Captain Sir Tom Moore was nothing short of a hero; the centenarian served his country in WW2, and in his last year raised millions for the NHS.
MKFM first heard about Captain Tom in April 2020, and was one of the first organisations to report on his fundraising campaign. He wanted to raise £1,000 for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine.
Michael Blades interviewed Captain Tom's daughter, Hannah, about their goal - which at the time seemed quite ambitious!
But this £1,000 target was quickly met, and soon was raised to £10,000. National media caught wind of this man's inspirational walk for the NHS, and the money kept rolling in.
The nation soon fell in love with Captain Tom and everything he stood for; he was branded a national treasure, and a beacon of hope and resilience during a very dark time.
He became a household name, and reached £1 million in donations. Money was being donated every second of the day, from all around the world. He reached £10m, £20m... and it didn't stop there.
Captain Tom's fundraising walk raised £38 million for the NHS.
Whilst doing this, he united the nation and gave us something to smile about. The WW2 veteran was given a special Pride of Britain Award, and knighted by the Queen at Windsor Castle in her first face-to-face royal engagement since the pandemic began.
He started The Captain Tom Foundation, a charity that will continue his legacy whilst supporting a number of good causes to "inspire hope".
Sir Captain Tom released a charity single alongside Michael Ball - and he was number one in the charts!
More recently, he and his family signed a movie deal meaning that a multi-million-pound film about his life is in the making.
This all happened in the final year of his life, after he turned 100 years old.
A month before his death, Sir Captain Tom completed his life-long dream of travelling to Barbados with his family.
He returned from Barbados on 6th January, and was admitted to Bedford Hospital with pneumonia on 12th January.
Sir Captain Tom received multiple negative COVID-19 tests during his 10-day stay in hospital, but returned home on 22nd January with a positive test result.
He was taken to hospital on 31st January for help with his breathing, and passed away on 2nd February.
His family spent the last hours speaking to him on Facetime, reminiscing about his life and his legacy.
And now, let us look back at Captain Tom's life before he became a household name...
Thomas Moore was born on 30 April 1920 in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
He attended grammar school and got an apprenticeship in civil engineering before war broke out in 1939 when he was 19.
The teenager enlisted in the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment and was stationed hundreds of miles away from his home in Cornwall.
He was selected for officer training in 1940 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June 1941.
In October that year he became a member of the Royal Armoured Corps and was transferred to the 9th Battalion in India, where he spent time in both Mumbai and Kolkata and took part in the Battle of Ramree Island.
His military career continued to progress during the war, with promotions to war-lieutenant in 1942 and captain in 1944.
He was posted to Arakan in Western Myanmar and later to Sumatra after Japan surrendered.
On his return to the UK he worked as an instructor at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Bovington, Dorset.
After his first marriage, Captain Sir Tom married his wife Pamela in January 1968.
They went on to have two daughters Lucy and Hannah, who they raised in Welney, Norfolk.
In later life the couple retired to the Costa del Sol in Spain, but had to return to the UK when Pamela was diagnosed with dementia and moved to a nursing home. She died in 2006.
Two years later he moved in with his daughter Hannah, her husband and two of his grandchildren in Bedfordshire.
And the rest is history.
