Browse content similar to The Weather. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
MUSIC: Theme From A Summer Place | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
Gorgeous day, isn't it? | 0:00:08 | 0:00:12 | |
Yes, it's lovely. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:14 | |
THUNDER CRASHES | 0:00:14 | 0:00:15 | |
# Ain't no sunshine when she's gone... # | 0:00:15 | 0:00:20 | |
Spoke too soon, didn't I? | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
This bank holiday weekend, we explore | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
our favourite topic of conversation - the weather! | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
We sing hymns that cite the elements | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
and we ask if God's to blame for all this unpredictable weather! | 0:00:34 | 0:00:40 | |
The weather can sometimes catch us by surprise and, here in the UK, | 0:00:48 | 0:00:53 | |
it can be more changeable in one day | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
than, it seems, anywhere else on Earth. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
Maybe that's why we talk about it so much! | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
Even the hymn writers were inspired by the weather, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
with hymn books and the Bible peppered with references to the elements and their power. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:09 | |
Despite the unpredictability of the weather, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
our faith encourages us to trust in God whatever we may face. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:17 | |
With the weather being such a British obsession, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
it's no wonder that in our folklore, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
we find many a saying predicting rain or shine. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:43 | |
Have you ever heard of these? | 0:04:43 | 0:04:44 | |
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
Oak before ash, we're in for a splash. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
Ash before oak, we're in for a soak. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
That's folklore, but the Bible too refers frequently to the elements, | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
from Noah's flood, to drought, storms, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
and even fair weather illustrating God's power and judgement. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
You're bound to have heard of this one. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
It was said by somebody very famous once. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
Jesus answered and he said unto them, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather for the sky is red. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:23 | |
"And in the morning, it will be foul weather today | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
"for the sky is red and lowring." | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
According to the meteorologists, there's some truth in that one, | 0:05:30 | 0:05:34 | |
unlike some of the other weather sayings. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
So next time you see a red sky, you can trust that God and the science have helped you predict the weather! | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
I wandered lonely as a cloud | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
That floats on high o'er vales and hills. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
Poets, painters, we all look up to the skies for divine inspiration, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:35 | |
and clouds can seem heaven sent. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
But they are also nature's weather map. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
Every cloud in the sky can be identified. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
They give us clues about the weather ahead. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
The Bible reveals nothing about the science of why clouds are formed | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
and until one devout Christian man gazed up to the heavens himself, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:54 | |
we knew little about the weather of clouds. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
Luke Howard is my great-great-great-grandfather. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
He had a great hobby, which was to study the clouds. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
He watched them closely as a boy | 0:09:07 | 0:09:09 | |
and as a young man growing up in different parts of the country. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
He wanted to be able to make sense of them. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
Up to that time, people just referred to them by what they looked like. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
A giraffe, an elephant, a cauliflower. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
But that was not good enough. He had an enquiring mind. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
In the early 1800s, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
he wrote an academic paper | 0:09:29 | 0:09:30 | |
describing the different | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
sort of clouds and their shapes. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
For the first time ever, clouds had individual names, | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
and the system he invented has stuck right through to the present day. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
Luke Howard forged the language of the skies | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
and inspired many of his contemporaries of the time. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
He influenced, for instance, John Constable | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
who did a lot of work studying clouds and painting them on Hampstead Heath. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
He learned a great deal from that. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
How important was his Quaker faith to him? | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
I think it underlays everything. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
The clouds permeated everything he thought and wrote | 0:10:10 | 0:10:15 | |
and I think we can only assume that he saw the cloud | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
as part of God's creation and, therefore, something to be understood and loved. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
Why is this place important to the Luke Howard story? | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
Basically, because he is buried here. Though the location of his grave was known, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:33 | |
the gravestone itself got lost, | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
so we have had it recarved and recreated | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
and we had a gathering of family and meteorologists | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
and other historians interested in Luke to celebrate. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
At the ceremony was founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
Gavin Prettor-Pinney - a consummate cloud spotter and Luke Howard fan. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:58 | |
He certainly awakened people's interest in the clouds. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
He was the father of modern meteorology. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
-He sounds like a remarkable man. -Remarkable man. Yes. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:11 | |
He came up with the terms cumulus - | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
cumulus are those puffy, clumpy ones, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
the fair-weather cloud you see on a sunny day. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
He came up with stratus, the layer of cloud | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
which is rather featureless. He also came up with cirrus, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
cirrus being the high, beautiful, wispy ones. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
They're cascades of ice crystals. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
And also nimbus for a rain cloud. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
What is all this about a cloud appreciation society? | 0:11:32 | 0:11:37 | |
-Surely there isn't one? -There certainly is. I know - I started it! | 0:11:37 | 0:11:41 | |
Why did you start it? | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
It started as a joke, to be honest. Then one thing led to another, | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
-now there are 26,500 members. -You're joking! | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
No. In 88 countries. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
You talk about the sublime, divine kind of feeling from the sky. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:58 | |
Certainly, when you have clouds like this, | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
the sunlight coming down through, you can see those rays, | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
like the fingers of God. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
It is arresting enough for you to stop what you are doing and go, "Wow." | 0:12:06 | 0:12:11 | |
We Brits are obsessed with the weather forecast. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
The BBC transmits 120 of them every day alone! | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
Behind the predictions are the people of the Met Office in Exeter. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
From here, they supply crucial weather analysis, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
not just for the UK, but worldwide. They also seem to be | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
as weather-obsessed as the rest of us! | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
From the age of about ten, I was interested in the weather. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
I set up my own little weather station, | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
the usual kind of things - thermometers, rain gauges, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
wind vanes - and took observations all through my childhood. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:10 | |
That led me on to make decisions as to the career path that I took. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
I see God in many aspects of the weather. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
Much of my work is actually involved in trying to simulate the weather in computer models. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:23 | |
I find it quite awe-inspiring that the physical laws | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
and the processes that we try to represent in computer models | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
are an indication to me of the kind of ordered mind of God. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:35 | |
And as a Met Office man, he now predicts global weather events | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
that can be a matter of life or death. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
My work, specifically, is focused on the Tropics. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
I deal mainly with looking at forecasts for tropical cyclones - | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
hurricanes and typhoons in various parts of the world. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:53 | |
Our role in that is really to provide information to the people | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
who may be in the way of the hurricane or the typhoon as it approaches. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:02 | |
I think it is natural to question why certain things happen. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
In terms of my faith, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
we do not always understand why God allows these things to happen, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:15 | |
but what we do know is his heart, | 0:16:15 | 0:16:16 | |
and his heart is a heart of compassion. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
In these kind of instances, rather than shaking our fist at God | 0:16:19 | 0:16:24 | |
and saying, "Why have you let this happen?" | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
maybe we should ask, "How can we show something of God's heart | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
"and compassion to those that are affected by such disasters?" | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
Weather was the top news story when Australia was rocked by floods. | 0:18:54 | 0:19:00 | |
The worst seen for a generation. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
At the time, there was intense debate | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
over whether climate change was behind the devastation. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:09 | |
Mike Edwards has come up with a quirky way | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
to raise awareness of this vital issue. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
He's one of the world's top didgeridoo players, but he also works | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
in the heart of London for the Christian charity CAFOD, | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
advising them on environmental issues. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
I used to use traditional PowerPoint presentations | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
and realised that, actually, | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
that is not going to change people's hearts and minds. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
And that is what this is about - talking to people's hearts, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
changing their minds. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
And that is when this thing started to come into use. I started to realise | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
that there are certain things | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
in the way you play the instrument which are real powerful metaphors | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
for the way I think we have to change the way we live. For a start, | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
we have to simplify our lives, it is too complex. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
The simplest instrument is a hollow piece of wood, | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
so that was a nice way of getting that over. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
Then sufficiency. If you blow it too hard... | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
..it sounds awful. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
So I was thinking that is another nice metaphor | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
for not using up too many resources. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
Again, we are not very good in modern Western society | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
-of knowing when enough is enough. -We want more and more. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:23 | |
Anyway, give it a go. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
You will see... Just buzz your lips. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
This is the weirdest thing I've done today. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
But I'm willing to try anything once. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
HE PLAYS A NOTE | 0:20:34 | 0:20:35 | |
I almost got it there. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
You did. That little buzz sound. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
Perfect. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
See, this is the... | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
-Shall I stick to the singing? -I think you probably should. -OK. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
Tell us exactly, what is climate change? | 0:20:47 | 0:20:51 | |
We all experience weather on a day-to-day basis - sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's hot. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:56 | |
What we are worried about climate change is longer timeframes. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
The weather is becoming a little bit uncertain and we are seeing | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
what appears to be an increasing incidence of really extreme events. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:07 | |
One thing about being in London, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:12 | |
if the heavens open and we do get a big hailstorm, we can shelter. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
We can escape from that. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
In many other countries we work in, that is simply not possible. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
People are vulnerable and, so, these extreme weather events have such a huge impact on them. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:27 | |
-It is life and death. -It really is life and death. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
-So do you think that climate change is a spiritual issue? -Yes. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:36 | |
At the moment, I think we have a real violent relationship with nature. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:41 | |
For me, spiritual connection is about love and compassion. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
It is about holding on to something which is greater than we are. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:50 | |
And I think that is a deeply spiritual issue. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
-For me, that is what drives me. -Is there one thing we can do? | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
There are the practical things that we can all do. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
But the big thing for me is really to slow down, | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
take a breath and work out your values. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
Build in your life those values which allow that connection to occur. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:14 | |
I think we will move then from a state of denial, | 0:22:14 | 0:22:18 | |
because we are denying what we're doing, to a state of acceptance. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
Through acceptance, we become powerful agents for change. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
John Fleetwood is a fell runner and he's out almost every day, come rain or shine. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
But his favourite weather to run in isn't what most of us would call ideal for a walk in the hills. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:21 | |
Snow and ice now. You see the snow, it is going pretty horizontal. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:30 | |
"I search out the beginnings of the ridge, but can see nothing. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
"I mean nothing, nothing at all. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
"Up is down and down is up. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
"Mist is snow and snow is mist. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
"Each step is one of faith into the unknown. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
"Suddenly, I sense danger and, for the first time ever, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
"I am utterly, completely and very seriously lost." | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
I was always interested in the mountains. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
Right from the age of six, I remember seeing a mountain and I just thought, | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
"I want to climb that." | 0:25:05 | 0:25:06 | |
Last December, I had a trip to the Cairngorms, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:11 | |
and this was a challenge over 75 miles, | 0:25:11 | 0:25:17 | |
and 18,000 feet of ascent. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
I did it in the middle of the winter. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
That's the time, of course, when it's most challenging. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
And to actually be out in those sorts of conditions, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
um, reminds you of the power of God. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
In the 56 hours John was trekking, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
he saw every type of weather imaginable. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
After a bright, sunny beginning, the weather changed. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
John knew he was in for a battle with the elements. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:46 | |
My feet are just freezing. So, I better get up that hill. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
'I've got freezing rain driving in on a 40-mile-an-hour wind. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:56 | |
'And when that rain hit me, it was super cold so it froze on everything. | 0:25:56 | 0:26:01 | |
'The complete jacket was encased in a coating of ice. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:05 | |
'And I had a 3cm icicle from my torch.' | 0:26:05 | 0:26:09 | |
Weather is an absolutely integral part of the challenge, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
because you don't know what's going to happen. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
Weather can cause you to fail. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
Yuck! | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
It's pretty miserable now, isn't it? | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
'I guess some people would think I'm crazy to do this sort of thing. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
'But I think one of the attractions is that it's a raw challenge, | 0:26:28 | 0:26:33 | |
'where there is no back-up, and I think there's an appeal in that. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
'I think what sustains me is feeling God really close in every moment.' | 0:26:37 | 0:26:44 | |
In fact, I feel God closer at those times than at any other. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:48 | |
My wife Alison thinks I'm nuts. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
She prays a lot for me, so that's maybe why I'm still here. And my mum and dad do, too. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:59 | |
"During the ten hours of wandering, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
"an inner voice has kept me on track, | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
"instructing me what to do. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
"And not one person, but two - | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
"me and my guide. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
"He tells me to keep going. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
"He's always there." | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
Gracious God, Creator of all that is good | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
We thank you for the wonder of the world | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
Help us to respect the earth, sea and sky | 0:30:18 | 0:30:24 | |
Come rain or shine | 0:30:24 | 0:30:25 | |
May we live in the knowledge of your love and goodness | 0:30:25 | 0:30:29 | |
Amen. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
Here's yet another one from the Songs Of Praise hymnbook | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
that brings to life the power of the weather | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
and praises our God behind it all. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
Next week, as we look ahead to harvest, | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
I'm in Worcestershire, one of the biggest | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
food-growing areas of the country. I meet the couple | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
living the good life, and visit Pershore as it turns purple | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
to celebrates the humble plum. Plus, hymns for harvest | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
from the town's spectacular abbey. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
And I hope you can be with us in London next month | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
for our 50th birthday celebration at Alexandra Palace. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
We'll be singing some wonderful hymns, of course. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
And our special guests include the one and only Andrea Bocelli, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
gospel diva Beverley Knight, | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
voice of an angel Katherine Jenkins, | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
and international country music legend LeAnn Rimes. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
If you'd like to be part of the audience, tickets cost £12 each. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:05 | |
There's a charge of £1.50 per transaction. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
If you haven't got a ticket yet, here's the number to call... | 0:34:08 | 0:34:11 | |
Standard geographic charges apply. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
Calls from mobiles may be higher. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
Or you can apply online. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:25 | |
I can't wait. See you on the 25th. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:31 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:34:45 | 0:34:49 |