The Weathermen is a layperson's guide to the overall historical framework

within which these advances were made. It covers 2,000 years exploring the

many strands that tell the story of weather history – recording instruments, the

drawing up of charts, wind circulation, weather diaries, the jet stream and so on.

It is the lives of over 100 men, whose biographies provide the signposts along

the way. These were essentially men of their times, be that of The

Enlightenment, the Crimean War, the days of the British Empire or of two World

Wars. As that great scientist Charles Lyell suggested, "It is only by knowing the

past that we can know the present, and it is only be knowing the present that

we can know the future."