Bert Foord

Herbert ("Bert") Vernon Foord (22 December 1930, in Appleby, Westmorland – 31 July 2001, in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire) was an English meteorologist and BBC weather forecaster during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The son of a Royal Navy serviceman, Foord attended grammar school and joined the UK Meteorological Office as a trainee forecaster in 1947.

His first posting was to the Eskdalemuir Observatory in the Scottish borders, where he worked between 1950 and 1953, followed by three years' service on the Atlantic weather ships.

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.

Foord left the BBC in 1973, by which time his celebrity had led to the distinction of being a guest on Roy Plomley's Desert Island Discs.