WHO'S RICHARD?

If you live in Bristol, Somerset, Wiltshire or Gloucestershire I am hoping you will be familiar with my weather forecasts on Points West. If not, why not switch on to satellite TV Channel 986?

I joined the BBC team on a full time basis back in 2000, although I had been making occasional TV appearances as far back as 1995.  I was first asked to forecast the weather on the BBC after I went for an audition to cover for the regular weather presenter.

When the opportunity to present the weather on a more permanent basis came along I jumped at the chance. Working with the BBC allows me to communicate my interest and enthusiasm for weather to as many people as possible.

Over the years I have presented the Points West weather whilst wing-walking, grassboarding, swimming, even inside a giant bicycle wheel. You have to be ready for any situation in this business!

                                                                 Delivering a radio broadcast from the Newsroom

First and foremost however, I am a weather forecaster. I am employed by the Met Office. And it is they who have given me a thorough grounding in meteorology after completing 'A'levels, a BTEC HNC, an Open University degree plus Initial and Advanced Forecaster Courses.

I began my career in the Met Office at RAF Lyneham in 1979. After three years I moved to Exeter Airport, long before the Met Office moved its headquarters to the city. After another three years I moved on to RAF Honington in Suffolk. Much of this time was spent as a weather observer, but I decided that I really wanted to have a go at weather forecasting.

My first, and only forecasting post was at Bristol. I worked at the Weather Centre there between 1990 and its closure in 2000 before moving up the road the BBC, where I have been ever since.

                                      At the weather maps

Outside of work I spend my time trying to retain a reasonable level of fitness. Whether it is training for the half marathons or thrashing a shuttlecock around the Link Centre in Swindon, I try and keep fairly active. 

The pinnacle of my running achievements (so far) was completing a marathon in under 4 hours. But I have a desire to run one of the really big marathons, such as New York, Berlin or London.

My main interests (my wife would say obsession) are football and travelling. Given those interests it is perhaps appropriate that I married a girl from Manchester (I've been a United fan for 40 years) after I met her on holiday in Southern Africa. Renu and I have been married for just over five years and we live close to Swindon (although we are outside the reception area for Points West!).

In that time we have been all over the world, from Borneo to Bermuda and from the Azores to South Africa. These days many of our trips are to islands or countrys with coastlines so we can scuba dive.

There really is nothing to compare with watching marine life from 18 metres down in a warm tropical sea. Part of the appeal of watching wildlife underwater is that there is SO much of it. There is always something to see. A 'David Attenborough moment' is rarely more than a few fin strokes away!

        With Renu INSIDE a glacier in New Zealand