"John Kettley Is a Weatherman" is a 1988

novelty record A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...

by the band

A Tribe of Toffs A Tribe of Toffs were a novelty pop band from Sunderland, England, best remembered for their 1988 Top 40 single, "John Kettley is a Weatherman". The band was formed in 1986 by four pupils from Bede Comprehensive School in Sunderland. They were ...

, from

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, UK. The song peaked at 21 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The

John Kettley John Graham Kettley (born 11 July 1952 in Halifax, West Yorkshire) is an English freelance weather forecaster. Early life He was educated at Todmorden Grammar School, he played cricket for Burnley and Todmorden. A geography teacher at his school ...

referred to in the title is a British weatherman, who at the time presented national forecasts on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. The track was played on BBC Children's TV after being discovered by researcher Jane Louise who, on picking the single at random from the post bag commented that the 'kids would love this one'. On 19 July 2022 (the hottest day recorded in the UK) Radio X DJ Chris Moyles played the song after a clip of John Kettley discussing the weather featured in the 7am news, and Chris subsequently ‘campaigned’ for his listeners to buy it and it reached number 1 in the UK iTunes chart.

People name-checked in the song

TV weather forecasters: *

Michael Fish Michael Fish, (born 27 April 1944 in Eastbourne, Sussex) is a British weather forecaster. From 1974 to 2004, he was a television presenter for BBC Weather. Career Educated at Eastbourne College and City University London, Fish was the longe ...

* Bill Giles *

Ian McCaskill Ian McCaskill (born John Robertson McCaskill; 28 July 1938 – 10 December 2016) was a BBC weather forecaster. Early life McCaskill attended Queen's Park Secondary in Glasgow, and then the University of Glasgow, where he studied geology and c ...

Wincey Willis 1948 births Living people British infotainers Weather presenters Wincey Willis (born Florence Winsome Leighton; 8 August 1948) is a British television and radio broadcaster who was most active in the 1980s. She is perhaps best known for bein ...

* Bernard Davey Other individuals: *

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...

, racing driver *

Peter Snow Peter John Snow (born 20 April 1938) is a British radio and television presenter and historian. Between 1969 and 2005, he was an analyst of general election results, first on ITV and later for the BBC. He presented ''Newsnight'' from its laun ...

, TV presenter and journalist * Mark Barano * Simon Parkin, TV and radio presenter * Eric Lane, American football player *

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...

, TV presenter *

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest f ...

, jockey *

David Icke David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries. In 1990, Icke ...

, TV sports presenter *

Richard Keys Richard Keys (born 23 April 1957) is an English sports presenter who has worked for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Talksport, Al Jazeera, Fox Sports, ESPN Star Sports , BeIN Sports; and has presented many top-level football matches. Career His ca ...

, TV sports presenter *

Debbie Thrower Debbie Thrower (born 17 November 1957 in Nairobi, Kenya) is an English journalist and broadcaster who presented BBC national news bulletins in the 1980s and ITV Meridian's flagship news programme ''Meridian Tonight'' (southern edition) from its ...

, TV presenter *

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

, guitarist with

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

David Steel David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, (born 31 March 1938) is a British politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles, followed by Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale, he served as the final leade ...

, Liberal Democrat politician or more likely David Steele, Northamptonshire and England cricketer * Chuck Knox, American football coach *

Andy Crane Howard Andrew Crane (born 24 February 1964) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting Children's BBC between 1987 and 1990 and for his current work as a presenter on the Greatest Hits Radio network. Career Crane ...

, children's TV presenter

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John Kettley Is A Weatherman 1988 singles Novelty songs Songs about television Songs about occupations 1988 songs List songs Cultural depictions of weather presenters Cultural depictions of British men