As the former Senior Weatherman at the BBC Weather Centre, Bill was born in Dittisham, near Dartmouth in Devon. He retired from the Met Office in January 2000 after leading the team of Broadcast Meteorologists since 1983. He first became interested in meteorology whilst at school in Crediton and joined the Meteorological Office at Exeter in January 1957 on leaving Bristol College of Science and Technology.

 

Later that year he was sent to Christmas Island to observe the immediate meteorological effects of the H-bomb tests. From 1961 to 1963 he was based in Germany as an observer with the RAF and between 1968 and 1970 worked as a lecturer at the Met Office's training college. His broadcasting career began in 1972 when he transferred to the London Weather Centre to become part of the team forecasting for BBC Radio.

 

He moved to television forecasting in 1975. In 1980 promotion took him back to Bracknell where he worked in public relations and then, in May 1983, returned to take charge of BBC Television's forecasting team, on the retirement of Jack Scott. October 1990 saw the publication of his book "The Weather Story", and he presented the BBC programme "The Weather Show", which provided an insight into the mysteries of forecasting and offered a glimpse behind the scenes at the kind of things that can go wrong.

 

Since his retirement, he has been a Director of Weather Index Ltd. He has now formed his own company The Weather People. He lives in Oxfordshire, with his wife and has a son, Philip, and a daughter, Helen. His hobbies include golf, cricket and gardening. He was awarded the O.B.E in the 1995 New Year's Honours for services to broadcast meteorology.