Wincey Willis, the trailblazing weather presenter who became the first woman to forecast the national weather on ITV, has died at the age of 76.
Born Florence Winsome Leighton in Gateshead and raised in Hartlepool, Willis was a proud Northerner whose vibrant personality and no-nonsense style made her a household name in the 1980s. Her death, on 18 December last year after a battle with fronto-temporal dementia, was only announced publicly this week.
Willis rose to fame in 1983 when she joined TV-am’s Good Morning Britain – becoming the first female weather presenter on national commercial television. Famous for her bright knitwear, distinctive mullet, and irrepressible energy, she brought a fresh, relatable approach to forecasting, once remarking: “Most people don’t want to know about high pressure over the Azores. All they care about is whether they need their umbrella.”
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Her popularity peaked when she became an adjudicator on the Channel 4 game show Treasure Hunt in 1985, alongside Anneka Rice. She subsequently left full-time TV in 1987 to fulfil her ambition of becoming a wildlife conservationist. She also wrote two books – It’s Raining Cats and Dogs (1986) and Greendays (1990) – and spent six months living in Greece while monitoring a breeding turtle population.
Willis later returned to broadcasting in 1993, this time as a wildlife presenter on Tyne Tees Weekend. She simultaneously worked for the worm composting company, Wiggly Wigglers. In the 2000s, she switched to radio and hosted her own shows on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire and BBC Hereford & Worcester.
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Before national fame, Willis built her career in the North East, working in the record library and promotions team at Radio Tees, where she made her on-air debut, and later presenting for Tyne Tees Television. It was while working in the region that she was spotted by ITV’s deputy editor-in-chief Clive Jones, who recruited her for the network.
Her roots always remained close to her heart. Even at the height of her TV fame, she lived in a converted railway station near Barnard Castle, surrounded by a menagerie of animals. She later returned to the North East to spend her final years in Sunderland after her dementia diagnosis in 2015.
Willis inspired a generation of female broadcasters, and her legacy was fondly remembered this week by Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies, who called her “absolutely hilarious and full of joy.”
