Since Records Began: The Highs and Lows of Britain's Weather

by Paul Simons

Written by The Times weather correspondent, this complete guide to the record-breaking weather in the British Isles is the first to bring together all the extreme weather events recorded since records began—from the wettest day ever recorded (279mm in Dorset in 1955) to the coldest ever (intriguingly the same temperature 100 years apart in 1895 and 1995). But it is not only the extremes that are interesting, each season in itself is equally fascinating (the warmest winter being particularly relevant in these days of climate change). The book is subdivided into the four seasons, with details of every record within that season, so you will be able to find the warmest January since records began (1916) along with details of the second warmest (2008). If you ever wondered why Selsey Bill has had the highest number of tornados in the U.K. and why they occur in the summer, or where the deadliest avalanche happened, this is the book to tell you.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

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Reviews

[Tim Corke · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s been okay, it’s a flicking through kind of book rather than a sit down read and can imagine this as a Christmas present. There are enjoyable facts and figures, snippets of trivia but just didn’t get into it.

[Courtney Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, I am a stereotype.

I don't have much to say about this book, but you can probably tell from the rating that I wasn't too impressed. First, though, the positive aspects. There are a lot of interesting weather anecdotes in this book, most of which I wasn't familiar with. It is an easy book to dip in and out of as each piece is relatively short. I also thought the author explained things well, making the book accessible to the average reader. My favourite parts were where he pointed out connections between British culture and its weather.

However, my main issue with this book is that is just isn't written that well. There are a lot of grammatical and spelling errors – way too many for a professionally published book. I'm sure I noticed at least one factual error too. There are no sources cited, which is disappointing, especially because there are a number of (apparently) direct quotes included in the text. There is also no index and the stories are loosely organised by season rather than types of weather event or something similar, so you can't look up any particular facts that you might want to know. That seems quite a significant omission in a book like this.

The concept of this book is very interesting, but its content and organisation let it down. My search for a really good popular science-type book about the weather continues...

[Claire]

An interesting and very British volume which provides insights into the strange and mysterious world of that favourite topic of conversation; the weather. Simons covers the familiar (the '87 'hurricane', frost fairs on the Thames, the notorious heatwave of 1976, London smogs) with the forgotten (some of these records date back to the late 17th century) and the just plain weird (showers of frogs, waterspouts, hail stones literally the size of golf balls, ball lightning), and writes with an informed and intelligent informality. An enjoyable read.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has a lot of potential, which sadly is not realised.

A collection of anecdotes about historical weather in the UK, it is split mostly into short, easily read and digested chunks. That the author knows his stuff is clear from explanations of obscure technical aspects of weather, but the book as a whole is let down by inaccuracies, contradictions and, for pedants, poor grammar.