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