Bert Foord

The late Bert Foord joined the Met Office in 1947 and worked on Atlantic weather ships (1953-56), at Eskdalemuir Observatory (1950-53), in the Maldives (1975-76), in Germany (1979-84), and as principal forecaster with HQ Strike Command from 1984 until his retirement in 1990.

He was a BBC TV forecaster from 1963 to December 1973. He was involved in TV coverage of the Apollo space programme with Cliff Michelmore and Patrick Moore and warned of the lightning which struck Apollo 12. He appeared as King Lear in a satirical `Celebrity Shakespeare' series with Esther Rantzen as Portia and DJ Emperor Rosko as Henry V.

Years after he stopped broadcasting a "Bring Back Bert Foord" campaign was launched on radio by Terry Wogan, who was convinced the weather had deteriorated since his departure. On Whit Monday, May 1973, he achieved the distinction of being Roy Plomley's guest on Radio 4's `Desert Island Discs'. He died in July 2001.