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Start giftingAttention All Shipping - Abridged
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Learn moreThis solemn, rhythmic intonation of the shipping forecast on BBC radio is as familiar as the sound of Big Ben chiming the hour. Since its first broadcast in the 1920s it has inspired poems, songs and novels in addition to its intended objective of warning generations of seafarers of impending storms and gales.
Sitting at home listening to the shipping forecast can be a cosily reassuring experience. There's no danger of a westerly gale eight, veering southwesterly increasing nine later (visibility poor) gusting through your average suburban living room, blowing the Sunday papers all over the place and startling the cat.
Yet familiar though the sea areas are by name, few people give much thought to where they are or what they contain. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING Charlie Connelly wittily explores the places behind the voice, those mysterious regions whose names seem often to bear no relation to conventional geography. Armchair travel will never be the same again.
Charlie Connelly is the author of a string of books including And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years of British and Irish History, Last Train to Hilversum: A Journey in Search of the Magic of Radio and Bring Me Sunshine: A Windswept, Rain-Soaked, Sun-Kissed, Snow-Capped Guide to Our Weather. Three of his books have been selected as BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Charlie is the literary correspondent for the New European, writes and presents the Coastal Stories podcast and performs his one-man show about the shipping forecast in venues across the country. He lives in Scotland where he misses Charlton Athletic terribly.