He played a leading role in helping generations of stargazers discover the wonders of space - but never even had an obituary.

The dedication of amateur astronomer George Hole helped bring outer space into the living rooms of the nation years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

Over the years, numerous pictures of a world millions of miles away were broadcast from his garden in Patcham for viewers of the BBC programme The Sky At Night.

He made telescopes at his workshop in Brighton, with customers including the Queen, the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

But the father of three shunned the limelight and his legacy was in danger of being lost forever following his death in 1986, aged 73.

Now, thanks to the team at Foredown Tower in Portslade and The Argus, Mr Hole's contribution to astronomy will no longer go unrecognised.

Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company this week unveiled the latest vehicle to join its fleet and revealed it would be named after the modest astronomer.

Mr Hole's delighted daughter Georgie and son Maurice said their father would have been astound-ed to have a bus named after him.

Georgie, who still lives in Brighton, said: "My father would never have believed he would be in the same company as some of the other people whose names are on the front of the buses - people he admired."

Mr Hole, who was raised in an orphanage, was completely self-taught but his ground-breaking photographs of the moon, taken through his garden telescope 40 years ago, are still captivating generations of school children visiting Foredown Tower in Portslade.

Foredown astronomer Mike Feist, whose research into Mr Hole's career was kick-started through an article in The Argus, said: "George did a lot to put Brighton on the map and we are very pleased he has been commemorated in this way because astronomers don't usually get any sort of recognition."

Bus company managing director Roger French said: "We are delighted to honour George Hole by putting his name on the front of one of our buses."