article: The astronomer, who presented The Sky At Night for over 50 years, died at his home in Selsey, West Sussex, in December 2012. The monocle will be auctioned later at Christie's, in London. The xylophone - which he used during a Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen - is to be sold at Henry Adams Auctioneers in Chichester. Sir Patrick presented the first edition of The Sky at Night on 24 April 1957. He became famous for his habit of wearing a monocle on screen, as well as his dishevelled and idiosyncratic persona. However, he was a celebrated and gifted astronomer and wrote dozens of books, with his research being used by the US and the Soviet Union in their space programmes. The monocle has a reserve price of £500 - £800 and the xylophone £1,500 - £2,000.