BBC weatherman Jack Scott dies

The magnetic map symbols sometimes fell off mid-broadcast

Veteran BBC weather forecaster Jack Scott has died aged 85.

Mr Scott worked for the corporation from 1969 to 1983, and in 1975 he introduced the famous magnetic weather symbols to the British public.

He joined the Met Office in 1941 aged 17 and during World War II worked on RAF stations in the Shetland Isles, North Africa and Malta.

Mr Scott also worked as a weatherman on Thames Television in the 1980s and was a presenter on Channel 4.

The forecaster, who died on Tuesday, auditioned for television in 1968.

In the years that followed, he became one of the mainstays of BBC television and radio weather presenting.

He also fronted the TV series Under The Weather and helped to lay the foundations of the computerised system of forecasting used today.

Mr Scott retired from the Met Office in 1983 and moved to Thames Television, taking over from weather presenter Francis Wilson. He stayed there until 1988.

Towards the end of his public life, he presented Channel 4's magazine programme for the over 60s, Years Ahead.

His main interest in retirement was golf and he was a member of Burnham Beeches Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.

There he played alongside two other former BBC weathermen - George Cowling and the late Bert Foord.