Media Update

It turns out that the British media love us storm enthusiasts.  Those of you who know me (or live local to me) may have seen a range of media snippets from my storm travels as a guest with netweather.tv and WeatherHolidays.com.  

I have been lucky enough to feature on BBC Radio Bristol twice (once whilst out in the field - the morning of the Bennington chase - which was cheesily edited into a Wizard of Oz micky-take) followed by a live interview on the BBC Breakfast show, which took on a more serious tone.  I even got to meet one of my favourite radio stars from my teenage years, Mr Tim McSweeney, on my day there.  

Following the radio talks, there was the opportunity to appear for a live TV interview with BBC Points West - however this fell through. Fellow chaser Stevie did feature on a BBC show and some of his images and footage (involving some of the Tour 2 team) impressed a number of viewers.

I was then in touch with the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, who gave me a telephone interview regarding how my love of storms began and subsequently produced an article in their paper. The article was well received in the local area and a few of my patients in Chippenham now know me as "The Storm Chasing Optician". 

The article that appeared in the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

Following the publication of this article, I was chased by BBC Radio Wiltshire for an interview. However, due to schedule restraints and my availability due to other working commitments, I was unable to attend the interview. 

My final media encounter this year was with a great BBC news article put together by East Anglia weather forecaster, ConvectiveWeather.co.uk website owner and storm chaser Dan Holley. He messaged me after viewing the Dodge City Storm video and requested if he could use some of my footage. Sadly his team arrived too late to manage to film some of the dramatic scenes that took place during the early build up of the storm.  I wholeheartedly agreed and some of my footage was used in the opening of the storm footage (yes...that is me introducing that tornado!).  I'm hoping the video is set to public, but if you wish to see it, click on the image below.

A screenshot of the video article put together by Dan Holley and team (click for video)

I think that is all the media I'll be doing this year - although it has been fun, it is also quite daunting as you don't want to say anything that may disrupt or upset the other chasers and also you do open yourself up for some ridicule (One comment that will stick in mind was someone saying "you can tell he is unhinged just by the shirt he is wearing"). A fair few lessons have been learnt from doing all this and I will keep them in mind in the future, should I be asked to provide content for the media in the future.