"As a tipster it put Weather Man Akeroyd right on top. He tipped that the mercury would go over the century mark."

"Mr Akeroyd, who has been hiding his light under bushels of security since Pearl Harbour, has become Perth's No.1 hero since the forecast ban was lifted."

"None of this 'between 90 and 100 racket' with him. He say's it'll he 87, or 95, or some such. And to date he's rarely been more than a degree or two out".

Akeroyd, a rather burley, balding man known generally as "AK" is remembered by his colleagues for his ready wit, a keenly developed commercial sense, and personal idiosyncrasies. A typical telephone conversation would run:

Enquirer: "I'm sailing to Rottnest. What's the forecast?"

Akeroyd: "We've issued a gale warning. The first half will be very rough with strong nor-westers."

Enquirer: "What about the second half?"

Akeroyd: "There won't be a second half."

Or he would charmingly convince a caller, while puffing on an old rusty pipe and twiddling his pencil between both thumbs and forefingers, with the explanation, "it'll be fine tomorrow if we don't have a change in the meantime".

One of his junior assistants recalls an early smoking habit, "he would stick a pin into the butt and smoke it to the lost shred of tobacco". Another, his sole administrative assistant at the time, a lady, recalls his impatience with clerical formalities "I saw him once authorise a purchase of a utility for the Commonwealth with a penny receipt book". Never noted for his punctuality Akeroyd supposedly had an agreement with a similarly inclined subordinate never to acknowledge the other's presence on the Cottesloe bus on the way to work.

Bureau of Meteorology