The editor of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s autobiography has said the fundraiser “packed more into the last year of his life than most of us manage in a lifetime”.
Writing on Penguin’s website, Rowland White paid tribute to Sir Tom after he died aged 100 after testing positive for coronavirus.
Sir Tom’s autobiography Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day raised funds for his charity The Captain Tom Foundation.
'He gave us something to believe in.'
A tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, from his editor Rowland White. https://t.co/qjVxz38bZY
— Penguin Books UK (@PenguinUKBooks) February 2, 2021
The bestselling book told the story of his time on the battlefields of Burma in the Second World War.
It also shared tales about him racing motorbikes competitively, how he took off for the Himalayas and Everest in his 90s because he had never been before, and his fundraising efforts for the NHS.
White said: “Tom packed more into the last year of his life than most of us manage in a lifetime.
“His year in the public eye could not have been more at odds with the life he’d led beforehand, but his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, showed us that the qualities that saw Tom inspire the country he loved had been there all along.”
White said after a deal was struck with Sir Tom, he told the publisher he had “better get writing”.
“And, true to form, he over-delivered in this in the same way he had with his walk and his fundraising,” he added.
“Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day was a No.1 bestseller. It broke more records and, more importantly, shared the wit, warmth and wisdom of a long life, well-lived.”
He said Sir Tom gave people “something to believe in”.
“Modest, stoic, determined, down-to-earth and always ready with a smile, Tom reminded us of who we were, how we wanted to be, and how we wanted to be seen,” he said.
“Tom embodied a kind of Britishness that, as we faced a threat to our lives, loves and livelihoods the like of which most of us had never experienced, felt as if it was what could see us through.”