For the 1999 solar eclipse, you had three choices if you wanted to see it. The first was to look directly at the sun and take a chance at burning your retina (some people glimpsed for less than a second anyway and luckily that doesn’t seem to have done any long term damage). The second was to take a piece of cardboard, punch a hole in it and project an image of the eclipsed sun onto the ground. The third choice was the one I opted for, watch it on TV!
I decided to check out the coverage on all the cable channels and see what each one had to offer. I started off with the BBC and live shots from a Harrier Jump Jet above cloud cover gave us the first views of the eclipse. The Pet Shop Boys made a brief appearance with some special music they had composed for watching the eclipse.
We also had the familiar face of Sky at Night’s Patrick Moore, who was live from Cornwall, one of the first places in the UK to see the eclipse. Unfortunately, the scientific coverage was interrupted by Phillipa Forrester, standing around looking a bit cold and miserable, who was bringing us some of the “human interest” eclipse stories. Yawn. Still, at least it wasn’t as weird as the Channel Four coverage! The people on the Big Breakfast were talking to a new age traveller woman who was worshipping an eight-foot-high wire and papier maché effigy of the divine feminine for the occasion. Riiiight! Time to switch over to Euro News on TG4, who had a fairly dull commentary but some interesting eclipse shots from England.
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