John was born in Bosham, West Sussex, the son of a farmer. After taking an interest in the weather from the age of four, he studied geography at the University of Salford, followed by meteorology at the University of Birmingham.
After a brief spell at the Met Office headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire, John began forecasting in February 1991.
He worked at regional weather centres in Nottingham (he appeared on BBC TV’s East Midlands Today), Bristol and Plymouth and this involved a variety of forecasting work for aviation, local industry and some local radio too.
He moved to ITV to present the ITV National Weather (8th March 1997 – 2003) and occasionally presented the London forecast for ITV – LNN/Carlton (1995). He later ‘switched sides’, joining the BBC Weather Centre in the spring of 2003.
He was the BBC One Christmas Day weather presenter five times (2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2013).
John left BBC TV at the end of March 2017, after taking early retirement to spend time walking, running and playing his guitar (he once played on stage with his heroes Status Quo).
He set up weathertrending.com with his business partner and fellow broadcaster Sara Thornton.
As John explained in the Radio Times letters page, he wouldn’t be disappearing from our screens completely: “I’ve just done the Countryfile Live event and remain part of the Countryfile family, so I’ll pop up on screen from time to time.”
John also appeared on the BBC quiz show Celebrity Mastermind (2012). He reappeared on screen again as a relief weather presenter on BBC South East Today in December 2017 and has since made regular appearances on the regional news programme.
He was a relief weather presenter on BBC TV’s Points West in October 2020.
He made his debut as a freelance BBC Radio 4 announcer on Saturday 13th April 2019.
Personal information
Clips of John on The TV Room
John may be featured in video/audio clips on our other websites. Click the links below to display a listing (a 404 error will appear if no clips are found):
Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: John Hammond. SUPPLIED BY: Paul R. Jackson. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
Leave a Reply