We establish the uniform boundedness of the weighted Hilbert transform in function spaces associated with a class of even weights on the real line with varying rates of smooth decay near AE1. We then consider the numerical approximation of the weighted Hilbert transform and to this end we establish convergence results and error estimates which we prove are sharp. Our formulae are based on polynomial interpolation at the zeros of orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight function under consideration, augmented by two carefully chosen extra points. Typical examples of weights that are studied are: ðaÞ w ðxÞ :¼ exp À x j j ð Þ, > 1, x 2 R; ðbÞ w k; ðxÞ :¼ exp À exp k ðjxj Þ À Á , > 0, k ! 1, x 2 R.