Fred Talbot
Encyclopedia
Frederick "Fred" Talbot (born 17 December 1949) is a Scottish
-born British television presenter
and meteorologist, well-known for his weather forecasts for the British TV show This Morning
on ITV
.
Currently he is a weather forecaster for the Granada region
and continues his long running Where's Fred segment on Granada Reports
.
, at the time in Cheshire
, he was a pupil at North Cestrian Grammar School
, and 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, in 1984, extended into TV, where he presented reports on Granada Reports
, a local news programme in North West 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 prior to, in 1988, accepting a position as a TV weatherman for the ITV network's 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 the British isles
, which was located in the dock. He was forced to jump across a gap to go back and forth between Ireland and Britain
; crowd
s 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.
In 1998 Talbot was named 'Weatherman of the year' at the Annual International Weather Festival in Paris.
Talbot currently (February 2009 – present) presents weather forecasts for ITV Granada and also occasionally provides cover for the ITV Central region. Talbot also does occasional reports for Granada Reports, including a Tuesday evening Where's Fred feature where viewers have to guess which city, town or village Fred has been out and about in. Additionally, he also regularly appears on CITV
's Prove It!
where he demonstrates to children how to use simple home items to perform various fun and interesting experiments.
Talbot has presented various regional programs for the ITV Granada region since 1985. His programs have got up to 35% of the audience share during prime time.
In early 2006 Talbot presented a regional series for ITV Granada called Locks and Quays which explored the canal system of North West England. This was followed by a second series in 2007. However, this was presented by Matthew Corbett
.
To celebrate the centenary in 2007 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 ITV Granada during the summer of 2007 in the series Wainwright Country. This was repeated on Discovery Realtime under the name 'British Walks with Fred Talbot'. Talbot's series 'Locks and Quays' was also shown nationally to satellite and cable viewers on Discovery Realtime.
In December 2010 and March 2011, Talbot acted as guest weather forecaster on ITV's Daybreak breakfast programme filling in for regular presenters Lucy Verasamy
and Kirsty McCabe
.
Talbot is also a popular after dinner speaker.
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.
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.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-born British television presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and meteorologist, well-known for his weather forecasts for the British TV show This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
Currently he is a weather forecaster for the Granada region
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
and continues his long running Where's Fred segment on Granada Reports
Granada Reports
Granada Reports is the flagship regional news programme of ITV franchisee Granada, presented by Tony Morris and Lucy Meacock, and serving the North West of England and the Isle of Man....
.
Career
Brought up in AltrinchamAltrincham
Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...
, at the time in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, he was a pupil at North Cestrian Grammar School
North Cestrian Grammar School
North Cestrian Grammar School is an independent grammar school located in Altrincham.The headmaster is currently David Vanstone.The school motto is "Delapsus resurgam" from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, reflecting the school's founding ethos to provide opportunities for pupils to better...
, and in 1964 Talbot was a founding member of the Altrincham and District Astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
Society, and remains involved today. He co-discovered a meteor shower
Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...
, the June Lyrids, in June 1966.
He taught biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
Altrincham Grammar School For Boys
-Admissions:The school is non-fee paying with admission via an entrance exam. It had foundation school status which allowed a degree of independence from the local education authority, but from 2011 under the UK Government's Free School Programme it attained Academy status.-Foundation:The school...
and also recorded a weekly astronomy programme for radio. This work later, in 1984, extended into TV, where he presented reports on Granada Reports
Granada Reports
Granada Reports is the flagship regional news programme of ITV franchisee Granada, presented by Tony Morris and Lucy Meacock, and serving the North West of England and the Isle of Man....
, a local news programme in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
. Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
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 prior to, in 1988, accepting a position as a TV weatherman for the ITV network's This Morning.
Until production of This Morning was moved from the buildings at the Albert Dock
Albert Dock
The Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses in Liverpool, England. Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick, it was opened in 1846, and was the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood...
, Liverpool to London, Talbot presented weather reports from a large floating map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
of the British isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, which was located in the dock. He was forced to jump across a gap to go back and forth between Ireland and Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
; crowd
Crowd
A crowd is a large and definable group of people, while "the crowd" is referred to as the so-called lower orders of people in general...
s 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
Streaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
once swam naked up to the map and jumped on.
In 1998 Talbot was named 'Weatherman of the year' at the Annual International Weather Festival in Paris.
Talbot currently (February 2009 – present) presents weather forecasts for ITV Granada and also occasionally provides cover for the ITV Central region. Talbot also does occasional reports for Granada Reports, including a Tuesday evening Where's Fred feature where viewers have to guess which city, town or village Fred has been out and about in. Additionally, he also regularly appears on CITV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
's Prove It!
Prove It!
Prove It! is an educational children's TV series presented by Joe Challands and Jamie Rickers. It is an entertainment programme focusing on the illustration of scientific facts, while raising the question of whether a certain claim can be empirically verified. The programme can usually be seen on...
where he demonstrates to children how to use simple home items to perform various fun and interesting experiments.
Talbot has presented various regional programs for the ITV Granada region since 1985. His programs have got up to 35% of the audience share during prime time.
In early 2006 Talbot presented a regional series for ITV Granada called Locks and Quays which explored the canal system of North West England. This was followed by a second series in 2007. However, this was presented by Matthew Corbett
Matthew Corbett
Matthew Corbett is an English television personality best known for The Sooty Show and laterly Sooty and Co. He is the son of Harry Corbett...
.
To celebrate the centenary in 2007 of Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
, the writer of the Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells of the Lake District in northwest England...
guidebooks, Talbot undertook a series of walks – one from each of the seven guidebooks. These were shown on ITV Granada during the summer of 2007 in the series Wainwright Country. This was repeated on Discovery Realtime under the name 'British Walks with Fred Talbot'. Talbot's series 'Locks and Quays' was also shown nationally to satellite and cable viewers on Discovery Realtime.
In December 2010 and March 2011, Talbot acted as guest weather forecaster on ITV's Daybreak breakfast programme filling in for regular presenters Lucy Verasamy
Lucy Verasamy
Lucy Verasamy is a weather forecaster and environment correspondent for Daybreak on ITV. From 2005 until September 2010, she worked for Sky News as a weather forecaster.-Early life:...
and Kirsty McCabe
Kirsty McCabe
Kirsty McCabe is a Scottish weather forecaster working for Daybreak.-Early life:While at high school McCabe was an early member of the Palace Youth Theatre which was a joint venture between Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council and Borderline Theatre Company...
.
Talbot is also a popular after dinner speaker.
Awards
In 2007 Talbot was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of ScienceDoctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
by Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
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.
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 Altrincham County CourtCounty Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...
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.