A World War Two veteran whose efforts to help the UK’s National Health Service have touched the hearts of millions is to celebrate his 100th birthday with a fanfare that a month ago he would never have dreamed possible.
On Thursday, instead of the quiet celebration that Captain Tom Moore had been expecting under coronavirus lockdown restrictions, an RAF flypast will provide an aerial salute in the skies above his home in Marston, Bedfordshire.
Exact details have not been revealed for operational reasons but also, as the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said on Tuesday, it was “meant to be a surprise for Tom”.
Mr Shapps stepped in after the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar in Kent revealed that its planned Mark 9 Spitfire flypast had been denied permission by the Department for Transport because it was non-essential aviation travel. News reports also cited fears that it might attract crowds.
Meanwhile, more than 125,000 birthday cards have been sent, including tributes from England football captain Harry Kane and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to a school in Bedford where Captain Moore’s grandson, Benjie Ingram-Moore, is a pupil.
Benjie, 16, has taken over card-opening duties, enlisting the help of others at the school in the enormous undertaking. More than 140 staff, parents, pupils and former students have spent 1,750 hours opening each and every one.
Hugh Maltby, the director of Bedford School Association, told Sky News: "Benjie has been such an inspiration in his grandfather's campaign that we wanted to offer a way of giving back.”
A record breaker
More cards are expected to arrive in coming days, and will - along with any other mail posted in the UK this week - be stamped with a special postmark that says: "Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore, NHS fundraising hero, 30th April 2020."
Just four weeks ago, Captain Moore decided to raise some money for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden in gratitude for treatment he had received by medical workers for cancer and a broken hip.
With the aid of a walking frame, he set off with the goal of reaching £1,000 before his 100th birthday on April 30. He has so far raised almost £30 million.
Video footage of his effort hit a nerve with the British public living under tight restrictions, including a lockdown, to try to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers, in the UK as in other countries, are widely seen as the frontline force against the coronavirus.
The astonishing feat has inspired an outpouring of love for the retired army officer and company director, who was born in West Yorkshire. He has been given the Freedom of Keighley and the Pride of Britain award, murals and paintings have been created in his image, and all manner of things now bear his name from buses to the newest puppy recruit with the West Midlands Police.
It also broke a Guinness World Record for the largest funds raised for an individual walk, the framed certificate for which will hang nicely next to the one that he has just received for being the oldest person to have a Number 1 single in the UK charts.
Captain Moore’s duet of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with Michael Ball will still be topping the chart on Sunday, making him the first centenarian ever to have done so. It has sold more than 82,000 copies, raising even more funds for NHS Charities Together.
Now, an online petition set up by Sonia Wilson, an NHS midwife, calling for Captain Moore to be knighted has attracted more than 950,000 signatures. The petition, on Change.org, says: "I know how much his fundraising and support means on the ground. And how much it means to staff during this awful pandemic. He deserves to be knighted. Please sign to make it happen."
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The%20specs
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Profile box
Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
England 12-man squad for second Test
v West Indies which starts Thursday: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jack Leach
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH STATS
Wolves 0
Aston Villa 1 (El Ghazi 90 4' pen)
Red cards: Joao Moutinho (Wolves); Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa)
Man of the match: Emi Martinez (Aston Villa)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
