GaraDry Sits Down With Dr Michael Fish MBE

We were delighted to be trusted by undisputed ‘national treasure’ and the UK’s most famous weather forecaster to supply some of our award-winning products.

When the call came from our colleagues that arguably the most experienced meteorological experts was interested in our garage door threshold seals, we were genuinely excited to get the view from someone who was the longest-serving broadcast meteorologist on British television. He joined the Met Office in 1962 and started on BBC Radio in 1971 moving to BBC television in 1974

He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2004.

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to personally catch up with Dr Michael Fish MBE to find out how he got so interested in the weather, what he’s up to now…and what he thinks of our garage threshold seals.

Michael kindly invited the GaraDry team to his home in Twickenham where he was installing two of our seals to discuss all things weather… give us his expert view on our garage door threshold seals…and the inside scoop on the famous 1987 storm that catapulted him to global fame.

GD: How did you first become interested in the weather?

It all started for me as a ten-year old schoolboy in Eastbourne in the 1950’s. There was a major storm in 1953 which ignited my interest in meteorology which cut a path of destruction across Eastern England, particularly East Anglia and Kent, plus the Low Countries causing absolute mayhem, injuries and even deaths. It was headlines in the news for weeks afterwards. I just had a strong curiosity even at that age in weather, its impact and how it is caused.

I joined the Met Office straight from school, which is unheard of these days, and landed a job studying and reporting on what I loved. As well as the general public being interested in the weather, I discovered that it was extremely important for airports and the military to understand and predict certain weather conditions.

GD: So, how did you become involved in broadcasting the weather reports?

Initially I was asked to broadcast on the radio from the London Weather Centre in 1972. A year later, I was asked to audition by the BBC, because the chap before me was retiring. They were looking for a suave, handsome, sophisticated individual so I thought I’d give it a go! Everybody else turned up to the audition was a boring old fart in stuffy grey suits and a received pronunciation accent. I was younger than most and wore a snazzy leather jacket and just auditioned as myself. The rest is history.

GD: Tell us about the infamous ‘storm of ‘87’ when you made headlines for ‘failing to predict a hurricane’.

When the ‘controversy’ blew up at the time I was a bit annoyed because the full story was never fully explained in the media at the time. It was a combination of factors and it was a case of two plus two equals five. I was actually referring to someone who asked me if they should postpone their holiday in Florida because there was a hurricane due and I told her not to worry about it and enjoy her trip.

In the now famous broadcast I did actually go on to warn of high winds for the UK, although the storm that actually occurred was far stronger than we had predicted, it was technically not a hurricane.

In addition, we actually had less data at the time because the French version of the Met Office were on strike so we didn’t receive the level of observations we would ordinarily have received from across the channel. There was no satellite imagery in those days so we also relied on international colleagues to feed us data to give us a bigger picture.

However, the incident catapulted me to fame and the Met Office got a new £60m supercomputer out of it in the end because it was agreed that major investment was needed in terms of technology so that the UK could lead the way in meteorology. If I had a penny every time someone mentioned it to me, I’d be a millionaire.

GD: What is your view on climate change?

MF: I’ve been lecturing students about climate change since the early days of my career – so for more than 50 years. It’s vitally important that we do something about it. The situation is getting worse and it will be a minimum of 100 years to reverse the problem even if we started now. There’s no doubt that a warming of the climate over the long term is disastrous for humanity.

It’s not just down to the UK to act. Every country in the world needs to make it a priority or, as I say, humanity is doomed as we’d all be flooded. Electric cars are a red herring. The environmental impact of manufacturing the car in the first place likely outweighs any green advantages gained in running the things.

GD: Do you miss being on TV?

Yes and no. I miss the camaraderie and the science of the job. I still follow the weather and I’m still in touch with colleagues. I even received a Christmas card from John Kettley the other day. I’m happily retired now and enjoying time with my wife of 54 years, Sue and the kids and grandchildren. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s back in 2016 so I’m not as mobile as I used to be but I have wonderful support from my family around me.

GD: Final question…what do you think about our GaraDry garage door threshold seals?

MF: I love them! The quality and design of the GaraDry products are wonderful. I have two of them in fact for two garages and they are fantastic. I love the fact they are designed in Great Britain too. I can predict with certainty that GaraDry threshold seals will protect your precious belongings in your garage from getting wet in a storm!