TV weatherman Fred Talbot arrived at a Manchester court this morning to face trial for alleged historic sex offences at an Altrincham school.
The former ITV This Morning presenter, 64, is accused of abusing five men who claim he indecently assaulted them when they teenagers at a time when he was a grammar school biology teacher in the 1970s.
Four of the alleged victims attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Greater Manchester and one was at Elgin High in Newcastle.
Talbot denies ten charges of indecent assault and at Minshull Street Crown Court he looked grim faced as was surrounded by cameramen. The bachelor is best known for presenting the weather on a floating map of the UK for the ITV programme ‘This Morning’ in the late 1980s and 1990s.
CHARGES: Former ITV presenter Fred Talbot is accused of ten indecent assaults on five men when they were teenagers
The inquiry began following a raid on his 18th century home in Bowdon, Cheshire in December 2012. He has since been taken ”off air” at ITV’s Granada Reports North West news programme although he was not formally suspended as he works on a freelance basis.
Brought up in Altrincham Talbot was a pupil at North Cestrian Grammar School and in 1964 was a founding member of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society.
He co-discovered a meteor shower, the June Lyrids, in June 1966. He was appointed biology master at Altrincham Grammar in 1974 and went into TV in 1984.
During one famous incident whilst presenting the weather on This Morning at Albert Dock in Liverpool, a streaker swam naked up to the map and jumped on.
In 1998, Talbot was named ‘Weatherman of the year’ at the Annual International Weather Festival in Paris and also acted as a weather forecaster on ITV Breakfast programme Daybreak.
In 2007 Talbot was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Manchester Metropolitan University in recognition of bringing to a mass audience, ”a better understanding of scientific and environmental issues.”
Story via Cavendish Press.
Images courtesy of GRP Television via YouTube, with thanks.
