Michael Fish

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Michael Fish making his last BBC Weather forecast on 6th October 2004

Michael Fish (born April 27, 1944 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England) is a retired weather forecaster, most known for his BBC Weather television presentations, although he was actually employed by the Met Office.

A graduate of City University, London, Fish was the longest serving weather presenter on British television, taking up the role in 1974. He came under significant, but largely unfounded, public criticism in the wake of the Great Storm of 1987; a few hours before the storm broke, on 15 October 1987, he said during a forecast: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!".

That evening, the worst storm to hit South East England since 1703 caused record damages and killed 19 people.

In fact, Fish's comment about the hurricane was referring to Florida^[1], in a link to a news story that preceded the weather bulletin about destruction in the Caribbean: he was seeking to reassure somebody who was travelling to Florida, but the edited clip, taken out of context, has been repeated so often that it has become famous as a "bungled" forecast. Fish did go on to warn of high winds for the UK, warning viewers to "batten down the hatches", although the storm that actually occurred was far stronger than predicted (albeit, technically, not a hurricane). Fifteen years later he commented that if he was given a penny for every mention of that forecast, he would be a millionaire.

Much like his colleague, John Kettley, Fish has obscurely featured in popular music - he appears prominently in The Prodigy's Weather Experience on their first album.

When presenting the weather, he would normally wear a tie bearing a fish motif, though often the motif would be hidden inside his jacket or was too small to show up on television. Fish appealed to the British public by way of his gloomy prognoses. For example on 8 July 2001 he announced the end of summer: "it's autumn's turn".

Fish was awarded the MBE in 2004 for services to broadcasting. He announced his retirement from forecasting and he made his final forecast on October 6, 2004 on the BBC Ten O'Clock News bulletin. Michael Fish was also awarded a honorary degree by Exeter University in the summer of 2005.