WEATHERMAN John Kettley - immortalised in a 1988 Top 40 song - has been signed up to predict lucrative barbecue weather for a North Yorkshire food company.

Dalepak, of Leeming Bar, owner of the Ross Frozen Burgers brand, commissioned the BBC Radio 5 weather presenter to devise a mathematical formula which will use the weather to predict sales of burgers.

In this way, Ross hopes to send enough burgers out to shops to cope with demand.

Mr Kettley has already predicted that this year the UK is set to enjoy a repeat of the scorching summer of 2003 - meaning Ross burgers could enjoy a second year of record sales.

Last year, according to Mr Kettley's barbecue formula, which takes into account wind, temperature and cloud cover, 2003 enjoyed a record 41 perfect barbecue days, against a ten-year average of 36, and he forecasts that 2004 will be even better.

He also said that the trend of improving weather will continue.

By 2050, southern parts of the UK will enjoy the same climate as the south of France and the balmy weather of the "Cornish Riviera" could reach the North-East by 2020.

By the end of the 21st Century, Mr Kettley predicts that the UK will enjoy as many perfect barbecue days as Australia, according to his formula.

He said: "My research shows that summers are becoming hotter, drier, and longer."

In 1988, the pop group Tribe of Toffs released their single John Kettley is a weatherman, which spent five weeks in the charts.