Born in Sunningdale in 1920, he was the son of Annie Gertrude (née Creak) and Bernard Bruce Weatherill.

[4] Following his mother's advice, he always carried his tailoring thimble in his pocket as a reminder of his trade origins and the need for humility, no matter how high one rises.

Weatherill enlisted as a private in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry of the British Army a few days after the start of World War II.

[7] While on active service, Weatherill spent time in Bengal, where he embraced the local culture, including learning Urdu and taking up meditation.

He wrote a letter (hand-carried by messenger, or sent by telegram) to the Queen at the end of each day the House of Commons met, describing the debates, reactions, and political gossip.

Weatherill is the most recent Speaker to have served in Government prior to the Speakership; his successors have all been longtime backbench MPs.

Weatherill said that the convention had never been intended for such a critical vote that meant the life or death of the Government and it would be impossible to find a Conservative MP who would agree to abstain.

As Speaker at the time television cameras were first allowed to cover proceedings in the House of Commons, he became widely known due to broadcasts of Prime Minister's Questions.

[15] As is customary for former Speakers, the government put before the House of Commons an address to the Queen, asking that Weatherill be appointed a peer as a mark of "royal favour".

Given a rare opportunity to discuss constitutional arrangements relating to the monarch and the Upper House, left-wing members of Parliament forced a debate on the petition.

[16] He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher, the convention for former Speakers, irrespective of their previous party affiliation.

He resigned both of those offices at the end of 1998 in protest at the manner in which the Dean and Chapter dealt with terminating the employment of the organist.