a letter from Mrs Anne Jones of Stalybridge in Greater Manchester, whose late father would never listen to Vera Lynn because he didn't want reminding of his war days. Mrs Jones wrote that her father used to say there was nothing worse than not knowing where you were going or if you'd survive the war, and listening to "bluebirds" and "we'll meet again" in no man's land didn't help one iota. She understood why her songs made soldiers homesick and sapped their fighting spirit.
