I’m not dying, I just ran up the stairs, weatherman tells listeners

A RADIO 4 weather presenter who caused concern among listeners when he struggled to catch his breath during his forecast has revealed the cause – he had just run upstairs to make it to the studio on time.

Simon King’s apparent breathing difficulties led to speculation online yesterday with one user on Twitter, suggesting the weatherman might be having “some sort of attack”, while another said it was “disgraceful no one took over the reading for him”.

Several listeners also said they were concerned because they had not heard an update on his welfare from the BBC.

The presenter took to social media to allay concerns. In a post on Twitter, Mr King explained he had simply been running late and was breathless from racing up multiple flights of stairs. He said: “Time was really tight after I finished a TV hit so I decided to run upstairs to the radio studio … big mistake.”

He thanked listeners who had asked after his welfare and said: “Not going to lie, it was horrendous … I just couldn’t catch a breath.”

Mr King told The Telegraph he had also been bombarded with messages asking: “You okay? Have you had an asthma attack? Heart attack?”

“Fortunately it was nothing more than just running to get to the studio in time up a massive flight of stairs and then struggling with it,” he added.

On Sundays the weather reporter is responsible for providing the forecast live on Radio 4, the Breakfast programme, and Radio 5 Live. Normally the Breakfast forecast is at 7.45am, with the Radio 4 slot at 7.57am, but yesterday morning the TV news was running late.

“As I got out of the studio I looked at my watch and realised, ‘Christ, I have only got two minutes before I need to be on Radio 4’.” The TV studio in Salford is on the ground floor with the radio studio up a long flight of stairs.

Mr King said he made a “split-second decision” to run up the stairs. “Obviously when I got to the radio studio and I couldn’t breathe, I immediately thought that was probably a bad idea.”

He told The Telegraph that he had a much more serious incident during the shipping forecast 13 years ago.

“I had a cyst in my spleen, which decided to burst while I was doing the forecast. I was in an incredible amount of pain during that time, and I was rushed off the hospital straight after the shipping forecast”, he said. “I actually think I styled that out better. I don’t think anyone noticed that my spleen erupted. Compared to this time around – I got away with it last time!”