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Showing posts with label Carol Kirkwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carol Kirkwood. Show all posts

30 May 2017

The Schaf Is Victorious

You may recall from my last missive, Tomasz was in contention for Radio Times's best weather forecaster poll. As you have probably gleaned from title, our man was triumphant with a 15.1% vote-share-- beating Carol Kirkwood (AKA "Schmirkwood") into second place (4.9%).

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-05-30/tomasz-schafernaker-and-windy-wilson-voted-the-uks-favourite-weather-presenters

If you're a fan of GIF and Facebook, then you're in luck with this couplet...
https://www.facebook.com/schafernaker/videos/10155533180915466/
https://www.facebook.com/schafernaker/videos/10155533180960466/

Enjoy sensibly.

5 Sept 2015

Spectating the Spectator

In the week's Spectator magazine (dated 5 Sep 2015), The Schaf gets a worthy name-check.

On Page 11,  Tristam Hunt MP {i} is writing for this edition's Diary section. He comments on the summer's weather:

"Our companion is all this has been the Met Office, whose forecasts are dashingly presented by the hunky Tomasz Schafernaker".

Nice to know our Tomasz has fans in corridors of power. I can now just imagine his name coming up in PMQ, should the provision of the BBCs weather forecasting be discussed. What would Andrew Neil make of that, one wonders.

Though of course Tomasz is assisted by one or two other people in the BBC forecasting stakes: Speaking of which-- best of luck to Carol Kirkwood (should that "Shmirkwood"?) in Strictly Come Dancing {ii}. For she is one this year's constestants; as you've probably heard, unless you've been stuck down a Chilean mine-shaft for the past month.

{i} Honourable member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, in case you were wondering.
{ii} Or if you're Tess Daly-- "Strikleh".


4 Aug 2011

Moray magnificence

It was the last episode of the current series of The Great British Weather on Wednesday, Tomasz once again confined to a recorded report.

This time he had been to the village of Portknockie, in Moray (Scotland), to explore St Elmo's Fire. Not the 1980s film or the accompanying John Parr song you understand; but the atmospheric phenomenon, which seriously afflicted the town in 2007.

Resident Fraser Milton recalled the night when a severe electric storm formed over the town; of such a ferocity, it caused sockets to explode out of walls. The culprit for this? St Elmo's fire. It is when a thunderstorm becomes so highly charged and super-heated, that nitrous oxide in the atmosphere turns to plasma, the fourth state of matter. The plasma form of nitrous oxide becomes ionised and manifests itself in blue streaks, wreaking havoc upon anything electrical.

This phenomenon can readily, but safely, observed within a plasma ball. One of those globes, with streaks of plasma emanating from the power source in the centre. If you run your hands over the surface of the globe, the plasma 'follows' your hands' movements. If you're a pilot you may see St Elmo's fire up in the clouds, from the comfort of your cockpit.

I'm told by my spies that the BBC were happy with the show; the viewing figures were decent (mostly down to The Schaf I'd say!) and another series could be planned for the winter. I would hope Carol Kirkwood would do it on her own though, she has the presence and knowledge to it-- plus no more Larry Lamb larking with lame chromakey (nothing against the man himself by the way, but what were you thinking Larry?)http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Nor do I have anything against Chris Hollins and Alexander Armstrong personally; they just seemed to superfluous and stilted on this show, especially when they are not weather experts. The former is better suited to serious serious journalism, the latter to comedy acting and gameshows-- that's what they are respectively good at after all! That's my tuppence-worth anyway.

For UK, Man and Channel Islands folks:
39:05 onwards

Finally best of luck to Tomasz for his bike-ride from London to Brighton this weekend. Fingers and other phalanges crossed.

Happy holidays, wherever you may be going....

5 Jul 2011

Radio Times

The lastest edition of Radio Times, features a large feature about the Great British Weather programme, airing next week. BBC weather forecasters past and present appear, including The Schaf.

Tomasz pictured with Carol "Schmirkwood" Kirkwood, in some cute shots. So impressive is His Loveliness, he appears inside the front cover too!







The magazine is also worth buying, because there are fun interviews and photoshoots with other forecasters; such as Alex Deakin {i}, Laura Tobin, John Kettley, Bill Giles and Michael Fish and others. The Radio Times edition in question, is out today.

Meanwhile, Tomasz has been having fun in the Blue Peter garden...






{i} In shorts, on a deckchair, for all you Deaks fans out there.

18 Jun 2011

Tomasz's new website

As you may have gathered from the imaginative post title, Tomasz has a new website-- very informative and well-constructed it is too!

The main news is that The Schaf will be featuring in a new programme examining the British obession with the weather-- it will be called The Great British Weather. The programme is to be fronted by presenter/actor Alexander Armstrong{i}, Carol Kirkwood (BBC Weather) and Chris Hollins (of BBC Breakfast and Watchdog fame).

Veteran forecasters Bill Giles, Michael Fish and John Kettley will also be making appearance-- plus the main man himself. So what will Tomasz's contribution be? He will join the TGBW team across the country; as they visit Cornwall, the Lake District and Greenwich (London) on its tour with a live and local audience at each destination. No doubt Tomasz will swamped by his adoring fans at these live events, he'll need a bigger entourage than Lady Gaga.

I also note from Twitter, that Tomasz has done a photoshoot with Carol Kirkwood for Radio Times-- I'm sure we all look foward to reading that edition of the magazine.

There are some other gems within the website, other than heart-stopping photographs of His Loveliness? I'm heartened to see that Tomasz doing the London to Brighton bike-ride charity {ii} again this year, for The British Heart Foundation. I'm not aware of any Just Giving page (or equivalent) just yet, I shall inform you, when one is created.

Also Tomasz has officially confirmed his departure from the Met Office, as of the end of March this year. He comments:

I’ve had a fantastic time working for the BBC on behalf of the Met Office and feel that I’ve been shown amazing support during my 10 years’ service. Their continued support contributed to my being presented with the TRIC Weather Presenter Of The Year award, an award which I was very proud to receive.

At this time I have many plans in development which will see me remaining within the world of weather as well as me exploring new avenues. I’m very excited about what the future holds but remain very grateful to the Met Office for my time in an organisation which is respected throughout the world, and which I’m only too happy to remain an ambassador for.

Just to prove Tomasz can laugh at himself (contrary to what some bilious Daily Maul readers, and bitches on certain Internet forums, may think), he has featured his infamous salute to erstwhile bromance-buddy Simon McCoy. Quoth The Schaf:

Those who know me, often remember me for my colourful on-air bloopers and the subsequent Youtube profile. The ‘finger incident’ generated over 5mln hits on Youtube (see media section) but, I’d still like to think I’m generally regarded as a good forecaster!


Well I for one think you are a good forecaster, Tomasz. The fact you have a bit of personality, you are an indivudal, not a 'polictical correct' {iii} drone nor anodyne autocutie, is one of many reason why I respect you (I'm sure many would agree). As for your humourless detractors, their cavilling remarks say more about them, than they do about you. There's a lot to be jealous of!

Finally if you have any enquiries, there is the option of e-mailing Tomasz's agent, Tim Reed.
tim@timreedmanagement.com

Especially professional enquiries. I reckon it's time we revived Strange But True, with Tomasz at the helm-- c'mon telly producers-- make it happen. I'm sure if the Internet's populace can revive Wispa and get Rage Against The Machine to Christmas #1, I'm sure we can make this happen to Tomasz. Yes.

Indeed Tomasz's website is so darn good, I feel my blog and I are becoming obsolescent [self-aware chortle]



I don't even know what Tomasz is doing with his left hand here^.

{i} Pimm's o'clock chaps!
{ii} Alright then "charidee"
{iii} For want of a better term

16 Nov 2010

Sad blog of the week

Having decided to persue a vendatta against Tomasz, the Daily Wail now has his colleagues in their sights, with the following:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329317/Another-storm-BBC-weather-forecasters-threaten-strikes.html

Of course they can't resist a swipe at Tomasz, he's "popular despite courting controversy". Only if you're a Daily Mail journo (or one of the paper's misanthropic readers); where being a cover star on Attitude, being Polish-born and wearing V-necker jumper/jeans on Country Tracks is a hanging offence.

Of course the Daily Mail is the paragon of moral rectitude, so it's never wrong: Except the weather forecasters in question are Met Office employees, not the BBC's. Nor does it mention that the paper is affiliated with ITV (no bias there then) via Northcliffe. Also Tomasz, Rob McElwee and Phil Avery will become "weather duty managers", even though they "failed to impress" (quoth DM) with "team leadership skills".

Then we have the rational critique from the upstanding audience of the Daily Mail, in the comments section. Summed up as thus....
} "They're typical, prima-donna public-sector workers".
Yeah all public-sector workers earn shed-loads, have gold-plated pensions and are pampered at work. In DM world they do at least.

} "Tomasz is always puts his foot in it/messes up. He's an oddbod and needs to put back-office, put him in his place, wings clipped".
Really? Every single one of his broadcasts? Of course DM readers never make mistakes. If they do, they don't and can't laugh about it. They got and birch themselves instead. By "odd", they mean Tomasz is jovial, has a sense of humour and is too gorgeous for his own good. Why should he have his "wings clipped". Can't have him upsetting miserable folk with little self-esteem can we?

Apparently he "brought the whole BBC into disrepute [re middle-finger]". Alright he wasn't particularly professional, but the overwhelming response was that of humour and sympathy. Certainly I didn't see a marauding mob marching to White City to burn a pyre of LF recepits, with Tomasz as the guy.

} "Get rid of the likes of Tomasz, Alex Deakin, Carol Kirkwood-- get the newsreader to do it. Their celeb status is undeserved. Well-loved? Hardly, they wouldn't be missed. Only the weather-geeks care".
Let's not have qualified experts doing the forecast, who have some personality. Not popular? This blog gets a hundred visits a day, and the superb Dan Corbett blog is not exactly unfurnished with visits either.

} "They're always pregnant".
The female ones of course... in the world of the DM, they should in the kitchen. Preferably making your dinner; can't have women getting to cocky in the workplace now, can we.

} "Want to know the weather? Look outside/look on the net/pine-cone"
That's helpful, if you want to know what the weather/temperature is going to be like in the *following* days, isn't it? Of course DM readers can see into the future, because they know everything will go wrong-- so it's always gloomy in their world! Not everyone has time to go on the net and interpret complex satellite data either.

If the BBC let the Met Office sacked the weather-presenters, the DM fraternity would be in outrage; complaining the BBC is dumbing again, what is it spending the LF on, blah-blah

Well Schaffanatics, would you rather look at a lump of seaweed or pinecone-- or watch/listen to Tomasz? I rest my case.

A few nice comments about Tomasz. Kamil says he is "so fit" (how did that slip past the DM censors); another who says it's a household event chez lui, to watch Tomasz alone-- just to see if he slips-up (backhanded or what?). Finally "keep Tomasz and lash the rest". Errmm... yeah...

I can imagine this their favourite song at the Daily Heil...



Meanwhile, this is Private Eye's take on things!


PS: Tomasz on tomorrow, lunchtime shift (inc News At One, end of You & Yours plus News Channel)

10 Mar 2010

An excellent TRIC

I'm sure you'll recall that The Schaf was nominated for a Television & Radio Industry Club (TRIC) award recently, for best weather presenter. I'm delighted to say Tomasz won, and rightly so! Photobucket

I'm sure, like me, you want to give him a warm hand.
PhotobucketPhotobucket

His rivals were Carol Kirkwood (who's won it twice before) and Peter Cockcroft (me neither... hardly Jon Mitchell!). However Tomasz deserves it on his own merit: For his engaging forecasts, delightful personality, charity work and being "piękny". I think the Attitude shoot may have swung it as well [haha]

Here is Tomasz collecting his award from Brendan Cole (he off Strictly Coming Dancing). More photos on Facebook

Update:
Footage of The Schaf collecting his award-- lovely gleeful run and acceptance speech... plus Tomasz's own blog on the award

Speaking of Attitude, our hero was in it again this month {i}: He attended Gareth Thomas's coming-out party, organised by said magazine-- it was held at the Movida Club in London's Soho.

Tomasz clearly getting himself acquainted with his fellow cover-stars (Jonny somebody?) {iii}...



And with the man of the moment, Gareth Thomas {ii}


However this (highlighted) bit in the write-up, amused me.



I really hope they are being wry there! Nothing "strangely popular" about Tomasz at all-- he's beautiful inside and out-- plus he's got oodles of charisma! No wonder everyone wants to know him. Although they write in an above picture-caption, that he's the "lovely" Tomasz Schafernaker, so we'll let the author off.

Finally a bit of Tomasz on Saturday night-- wouldn't you just! From 11:56pm. "Gin clear skies too!"
Thanks Terratec365




{i} April's Attitude is out in the shops now
{ii} The shaved eyebrow strikes again! Tomasz is 5'8" and Gareth Thomas is 6'3", in case you're wondering!
{iii} Johnny Partridge I'm told, Christian from Eastenders. See here, Ryan Price's lovely website

28 Jan 2010

Tricky gig for Tomasz

Congratualtions and gratulacj to The Schaf, he is on a shortlist to win a TRIC award, that is a Television & Radio Industries Club award-- up against Peter Cockcroft and Carol Kirkwood!

As of yet, we don't know when the awards will be-- even the great man himself doesn't!.

I'm sure The Schaf will easily win; if not, I want a steward's inquiry! As we Schaffanatics know, he is consistently brilliant! I wonder if TRIC accept money in brown envelopes [/joke]

He better win, otherwise there will be trouble...