Thomas Weir MBE (29 December 1914 – 6 July 2006) was a Scottish climber, author and broadcaster. He was best known for his long-running television series ''Weir's Way''.

Early life and career

Weir was born in

Springburn, Glasgow Springburn () is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet (place), hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its industrial ...

, and the younger brother of the actress

Molly Weir Mary Weir (17 March 1910 – 28 November 2004), known as Molly Weir, was a Scottish actress. She appeared as the character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series '' Rentaghost''. She was the sister of naturalist and broadcaster Tom Weir. Biog ...

. After service in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

during World War II, he worked as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

for the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, before commencing a full-time career as a climber, writer and photographer. In 1950 he was a member of the first post-war Himalayan expedition and, in 1952, was one of the first to explore the previously closed mountain ranges of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, east of

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

Media career and later life

Weir became a pioneering campaigner for the protection of the Scottish environment, and wrote a column for ''

The Scots Magazine ''The Scots Magazine'' is a magazine containing articles on subjects of Scottish interest. It claims to be the oldest magazine in the world still in publication, although there have been several gaps in its publication history. It has reported on ...

'' for over 50 years. From 1976–1987, he hosted the

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

series ''Weir's Way'', meeting the people of Scotland, exploring the landscape and its natural history. When STV repeated the series during the late night slot from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s it managed to achieve 30% audience share. The series is available on DVD in the UK. Weir won the Scottish Television 'Personality of the Year Award' in 1976. He was appointed MBE in 1976. He lived in Gartocharn and in 2000 he was awarded the inaugural John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award by the

John Muir Trust The John Muir Trust (JMT) is a Scottish charity, established in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all. The Trust runs an environmental award scheme, manages several estates, mainly in the Highlands and Islands of Scot ...

in recognition of his environmental work. He is also celebrated in the song "Tom Weir" written by Edinburgh musician Sandy Wright and performed by the band Aberfeldy. And in 2007, L. Pierre wrote an ambient instrumental song, "Weir's Way", featured on his album, "Dip". Weir was buried on 17 July 2006 in Kilmaronock Parish Church, near Drymen, in the same plot as the ashes of his sister Molly.

DVD release

A collection of some of Weir's best walks was released on DVD in 2006. Both series of Weir's Way are available on DVD, distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn Media, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media ...

References

External links

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STV Player STV Player is a video on demand service owned by STV Group and available free-of-charge across the UK, online, on mobile and on all major TV platforms, including Sky Glass, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Freeview Play, Frees ...

) * (

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Tom Weir in the Gazetteer for Scotland

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Tom 1914 births 2006 deaths Scottish mountain climbers Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish travel writers Walkers of the United Kingdom Members of the Order of the British Empire Scottish television presenters People from Springburn