I had a fantastic day out and all because I won ‘an audition’ to stand in for Fred Talbot as weatherman on Granada TV’s This Morning programme.

Although, when the alarm clock went off in the early hours of a freezing cold and dark wintry March morning, and faced with the prospect of a four hour journey to Liverpool’s Albert Docks,  I wasn’t quite sure ‘weather’ or not this was such  a ‘bright’ idea. 

The competition was organised in conjunction with Granada Television and a national newspaper. The task was to complete the limerick:

‘"There once was a met man called Fred, who told bosses I’m feeling half dead..."’

A number of entrants were to be selected for audition on the Albert Dock weather map, from which ten would be chosen to stay overnight in Liverpool, returning next morning for a second audition.  From these ten, five winners would be selected, who would each read the weather for one morning, whilst Fred Talbot was on holiday.

Fifty of us turned up for audition. What a marvellous day it was.  My first shivering reaction, peering down at the weather map, is unprintable. Any misapprehensions about leaping from Scotland to Northern Ireland, soon disappeared as Jane and I went into the studio with the other hopefuls.

Fred Talbot and members of the Granada Television staff greeted us warmly and over cups of coffee, discussed the morning’s programme.  We were told to dress in bright colours, and there I was sporting my winning Ramsey Street sweatshirt, with its brightly coloured houses. I always knew it would come in handy. However, compared with some of the outfits, this was anything but bright.   For those of you watching the programme, you couldn’t fail to see the outstanding red and yellow duck umbrella, the tiger, nor the brave man in his kilt playing the bagpipes.  We had a whale of a time, and the atmosphere was terrific. 

Fifty of us standing on the weather map, ready to go out live to three million people. We didn’t need Fred to read the weather. We could feel the flurries of sleet and our numb fingers were blue with cold. But the smiles were warm, the coffee hot and the day was fun. 

For the announcement of the winner, the producer came and thanked everyone for attending and couldn’t emphasize enough how impressed he was with the marvellous atmosphere, the shouts of encouragement and general camaraderie of competitors. He revealed 3,200 people had entered the competition from which fifty of us had been selected. Even though I wasn’t a winner, it was an experience I wouldn’t have missed. 

I thought, quite wrongly, that because it was a competition, most of the people there would be “compers.”  Chatting to a few, I discovered people had entered for a variety of reasons, ranging from “dares” to “always wanted to appear on TV”, “thought it would be fun” and “my friend entered my name”.

Whatever your reasons for entering competitions, one thing is for sure. It’s an exciting and fun pastime, so go on. Enter a few comps!

© Copyright 1993-2005 Lynne Suzanne www.win-with-lynne.co.uk


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About the author
Lynne Suzanne is a consultant, freelance writer and author of Win With Lynne Intaslogans, Pun-ch Lines! and  Win Your Fortune in Prizes.
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