Broadcaster pays tribute to weather presenter who was ‘north-west royalty’
BBC WEATHER presenter Dianne Oxberry was “an oasis of loveliness in all our lives”, broadcaster Tony Livesey has told her memorial service.
Hundreds of colleagues, friends and members of the public gathered yesterday at Manchester Cathedral to remember the mother-of-two, 51, who died last month.
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Livesey recalled working with Oxberry on North-West Tonight, where she had been a presenter since 1994. He said she was “north-west royalty” but “wore that celebrity very lightly”.
Livesey said: “She was fabulously normal. She’d be flabbergasted by all this. I’d go as far as to say that if Dianne was here today, she wouldn’t be here.
“She’d be honoured that we’d all taken the time to think about her but she’d rather be out with the family having fun.”
He told the packed cathedral: “For me, it feels like the weather stopped once we lost Dianne.”
Many of those who spoke recalled the much-replayed moment when comedian Peter Kay interrupted her weather forecast live on air.
The 90-minute long service was punctuated with clips of Oxberry’s varied career and tributes from broadcasters she had worked with, along with members of the public.
Oxberry died on January 10, weeks after she was last on air. Her family said it followed a “very short battle” with ovarian cancer.