We asked Michael how he came to be Britain's longest serving TV weather forecaster.

"The fifth of November 1962 was a great day in the history of the Met Office as it was the day I joined! I was posted to Gatwick Airport (Fogwick Gatport as we called it) as an assistant doing such things as making the tea, plotting charts and making observations."

"I was living in Eastbourne at the time, a good hour's journey and we worked a horrendous evening, morning, night shift system, which meant that for three days I hardly got any sleep and spent the whole time either working or travelling. I also remember that I was paid the princely sum of £25 a month and that my travelling expenses were £30 a month! "

"After attending courses at our Training College in Stanmore I managed to 'fiddle' a promotion and was posted to our Headquarters at Bracknell, where I was to help in the formulation of a new numerical forecast. I hated it and no sooner did I arrive than I tried to escape..."

"I was very lucky to be awarded a place on a Sandwich Course at City University to study physics, which meant my work semesters were to be spent at The London Weather Centre. I received a posting notice that said I was detached there "for a maximum of six months". Thirty nine years later I am still in a similar department, as the BBC Weather Centre started as an offshoot of that office."

"I was fortunate to be allowed to stay on at The London Weather Centre and became proficient in forecasting for oil rigs, pigeon racing, gas and electricity supplies, transport, as well as the general public. Whilst there I had the honour of wiping out more pigeons on one day than anybody else in history (over 2000 in unexpected fog) and the largest error of 15°C in a forecast for the Gas Board!"

"After further training courses, on reaching the tender age of 28, I was allowed to make my first radio broadcast for the BBC. The shifts were even tougher than at Gatwick."

"In 1974 they were looking for new weather presenters. They were looking for someone young, handsome and well dressed! Barbara Edwards and I were 'volunteered' for the job. After several years, Barbara moved to the Met Office head quarters at Bracknell. Almost 30 years since I began, I'm still here, making me the longest serving weather broadcaster in the country (and possibly the world)."

"When I started we just did three broadcasts a day, working from ten in the morning to ten in the evening and there were only three of us. Now we cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and do well over a 100 broadcasts a day with a staff of around 20 Broadcast Meteorologists."

"I have seen numerous new styles of presentation. I gave the last one using magnetic symbols and the first using computer graphics. The magnetic symbols provided fun for many of my colleagues and it wasn't unknown for someone to creep into the studio and reverse the polarity so that during the broadcast, instead of sticking to the metal plate, the symbols would shoot off and onto the floor."

"I was the first to present satellite pictures. At the beginning they were biked over from Bracknell and had the coastline drawn on by felt-tip pen. They were clipped to a music stand with broken magnetic strips and pointed at using a knitting needle from the Co-op!"

"In 1984 the magnetic symbols gave way to a very sophisticated BBC computer graphics system and for the first time we were able to input and show products derived from the Met Office Supercomputer, then at Bracknell. The BBC graphics system has been updated on several occasions and will be replaced, next year, by an 'all singing and dancing' new one."

"Of course there have been memorable moments along the way. If I had a penny for every time the 'Hurricane' clip had been broadcast I would be a millionaire. Over the years many colleagues have come and gone. Jack Scott, Bill Giles, Ian McCaskill and Suzanne Charlton to name but a few."

"I have also had some proud moments not least of all being awarded an MBE this year which followed hard on the heals of the TRIC Award for 'Weather Presenter of the year', an Honorary degree from the City University, Freedom of the City of London, Worst Dressed Man on Television quickly followed by the Best Dressed Man on Television."

"I shall be sad to leave. I won't miss getting up at four in the morning, or all the night shifts, but I will miss doing a worthwhile job that can often save lives and which certainly is influential to the day to day running of the country and peoples lives. It is estimated that the Met Office saves this country hundreds of millions of pounds a year and I am proud to have been part of it."