Mike Powell - BBC South

Mike Powell's diverse background includes training as a Catholic priest before circumnavigating the globe as an airline steward.

He started as a journalist at the age of 17 when he joined a national girls' magazine as a sub-editor.

Within a year the publishers asked him to become a reporter for the launch of a new music paper where he wrote three weekly columns and reviewed concerts and records.

Among those he interviewed were John Travolta, the Beach Boys and Suzi Quatro.

After a career change Mike trained to be a priest and worked in prisons, borstals and hospitals as well as his parish.

He then flew the world as cabin crew for British Airways. While he was there he presented and produced a training video which is still shown to all new recruits.

The media bug then caught him again and he found himself presenting the weather for the BBC in 1998.

He has presented and reported for TV in Bristol and for radio in the South and spent a summer training new cabin crew in between reading the news on Radio 5 Live.

His Sunday afternoon show on BBC Radio Solent is as wide-ranging as Mike's own career so far with subjects covered including geneaology, wildlife, past-life regression, UFOs - and of course the weather.