Captain Tom's Number One

Thomas Moore has just become the oldest person ever to top the singles charts in the UK. He beat the sixty-eight year old Tom Jones by over thirty years; Tom is ninety-nine. The Rogers and Hammerstein cover of You'll Never Walk Alone by Captain Tom and Michael Ball has raised twenty-eight million pounds for various welfare schemes in the NHS. (The HPWA is not officially registered as a charity and so will receive nothing, although I do not ask for anything.) Captain Tom turns one hundred years old next Thursday so he will be still be at number one for at least one day into his second century. He also has successfully completed a sponsored walk; one hundred laps of his garden, a twenty-seven yard circuit. This makes just over one and a half miles. Quite an achievement for a man of his age who cannot walk without a wheeled zimmer. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52415966. The title of the song is ironic of course considering the social distancing rules currently enforced. Tom has lived a rich and varied life. He was an army officer who served in World War II and afterwards ran a concrete mixing company and raced motorcycles. When he finished the last lap of his walk there was a guard of honour from his old regiment to greet him. As an NHS veteran myself of twenty-three years, I'm deeply touched by Captain Tom, Michael Ball and everybody who has supported the NHS. I say that mourning the loss of my colleagues, see: http://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2020/04/ive-lost-another-brother.html and: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2020/04/ive-lost-two-brothers.html. I know some people reading this believe that what Captain Tom did was a staged publicity stunt as part of coronavirus disinformation conspiracy. There is a coronavirus conspiracy, but this is not a part of it.