The 1999 eclipse was total in the UK only in parts of Cornwall and the Channel Islands. Thousands of people (us included) headed for the several Bodmin Moor hilltops that were to experience the full Monty. We could hear singing and New Age-iferous chanting from nearby tops as well as our own as the shadow raced towards us. I think that we on Sharp Tor and some people on Alderney were almost the only people to see it from the ground. All the cliches were there: birdsong stopped, the wind dropped and it went very chilly. It went much darker than I'd expected and it was eerie to see all the surrounding countryside in bright daylight at the same time.

Patrick Moore was doing a live broadcast from Falmouth and the clouds stopped him from seeing any of it.