Having gained mathematics degrees from Cambridge and spent some post-doc years in the USA, Brian Hoskins has been at the University of Reading for more than 40 years, being made a professor in 1981, and also more recently has led a climate institute at Imperial College London. His international activities have included being President of IAMAS and Vice-Chair of the JSC for WCRP. He is a member of the science academies of the UK, Europe, USA and China, he has received the top awards of both the Royal and American Meteorological Societies, the Vilhelm Bjerknes medal of the EGU and the Buys Ballot Medal, and he was knighted in 2007. From a background in physics and astronomy, Ian James worked in the geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory of the Meteorological Office before joining the University of Reading in 1979. During his 31 years in the Reading meteorology department, he has taught courses in dynamical meteorology and global atmospheric circulation. In 1998, he was awarded the Buchan Prize of the Royal Meteorological Society for his work on low frequency atmospheric variability. He has been President of the Dynamical Meteorology Commission of IAMAS, vice president of the Royal Meteorological Society, and currently edits the journal Atmospheric Science Letters. He now serves as an Anglican priest in Cumbria.