Education
University of Glasgow.
University of Glasgow.
His Scottish accent, manner of speech, and relentless enthusiasm about severe weather made him popular with viewers. He became the most imitated weather presenter in the United Kingdom. He went to Queen"s Park School (near Queen"s Park Football Club) in Glasgow, and then to the University of Glasgow. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1959 as part of his National Service and became an airman meteorologist, first in Scotland and then in Cyprus.
He left the Royal Air Force in 1961 and joined the Met Office, working at Prestwick Airport, in Malta and in Manchester.
In 1978, he began working at the British Broadcasting Corporation Weather Centre. He retired on 31 July 1998.
He was one of the weathermen mentioned on the song John Kettley is a Weatherman. He has been parodied by the satirical comedy show Spitting Image, and by impersonator Rory Bremner, amongst others
He lives near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.
He has two daughters, Victoria and Kirsty. He is a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. In May 2000, the first phase of the £1.2 million 11-hectare Lower Leas Coastal Park in Folkestone was opened by Ian McCaskill.
He continues to make television appearances and also works as a motivational speaker.
He has appeared on the British Broadcasting Corporation Television shows MasterChef and on Have I Got News for You?, as well as on a number of television advertisements. He also participated in the first series of Celebrity Fit Club in 2002.
In 2006, he cowrote the book Frozen in Time, about Britain"s worst ever winters, with Paul Hudson.