Captain Tom ‘would have loved’ new book about incredible lockdown heroes, says daughter

New children’s illustrated book ‘One Hundred Reasons to Hope’ tells 100 stories from the last 18 months

Captain Sir Tom Moore would have ‘loved’ the book One Hundred Reasons To Hope, his daughter said. (Joe Giddens/ PA) (PA Wire)

Captain Sir Tom Moore would have been pleased to read a new children’s illustrated book celebrating people who did “incredible things” during the Covid-19 pandemic, his daughter has said.

Hannah Ingram-Moore, who wrote the foreword for the book, One Hundred Reasons to Hope, said she spoke with her father about the idea for the book during a family holiday to Barbados in December.

The book tells 100 stories from the last 18 months, from the dancing binmen of Wolverhampton to students volunteering on the frontline.

Ingram-Moore, who also did the reading for the audiobook, told the PA news agency: “When we were on that amazing trip to Barbados I sat with him and went through the proofing of Life Lessons, which was that last book that was directly his.

“As we were sitting there talking as a family he never failed to be just truly in awe of those who were inspired by what he felt was just one simple small thing.

“They looked at him and were inspired to do incredible things, and we felt we needed to capture that so it didn’t get lost.”

She said the stories that brought her father the “greatest joy” were of children “going above and beyond the difficulties that they had and doing spectacular things”.

“He loved it and he would have loved reading this book,” she said. “To him they were all heroes, all of them.

“He always said ‘all I did was one small step, everyone else is doing all these incredible things’.”

Captain Tom captured the nation’s hearts during the first national coronavirus lockdown when he walked 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday to raise money for the NHS.

He went on to raise nearly £33m in aid of the NHS’s charitable wing, NHS Charities Together, as part of an overall £150m collected for the fund as part of its Covid-19 Urgent Appeal.

Captain Tom died with coronavirus in Bedford Hospital on 2 February. The Queen led tributes to him, “recognising the inspiration he provided for the whole nation and others across the world”.

One Hundred Reasons to Hope goes on sale on Thursday, with a £1 donation to the Captain Tom Foundation for all hardback print sales in the UK and Ireland.

Additional reporting by PA