Captain Sir Tom Moore image in the ‘proudest of poses’ up for auction

A photograph of Captain Sir Tom Moore in the “proudest of poses” is going under the hammer.

The sale of the shot, titled Nation’s Hero, will raise money for the late fundraiser’s Foundation.

Photographer Gavin Bond took the snap for GQ magazine, where the former British Army officer was crowned “Inspiration of the Year”.

Mr Bond has now donated the print to Sotheby’s Made in Britain auction.

Sir Tom, who walked 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday, raising more than £32 million for the NHS is pictured with a union flag draped behind him like a superhero’s cape.

He holds his stick in one hand in the image, which has a £5,000 sale estimate and was taken in his garden.

Celebrity photographer Mr Bond told the PA news agency: “I wanted to show him as a superhero.

“I sourced the flag, like Superman’s cape, and that was draped over his shoulders.

“And the walker was put to one side, so he was very much standing on his own strength, with his tuxedo and with his cape on.”

Sir Tom was full of energy, he said.

“We shot the cover image first in the kitchen… and then we were going to have a break and do the other pictures.

“But he just wanted to soldier through it, just to do everything.”

He said the Second World War veteran, who died aged 100 on February 2 after testing positive for Covid-19, was very happy with the pictures.

“I remember showing him the screen (of the images). And he was like, ‘Gosh, isn’t that lovely?’ I think he felt very proud.”

Mr Bond said he was “very conscious” during the shoot of “photographing one of Britain’s treasures…

“Photographing Sir Captain Tom Moore is probably one of my proudest moments,” he added.

“I think that these, for whatever reason, will definitely go on to be historical images. As a photographer, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Mr Bond, who is known for his work with A-Listers, first met Sir Tom on the morning of the photoshoot.

“I remember going into his room where he sits in a special chair,” he said.

“I knelt down and told him about what I had planned.”

Mr Bond told Sir Tom about his idea for the GQ cover image, in which he sits in his chair with a flag draped across him.

The photograph was inspired by an American Civil War photograph of a soldier sat with a flag.

“He seemed very excited about the military reference,” Mr Bond said.

He said of the image, which is going under the hammer this month: “When I saw him in that picture, he was just standing bolt upright in this perfectly-groomed tuxedo with the most proudest of poses.

“It just felt very heroic in every way.”

All funds raised from sale of the photograph will go to The Captain Tom Foundation.

The Made in Britain sale is designed to showcase the best works from artists and makers in Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Online bidding at Sotheby’s runs from March 9 to 16.