BBC Weather Forecasts: Not existing?

[Paul Cooksley]

Hi all

I was re-watching that awful "Best 80's TV Moments" on Channel 5 last night, when I wondered, in light of Micheal Fish's comments, what exists of weather forecasts during the 60's/70's and 80's?

Obviously, they hold little relevance for future re-broadcast (of course!) but just curious as I thought often they might be tagged on to news broadcasts that might have been kept?

Just in case you didn't see the programme, Micheal Fish was complaining that BBC weather forecasts were "never recorded" and the exisiting off air dub of that famous October 1987 forecast was "tampered with" to omit some sentences/phrases in order to make him look incompetent!!!

As I say, just got me wondering roughly what the policy was on recording forecasts etc - even in the 80's?

Cheers for any help

[Andy Howells]

Not sure, but there appears to be the odd one that surfaces from time to time and there seems to be loads that appear on YouTube that people recorded at home and kept...

[Deleted]

I'm not sure what the policy is these days about recording them is concerned (although I imagine a few representative samples are recorded, both by the BBC and NFTVA, as we do see broadcast standard examples used in documentaries from time to time). As regards the '60s and before, there are a fair few examples on various telerecordings of live programmes over the years, before and after the item in question, along with bits of continuity. I presume this happened in the '70s onwards too - when live programmes were recorded as they went out - by which time they were going onto VT. Probably the least represented period would be from about 1968 - 1971, when the policy was changed to recording live programmes as a direct feed rather than from the actual transmission output (fortunately this policy was changed again before too long!) I'm sure Andrew Martin can fill in more details if he's reading this though - Andrew?

[Andrew Doherty]

I can't answer for Andrew Martin, but this particular Andrew knows that there is a Bert Ford weather broadcast from the early 1960s along with a few others, if I remember correctly. Here is one:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juob_O4gRd8

There are some from the 1970s such as the following with Jack Scott:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPGGcXk4rMk

I believe some recordings exist of the first ever BBC female weather forecaster, Barbara Edwards (circa 1978) . There is even an off screen continuity announcer giving the weather forecast for the evening November 22nd 1963:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GPs3EtCNwI

As for the following two, who need no introduction, there are these 1970s clips:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhoUq6PSJJE

Yours,

[Jeff Lewis]

Is there something significant that November 22nd 1963 was the day Kennedy was shot? The BBC may have kept the weather as part of a larger broadcast. I'm a bit young but I believe the schedules of both BBC and ITV kept shutting down and then started up again.

[Andy Howells]

I've read that too, I think theres an interesting article on it somewhere on the Transdiffusion website, I'm not aware though of any TV Channel keeping any announcements from November 22nd 1963 though it would make interesting viewing if something was out there...

[Andrew Doherty]

Aug 13, 2008 19:06:06 GMT Jeff Lewis said:

Is there something significant that November 22nd 1963 was the day Kennedy was shot? The BBC may have kept the weather as part of a larger broadcast. I'm a bit young but I believe the schedules of both BBC and ITV kept shutting down and then started up again.

Aug 13, 2008 19:38:53 GMT Andy Howells said:

I've read that too, I think theres an interesting article on it somewhere on the Transdiffusion website, I'm not aware though of any TV Channel keeping any announcements from November 22nd 1963 though it would make interesting viewing if something was out there...

The earliest (BBC News 'special report') television newsflash is John Roberts reading the news on the JFK Assassination.

Over the decades I had never viewed any recorded British Television news broadcast about the JFK Assassination from the evening of Friday, November 22nd, 1963; it had always been an American Television news broadcast that had been used on various documentaries.

Then, in 2004, to my amazement, the John Roberts news report was shown in the second of three programmes celebrating the 50th anniversary of BBC Television News.

There is a Granada news programme from the same evening that is in existence.

Yours,

[johnstewart]

Aug 12, 2008 18:50:40 GMT Paul Cooksley said:

Hi all

I was re-watching that awful "Best 80's TV Moments" on Channel 5 last night, when I wondered, in light of Micheal Fish's comments, what exists of weather forecasts during the 60's/70's and 80's?

Obviously, they hold little relevance for future re-broadcast (of course!) but just curious as I thought often they might be tagged on to news broadcasts that might have been kept?

Just in case you didn't see the programme, Micheal Fish was complaining that BBC weather forecasts were "never recorded" and the exisiting off air dub of that famous October 1987 forecast was "tampered with" to omit some sentences/phrases in order to make him look incompetent!!!

As I say, just got me wondering roughly what the policy was on recording forecasts etc - even in the 80's?

Cheers for any help

Unless Michael was talking about his own he was mistaken; albeit its not widely known information.

During the 60s there were a number of live programmes the BBC forwarded instructions to telerecord off air. These included segments of 'Grandstand' and the funeral of Sir Winstin Churchill amongst others. It's one such occasion that accounts for the interrupting newsflash on the death of Richard Dimbleby surviving.

I think Andrew Martin has stated that the BBC specifically recorded samples of news broadcasts in the mid 1960s. On many of these the recording was left to run right through the weather and public information film to the link to the next programme.

In addition to these recordings some home VT off air links have come to light from the 1966 and 68 periods I believe.

For the 1970s; I recall seeing or reading about recordings of various
weather mens auditions such as Jack Scott.

Up until 1982 there was a large proportion of daytime BBC TV which was going out live and not being recorded. Following this there does not seem to have been any policy to record links regularly off air by either channels thus nor the waether forecasts.

However there would be a VHS example probably of the Fish one shown as I know the NFA had been recording daytime links since 1982 for that reason; to preserve broadcasting in action.

The only other versions would either be those on home tapers videotapes; again VHS or perhaps weathermen like Fishs own examples for posterity taped off air.

In todays British society we have DVD recorders; so obviously any timer recordings including weather chosen to be kept will in future contain DVD; and presumably broadcast; quality examples.

[Steve Williams]

Aug 13, 2008 18:42:30 GMT Andrew Doherty said:

I believe some recordings exist of the first ever BBC female weather forecaster, Barbara Edwards (circa 1978) .

Well, there's certainly footage of Barbara Edwards doing the weather during the February 1974 General Election, as it was screened on BBC Parliament. She was actually in the election studio, with her maps over Bob McKenzie's charts, hence why it was kept.

In other election repeats there was also footage of Graham Parker doing the weather in 1970, Michael Fish in October 1974 and Ian McCaskill (in the evening) and Jack Scott (during the morning, but not at lunchtime as they can't find him) in 1979.