George Cowling

George Cowling (born 1921/2 in Yorkshire) was the BBC's first television weatherman.

He joined the Met Office in 1939, at the start of World War II, stationed as a meteorological assistant with No. 4 Bomber Group, RAF Yorkshire.

First weatherman

Until 1953, Cowling worked as a forecaster for the RAF, working in England, Normandy, Belgium, Holland and Germany. In 1954 he was transferred to the London Weather Centre. On January 11, 1954, at the age of 32, George Cowling gave the first televised weather forecast, from the BBC's Lime Grove Studios, at 7.55pm. The forecast was filmed using 'in vision', with Cowling standing in front of the weather map, using a pencil and rubber to show the weather for the next day. He informed the viewing public that "tomorrow would be rather windy, a good day to hang out the washing". ^{[http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-english-weather/biography/the-basics-finished]}

The first ever dedicated weather presentation, featuring Cowling, was given five minutes, rather than the previous few seconds, and the bulletin was described in the "Radio Times":

:"From Monday onwards the television weather report and forecast will be presented by a Meteorological Office forecaster who will explain and comment on the charts shown. The change is designed to stress the continuity of the reports provided; the forecaster will show, for example, how the weather expected tomorrow is conditioned by the weather experienced today."

Career

Cowling continued to present the weather bulletins for the BBC until 1957, alongside Tom Clifton.

In February 1957, he joined RAF Bomber Command. He operated in Singapore, Malta, Bahrain and Germany, before leaving the RAF to work as a senior instructor at the Met Office College, and then as principal forecaster at Heathrow Airport.

Retirement

In 1981, Cowling retired from the Met Office, and worked for five years before retiring for a marine engineering firm, as a meteorology consultant. His hobbies include golf - he is a member of Burnham Beeches Golf Club along with fellow former BBC weathermen Jack Scott and the late Bert Foord.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/georgecowling.shtml Biography of George Cowling] from the BBC. Accessed 20 December 2006.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39705000/rm/_39705823_sun_vi.ram A video interview with George Cowling] from the BBC. Accessed 20 December 2006.
* [http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-english-weather/biography/the-bbc-weather-forecast The BBC weather forecast] on www.icons.org.uk. Accessed 20 December 2006.