Biographies

Michael Fish

Recently retired as Britain's, and possibly the world's, longest-serving TV weather forecaster, Michael Fish was born in Eastbourne on 27th April 1944 and educated at Eastbourne College.

On joining the Meteorological Office in November 1962, his first posting was to Gatwick Airport. On promotion in 1965, he transferred to the Met Office headquarters in Bracknell to work on research projects. Later, while based at the London Weather Centre, he took a sandwich course in Applied Physics at the City University.

Remaining at the London Weather Centre, his broadcasting career began in 1971 when he started broadcasting for BBC Radio and, in January 1974, he became part of BBC Television's weather team when they were looking for a new 'young' image. At the start there were only 3 live broadcasts a day to the UK, using a mixture of felt-tip pens and magnetic rubber. On retirement, there were well over 100 broadcasts a day to the whole world, using sophisticated computer graphics.

He has made hundreds of appearances on television and radio shows ranging from light entertainment to factual programmes, such as ‘Panorama’ and ‘Sky At Night’. He has also been involved in the training of television weathermen in various African countries. He has written numerous articles on travel and weather and acted as consultant for several meteorological books.

He will always be remembered for the mis-reported 'Hurricane' forecast in October 1987 but there were other highlights such as several years ago when he was voted the 'Worst Dressed' and the 'Best Dressed' man on television!

In December 1996, Michael was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the City University, London and, in August 1997, he was granted the Freedom of the City of London. In June 2004 he was made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. In July 2005 he was further honoured by an award of Doctor of Science from Exeter University.

In 2004 he received the TRIC award of TV Presenter of the Year shortly before retiring in October. Also in the same year he was pronounced a 'National Treasure' by the Sunday Times!

More recently he has just finished a Provincial tour acting in 'The Play What I Wrote'. Much to everyone's surprise every performance was a sell out and his acting received 'rave reviews'.

Michael, who lives in Middlesex, is married and has two grown up daughters. A Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, his hobbies include being a grumpy old man, travel and food and wine.

His time at the moment is spent on the after-dinner and lecture circuit as well as doing voice overs, award ceremonies, writing articles and publicising Climate Change on behalf of Government Agencies.

Bob Holt

Bob is Chairman and Chief Executive of Mears Group PLC, and Chairman of Wyatt Group PLC and Unicorn Asset Management. He is a non executive of a number of private companies, and a member of the advisory panel for OFEX.

Bob specialises in growing service businesses and bringing businesses to the public markets.

Bob believes passionately in corporate social responsibility and is commited to improving the community for all. It is his passion for this that has led him to personally support many development projects both in the UK and abroad, including the building of schools in India and South Africa.

Bob has recognised the need to replant trees for a number of years, and this year has personally planted 5,000 trees in Ecuador, in addition to those trees planted through Global Trees. As Bob says, ‘Why plant now and why plant myself is simple: I see it as a commitment to do whatever is possible to create a better life for future generations, and my personal and business life DOES seriously consider communities and the environment’.

A keen walker, Bob is a staunch supporter of the Bobby Moore Cancer Research Fund and, amongst other fund raising activities, undertakes an annual walk of the River Thames.

Peter Grant

Following a career in the newspaper industry and graduating with an MBA from Edinburgh University, Peter and his wife Colette set up Grant Management in 1997 as a one-stop property shop for buy-to-let investors and tenants seeking quality accommodation in key University cities in the UK. The business has grown from its early days to now be regarded as one of the most successful property management companies in the UK, with 1600 flats in 11 cities and a staff of 140.

After hearing an inspirational speech by Bill Clinton in 2006 on Global Warming, Peter decided to do his bit for the environment and subsequently set up Global Trees with business colleague Bob Holt and his wife Colette. As luck would have it, when Clinton’s team picked up in the media on what Peter had done, he invited the Grants out to meet him and his wife in New York to discuss the work of the Clinton Foundation and the issues surrounding Global Warming.

Peter continues to work for Grant Management and is growing on the business in overseas markets as well as giving any spare time he can to the work of the charity.

He is also Director of the Entrepreneurial Exchange in Scotland, having been named in 2005 as ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in the National Business Awards for Scotland.

Married with two children (13 and 5yrs), his hobbies include sailing and skiing.

Colette Grant

Colette is the co-founder of Grant Management, one of the largest and fastest growing property and investment companies in the UK.

She heard President Clinton speak at a dinner in Glasgow, and with his emphasis on the importance of fighting climate change, created and invested in an NGO called www.globaltrees.co.uk with her partner, Peter Grant, encouraging people and companies to donate money to plant trees to help prevent global warming.

A true bridge builder with a keen attitude to foster education and knowledge, other initiatives include educational, not for profit businesses, such as www.gostartabusiness.com, a website written for budding entrepreneurs by real life entrepreneurs, which aims to inspire and give advice and practical help for starting a business.

Colette is also an active member of Scotland’s Entrepreneurial Exchange. Alongside her ‘day job’ running the Marketing Dept of Grant Management, she acts as Company Secretary for Global Trees. The Grants’ two children obviously occupy another chunk of her very busy life!

Dr Charles Russell

Dr Charles Russell is a Senior Research Fellow in the Caledonian Environment Centre, based at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Currently his research focuses on the development of software tools and providing a wide range of advice in the field of Carbon Management. The purpose of these tools is to provide practical and understandable guidance to professionals in the public sectors and business in Scotland.

Following the completion of his PhD in Environmental Microbiology at Aberdeen University in 1996, Charles worked for Massey University in New Zealand. His research team developed biosensor tools to understand soil carbon, pasture and microbial interactions.

He joined the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment in 2000 where he co-ordinated the implementation New Zealand’s National System of reporting Greenhouse Gases. As a regular team member in the NZ negotiation team on Kyoto (2001 to 2003), he particularly supported the development of reviewer training and auditing. He also developed Carbon models with Forest Research in NZ to assess forest sinks for the NZ government.

Charles left MfE in early 2003 and worked for an educational training company and a bioremediation start-up company, before returning the UK in 2004.

Charles continued working with the UNFCCC in developing training and reviewing progress by Annex 1 parties. He also was a business consultant based in Manchester until he joined Glasgow Caledonian University in June 2006.

In his leisure time Charles is an avid curler, hill-walker, and enjoy mountain biking and skiing.