Bert Foord

Herbert Vernon Foord (22 December 1930 – 31 July 2001) was an English meteorologist and BBC weather forecaster during the 1960s and early 1970s. He joined the UK Meteorological Office as a trainee forecaster in 1947 and became the BBC's principal weather forecaster in 1963, remaining in the role until 1974. Foord specialised in forecasting for the Royal Air Force until his retirement in 1990.

Early life Foord was born on 22 December 1930, in Brough, near Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, and his mother, Eva, was the daughter of a tinsmith from Carlisle. The family name Foord came from South Africa and is of Dutch origin. In 1954, Foord was made the North West of England representative for the Met Office National Committee, rising to the rank of chairman. One of the highlights of his career came in 1969 during the BBC coverage of the Apollo 12 mission, when he predicted that the spacecraft could face some turbulence on take-off and might be struck by lightning. Within half an hour, lightning struck the spacecraft. the first programme of the BBC's satirical comedy television series Celebrity Shakespeare.

He left the BBC in 1974 after 11 years in his civil service promotion from higher to senior scientific officer, He first worked in weather forecasting at Heathrow Airport, and was a member of the Cheltenham Racing Club. In 1954, Foord married Irene Young at Christ Church, Botchergate.