FitzRoy and forecasts – the perfect mix

ADMIRAL Robert FitzRoy (1805-1865) has several claims to fame. He was companion to Darwin on the Beagle, the first Head of Meteorology at the Board of Trade (the Met Office) and, using the newly invented electric telegraph, one of the first to attempt a scientific weather forecast. His first daily weather forecasts were published in The Times in 1860, thus introducing the British public to a new pastime – complaining that the forecasters got it wrong.