Kettley, John

John was born in Halifax. He was employed by the Met Office from 1970 until 2000. He had a spell working at the Nottingham Weather Centre (1980 – 1985), where he made appearances on BBC Birmingham’s Midlands Today (1980 – 1983) and on Central TV (1984 – 1985).

John was a BBC TV weather presenter (October 1985 – 2000); he also presented the weather on BBC Radio from 1986. He took over from Bert Foord as the weather team’s horse racing tipster. Pop group A Tribe of Toffs recorded John Kettley Is a Weatherman, which peaked at number 21 in the December 1988 pop charts. He appeared on BBC TV’s Breakfast Time (1986 – 1987), Breakfast News (1990 – 2000) and Breakfast (30th October 2000). He was the BBC One Christmas Day weather presenter once, in 1986.

He spent three years as the resident weather expert on The Travel Show (BBC Two, 1987 – 1989). Along with colleague Ian McCaskill, he was given a makeover on the BBC One daytime series Style Challenge in October 1996.

Other TV credits include:

• Masterteam (BBC One);
• The Weather Show (BBC One, 1996);
• Out and About (BBC Two, 1997);
• Magic Meteorology (BBC Two, 1998);
• The Essential Guide to Weather (BBC Two, 1999);
• Blankety Blank (BBC One);
• Telly Addicts (BBC One);
• Call My Bluff (BBC One, 2001 and 2002);
• Watchdog (BBC One);
• The Weakest Link (BBC One, 2008);
• The Sarah Millican Show (BBC Two, 2012);
• Celebrity Eggheads (BBC Two, 2013);
• Through the Keyhole (ITV).

Since leaving the BBC TV weather team, John has been freelance. For nine years he was the resident weather broadcaster for Radio Wimbledon at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. He was resident weather presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live (2001 – 2005 and 2007) and since autumn 2012, John has appeared regularly on 5 News (Channel 5) discussing weather events.

In April 2001, he became a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. He is a member of the Lord’s Taverners and continues to support Burnley FC.

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):

Rewind | Clean Feed

Online presence

Acknowledgements