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Michael Fish MBE DSc FRMetS

Written by Michael Fish Tuesday, 24 November 2009 15:22

Britain’s (and possibly the World’s!) longest-serving TV weather forecaster, Michael Fish was born in Eastbourne in 1944, and educated at Eastbourne College. On joining the Meteorological Office in November 1962, his first posting was to Gatwick Airport. In 1965 he transferred, on promotion, to the Met Office headquarters in Bracknell to work on research projects. Between 1966 and 1968, while based at the London Weather Centre, he took a sandwich course in Applied Physics at the City University.

Michael Fish’s broadcasting career began in 1971 when he started forecasting for BBC Radio and in January 1974 he became part of BBC Television’s weather team.

Made famous by the ‘Hurricane’ in 1987, he was compulsorily retired from the Met Office in 2004 but is still presenting the weather on BBC Southeast. He has made many appearances on television and radio shows, ranging from light entertainment to factual programmes. Recently he tried his hand at acting, touring with “The Play What I Wrote” and received rave reviews. He has also been involved in the training of television weathermen in various African countries. He has written numerous articles on travel and weather, has acted as a consultant for several meteorological books and is increasingly in demand as an informative and entertaining after-dinner speaker and lecturer. He is currently preparing for the 20th anniversary of the ‘Great Storm’ by way of books, TV and radio programmes.
In 1985 the punk group Rachel and Nicki released a record dedicated to him called "I wish, I wish he was like Michael Fish". This was featured on the 'Wogan' programme but did not reach the charts. Some years later he did reach the 'Top Ten' when featured on the 'John Kettley is a Weatherman' single.
In December 1996, Michael was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the City University, London, and in August 1997, he was granted the Freedom of the City of London. Michael was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2004 and in July 2005 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Exeter University.

In March 2004 Michael won the award for Best Weather Presenter at the TRIC (Television and Radio Industries Club) Awards and was declared a ‘National Treasure’ by the National Press.

Several years ago he was voted both the 'Worst Dressed' and the 'Best Dressed' man on television. More recently he has been acknowledged 4 times as 'Tie-man of the Year' in recognition of his ‘trade mark’ Fish motive ties, which he always wears.

He is Patron of several charities, including Age Concern.

Michael, who lives in Middlesex, is married to Susan and has two daughters, Alison and Nicola. A Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, his hobbies include travel, food and wine and being a grumpy old man.

Although he "retired" from National TV in 2005 Michael likes to keep his hand in. So in amongst his many other interests he finds the time to work in broadcast meteorology on BBC South East TV from Royal Tunbridge Wells.