In a week where forecasters expected 80mph winds and Sussex also saw warm winter sunshine, The Argus looks back to an infamous ‘hurricane-gate’ blunder by a weatherman and others who became famous. FLORA THOMPSON reports

THE bold prediction from Michael Fish that a hurricane would never hit Britain has gone down in history as the most notorious weather faux pas.

So much so it was even featured in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

A few hours before the Great Storm of 1987 battered the South East, the Eastbourne College-educated weatherman said during a forecast: “Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t!” That evening, the worst storm to hit England for three centuries caused record damage.

It is, of course, a profession which is based on forecasts which may change.

Mr Fish did warn of high winds and, although the storm was far stronger than he predicted, it was not technically a hurricane.

The incident went down in history and Mr Fish said he would be a millionaire if he had a penny for every time that broadcast was mentioned to him.

The term “Michael effect” has been coined whereby weathermen are now inclined to predict a worst-case scenario to avoid being caught out. Mr Fish has retired from the national forecast but still does the occasional forecast for BBC South East Today. On the 20 year anniversary of the storm, he said the comment would be put on his tombstone.

Mr Fish is not the only meteorlologist with Sussex connections. Hove weatherman Ken Woodhams was also well-known and is pictured below inspecting his garden weather gauge.

Popular weatherman Ian McCaskill was snapped by Simon Dack filming a BT advert on Brighton seafront during hot weather in 1998.

BBC weatherman John Hammond gave a talk at the University of Sussex in 2004 to explain his vision of climate change and how it would affect the South East. He claimed warmer weather and drought conditions could prevail – and perhaps with global warming he may have been right.

In 2005, BBC weathergirl Kaddy Lee-Preston took part in farmyard frivolities when she made friends with Charles the Peking cockerel at the South of England Show in Ardingly in 2005.