Fred Talbot

Fred Talbot (born December 17, 1949 in Edinburgh) is a television presenter and meteorologist, well-known for his weather forecasts for the British TV show, "This Morning" on ITV.

Early work

While a pupil at North Cestrian Grammar School in 1964 Talbot was a founding member of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, and remains involved today. He co-discovered a meteor shower - the (June Lyrids) - in June 1966.

He taught biology at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys and also recorded a weekly astronomy programme for radio. This work later extended into TV, where he presented reports on "Granada Reports", a local news programme in the north-west of England. Granada Television later commissioned Talbot to appear in a general educational science programme for children called "The Final Frontier". He remained a regular reporter for "Granada Reports" and then got a job as a TV weatherman for the ITV networks "This Morning".

"This Morning"

Until production of "This Morning" was moved from the buildings at the Albert Dock, Liverpool to London, Talbot presented weather reports from a large floating map of Great Britain and Ireland, which was located in the dock. He was forced to jump across a gap to get to the map of Ireland; crowds often gathered to watch his leap. One occasion involved a diver who swam near the map to distract Talbot, and in a memorable incident, a streaker once swam naked up to the map and jumped on.

Current work

Talbot currently presents series of regional interest for Granada Television, and occasional reports for "Granada Reports". He also also regularly appears on CITV's "Prove It!".

In early 2006 Talbot presented a programme for Granada TV called "Locks and Quays" which explored the canal system of north-west England.cite web
url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/42061
title=Locks & Quays
publisher=British Film Institute
accessdate=2008-07-09] This was followed by a second series in 2007.

To celebrate the centenary in 1907 of Alfred Wainwright, the writer of the "Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells" guidebooks, Talbot undertook a series of walks - one from each of the seven guidebooks. These were shown on Granada during the Summer of 2007 in the series "Wainwright Country".

In 2008 Fred made an unlikely new acquaintance in the shape of Jamie 'The Woolman' Barnes an English amateur boxer. Due to the two being Lancastrians or Woollybacks Barnes, a life long Talbot fan; asked Talbot to carry out his belt for his eagerly awaited rematch with Andrew 'Th'Atmosphere Burns in late 2008. When quizzed about this on Granada Tonight, Talbot in his customary upbeat manner said "Who would of thought it, old Freddy Talbot carrying out a belt...for a boxing match! Well I'm a trifle nervous but its a great honour, and Jamie's a cracking young lad"

Awards

In 2007 Talbot was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by Manchester Metropolitan University in recognition of bringing to a mass audience, through his media work, a better understanding of scientific and environmental issues in a way that is educational, interesting and entertaining. [cite web
url=http://www.sci-eng.mmu.ac.uk/news_and_events/news_view.asp?news_id=673&newso=yes
title=Fred's big day: Green Guide presenter honoured
publisher=Manchester Metropolitan University
accessdate=2008-06-21]

Legal Dispute

In September 2008 Talbot was ordered to pay back £700 to a garden designer after a £1,000 cheque he had written bounced. At the hearing at Altringham County Court Talbot maintained that the man, Rob Frier, had gone hugely over budget; while Frier asserted that he had supplied the plans in line with normal practice, and that no-one in the past had complained [Article in the Daily Telegraph "Weatherman loses garden feud":Issue no 47,675 (dated Saturday 13th September, 2008)] .

ee also

* [http://www.merseyworld.com/albert/granada/media/fred.jpgPhotograph of Fred on his floating weather map]

References

External links

*imdb|1816647|Fred Talbot