The 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.
Attention All Shipping
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'If there was a campaign for Real Football, Charlie Connelly would be its first president' - Independent on Sunday
Book Description
Dogger. Rockall. Malin. Irish Sea' - the hilarious bestselling travel book that journeys round areas made famous by Radio 4's The Shipping Forecast.
--This text refers to an alternate
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book! If you have ever wondered where North Utsire is or what it may be like to have a North Easterly Gale force 8 blowing across Lundy, then this is the book for you. Connelly reveals each of the sea areas of the shipping forecast in turn in a very easy to read format. He is quite ready to share with us his failings but he also tells the reader about life on the edge of the coast with a gentleness lost in some others writings. If you liked Bryson, Hawks etc then you will like this book, even if you don't know your Bailey from your Viking.
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By swchairman
Format:Paperback
Ever since I was a lad, I've wanted to read the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4. Which is why I'm now an engineer. But there remains a great charm and poetry to the forecast which, since its first broadcast in 1911, has become a fixture of British radio. For me, there's the comfort of shutting up the shop, drawing in the curtains, as the announcer makes his (or her) way around this island and its territorial waters, starting in the north-east and working clockwise to Iceland. At twelve minutes to one in the morning, it's comforting; a precise definition of all of the land, and sea, that Britain encompasses. As I've grown older, the coastal reports mean more to me, as I recognise places I've been, headlands I've stood upon. As sleep rushes over me, I try to picture the island and tick the places off - Channel Light Vessel Automatic; Aberporth; Sangette Automatic; and so on.
Charlie Connelly's book is like a manifesto for Shipping Forecast Aholics Anonymous. He starts with the same love of the thing and attempts to visit all of the areas, to better make the mental pictures in later life. It's a fantastic piece of scheduling to have this as the Late Book on Radio 4 - how post-modern! A book reading about the very next programme!
Connelly's book has kinsmen in the Tony Hawks triology, Pete McCarthy's books, and others like 'Tilting at Windmills' but, for me, it is so much better than those. He explores the areas wittily, and there's a fair amount of personal experience built into his tales, but there's also a real care and passion in the histories he tells of each area. In short, it's great fun but really interesting too - highly recommended.
Two very minor quibbles. First, why no photographs? In the chapter about the Isle of Man, Connelly talks about having a photographer with him - a few plates would be excellent. Second, twice, when quoting the forecast in reported speech, Connelly writes '...And now the shipping forecast as issued by the Met Office at 0048...'. But, as all afficianados know, 0048 is when the forecast starts; never when it's been prepared - that's usually around midnight. Gr.
But overall, a really good book - it rattles along, it's good fun, and it's about something that matters. What more could you want?
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By JR Daeschner
Format:Paperback
The idea behind "Attention All Shipping: A Journey Around the Shipping Forecast" is so ingenious you wonder why nobody has ever done it before. Whereas many globe-hopping travel writers struggle desperately to come up with increasingly outlandish odysseys, Charlie Connelly has accomplished a much more impressive feat: revealing the extraordinary diversity that exists right here in the British Isles and their near neighbours. In a book brimming with characters and anecdotes, my favourites are the Crown Prince of Sealand (a rusty World War Two military platform in the North Sea) and the Pythonesque women who cheerfully bully their customers into buying Belgian waffles in the Choxaway Café at Land's End Aerodrome.
Whether you view the shipping forecast as a dry, nautical roll call or get all misty at the mere mention of Dogger, Fisher and German Bight, you will find plenty to enjoy in "Attention All Shipping". From beginning to end, Connelly proves a funny and self-deprecating guide, the kind of guy you'd be happy to be stuck on a remote island with-provided he had recovered from his latest bout of seasickness. Five stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT
I purchased this book as a present for my brother, he enjoyed it so much that it is curently doing the rounds in the family. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Susan Charlton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attention All Shipping
A good read, an unusual read. Witty, informative, engaging; it's a book that tells you an unknown history of Britain's coast line and the relevance and exciting stories of the two... Read more
Published 12 days ago by gillianr trussell
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for every 5:20am riser.....
Anyone who is awake for the shipping forecast really ought to read this wonderful book...the magical names which spill from the radio as a morning alarm or a soothing lullaby are... Read more
Published 23 days ago by LadyHawk
4.0 out of 5 stars
an OK read
a book club choice that had to be read, wouldnt have chosen it myselfe but did enjoy it, I learned alot about the coast
Published 1 month ago by Mr John Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
I loved this book, it is funny and informative and very entertaining. I have also purchsed the udio book version to liten to in the car
Published 1 month ago by Mr Nigel T H Roche
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bit of fun.
As an ex-sailor, I am very familiar with the names of the shipping forecast areas but approached this book with caution as I wasn't sure how frivolous I was going to find it - but... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gini
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly nostalgic!
Well read by Alex Jennings, right down to occasional accents.
Took me back to my childhood when we listened to the Shipping Forecast - don't know why as we lived in... Read more
Took me back to my childhood when we listened to the Shipping Forecast - don't know why as we lived in... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Penny Lee
4.0 out of 5 stars
A cracking read!
This is an excellent book bringing together the interest in the sea areas around the British Isles with names that it seems everyone has heard of, consciously or otherwise with... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Peter P
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, unusual book
As an avid, albeit younger than average, Radio 4 listener, the shipping forecast is a fascinating window on a different world. Read more
Published 2 months ago by jorichardson
5.0 out of 5 stars
I queried Heligoland with National Maritime Museum in Falmouth which...
I'd recommend it to anyone of a certain age, who has grown up with the comforting sound of the shipping forecast on radio. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Anon
Listmania!
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