Gary Taylor kindly sent his report on the event to brianmay.com
8 September 2009
On Saturday 5th September about 250 people queued outside the Palace Theatre in Paignton here in Devon in the south west area of England to buy autographed copies of the paperback version and third edition of the best selling book BANG! – The Complete History Of The Universe.
All three authors attended the launch, arriving separately, with Brian being the last to arrive due to the busy roads.
We were very lucky with the weather and although it was cloudy the rain kept off until after the doors had opened just after 2.30pm.
For the first group of people who had been standing outside for at least two hours prior to the event starting, the doors opened to much relief and joy as aching legs prevailed. During this time the crowds were all happy and good humoured some even breaking out into Queen songs.
As we entered the lobby of the Theatre we could buy as many books as we wanted for £20 each including a specially made 3D ‘planets’ book mark for this edition.
A small group at a time were lead into a small conference room as Chris Lintott, Patrick Moore and Brian were seated behind a table, ready with marker pens for this signing session.
At the start we were told that the authors would only be signing their names and that no dedications or individual photos with them would be allowed.
Chris was all smiles, chatty and extremely happy to sign anything in the book. Sir Patrick was sat in a wheelchair and aided by his nurse and helper managed to sign the books, but was very quietly spoken and not as able as he was. Brian was his usual polite, happy and approachable self and signed his name anywhere in the book, chatted, answered peoples questions and did pose with you for a photo or two.
This was a very special day to meet the three authors of probably the best book on the market, and about the passion of Astronomy that they all share.
With thanks