Entertainment
It’s been 35 years since Michael Fish failed to predict Great Storm of 1987 in now iconic hurricane report-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
It was the worst storm in 300 years.
It’s been a whole 35 years since the broadcaster failed to predict one of the biggest storms (Picture: REX/YouTube/BBC)
Would you believe us if we said it’s 35 years since Michael Fish’s iconic hurricane report?
Well, it has been – 35 years since the famous weather reporter solidified his status as a presenting icon amid the Great Storm of October 1987.
If memes were a thing back in the 1980s, this Sussex-born forecaster, now 78, would have been one, as there’s no doubt his weather report would’ve gone viral.
To refresh your memory, Fish’s infamous weather report involved him wrongly denying claims that a storm was going to hit Britain.
Hours after he confidently said no hurricane was approaching, 22 people died as a result of a cyclone in the UK, France, and Channel Islands.
The storm caused £2billion worth of damage after gusts of wind reached 134mph, in what was later branded the worst storm in more than 300 years.
Instead of foreseeing the chaotic storm that wreaked havoc across the UK, Fish simply stated that it would be ‘very windy in Spain.’
Despite warning of high winds for the UK, the storm that occurred was far stronger than he had predicted, even if it wasn’t technically a hurricane.
He said on air at the time: ‘Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way… well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t!’
Michael Fish became one of TV’s most famous weather reporters (Picture: In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)
However, he later revealed in a BBC interview that the so-called concerned viewer didn’t exist, and he made up the line as he thought it made for a good opener for the forecast.
Around the time of the 30th anniversary of the calamitous report, Fish also said he was misquoted following his gaffe.
‘It’s a myth that we didn’t know it was coming, that there was no mention of high winds, that I was the only one that got it wrong the woman that rang the BBC – there wasn’t a wasn’t a woman at all actually – and that it was a hurricane.’
The Great Storm of 1987 was the worst storm to hit England since the Great Storm of 1703 (Picture: Reading Post/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Fish’s reports of the storm merely being a bit windy were spectacularly wrong (Picture: Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
There were 22 casualties in the UK, France, and Channel Islands following the disaster (Picture: Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Fish also commented after the infamous event that if he were given a penny for every time someone mentioned that forecast to him, he would be a millionaire.
Following the historic broadcast, Fish’s name became synonymous with inaccurate weather reports, only leading to embarrassment for the now-retired star.
The former presenter said life was ‘pretty horrendous’ as his ‘unfortunate remark’ meant he inaccurately reported on the impending storm, however, he felt proud that his comments were used during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
Fish joined the BBC in January 1974 and enjoyed a lengthy career of (mostly) accurate weather reporting (Picture: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)
As a result of the late 1980s storm, major improvements were implemented in atmospheric observation, relevant computer models, and the training of weather forecasters, to hopefully prevent future mishaps, given that the Met Office was severely criticised by the national press for failing to forecast the storm correctly.
In the wake of the storm and countless complaints, the Met Office also set up the National Severe Weather Warning Service.
Meteorologist Fish (Pictured here with Barbara Edwards in 1973) retired fully in 2021 (Picture: McCarthy/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
As for what BBC’s Fish did next, he went on to present numerous other weather forecasts and news bulletins.
Fish was actually the longest-serving broadcast meteorologist on British television after joining the Met Office in 1962 and starting to present on BBC Radio in 1971, before moving to TV in 1974.
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He officially retired and made his final forecast in October 2004 on the BBC Ten O’Clock News, and was even awarded the TRIC Award for TV weather presenter of the year that year, in spite of his blunder years earlier.
Now, Fish acts as a patron of numerous organisations and charities after announcing his full retirement from his weekly forecast on Netweather.tv on Christmas Eve in 2021.
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