Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast

Written by Charlie Connelly

Narrated by Charlie Connelly

This 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Release date: Mar 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781405553728

Charlie Connelly

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.

Reviews for Attention All Shipping

[datrappert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Connelly sets out to explore all the regions mentioned in the BBC's daily shipping forecast. This takes us to some remote places, which he describes as well as he can--combining history with personal observations, and he is capable of some good descriptive writing. This extends to his descriptions of the people he meets along the way, such as a band of drunken Norwegians on a ferry. Connelly sees himself as a humorous writer, and he actually is pretty funny without being annoying. But his trip is also very poorly planned; he doesn't make it to several of his intended destinations. As interesting as parts of the book are, it doesn't quite add up to a very satisfying whole. But you will find yourself spending a lot of time on Google maps looking at these places! (I should also point out this this is a VERY British book and many of the people and events will be unknown to most American readers, even some, like me, who are semi-Anglophiles.)

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I had borrowed this book from my good friend Mark Stockdale, i really wanted to be able to say that it was my second favourite book about the Shipping Zones (as part of a long-running private joke). Sadly I can't say that with any honesty as the only other book I have read about the shipping zones was Peter Jefferson's woeful 'And Now The Shipping Forecast' which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by contriving to render a potentially fascinating subject simply facile.

Connelly also treats the subject with a certain degree of humour but brings far greater knowledge to his account and readily captures the reader's empathy. Having been fascinated by the mantra-like recitation of the Shipping News he found himself being persuaded to sail around all the different zones. The idea sounds absurdly simple, though his journey was to prove anything but easy, but the adversities that he encountered, and overcame, lend a gritty core to this entertaining tale.

He is not a great literary stylist but he does convey his story with lucidity and coherence, and it captured my attention right from the start.

[pussreboots · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The year Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly came out, I got a job working as a web producer for a client based in Texas, while I was in California. The office I worked in was very small and very quiet. To bridge the gap between my scheduled assignments, I started listening to the internet stream of Radio Four.

With my location in California and the hours I worked, meant that my day began and ended with a broadcast of the Shipping Forecast. I think it was also on Radio Four that I heard a very positive book review of Connelly's memoir of a his journey around the shipping forecast map.

Connelly gave himself a year to visit one spot in every piece of the shipping forecast map that has an actual town. His book chronicles the ups and downs of that journey. Some places are tiny and remote. He struggled with bad weather, boredom and transportation issues.

It includes some points of history of the shipping forecast and how it has changed over the years. For me it was the perfect combination of history, travelogue, and social commentary.

[oreillynsf_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An American reader like me has a tougher time understanding the importance of the Shipping forecast in the UK, but this interesting book provides a unique perspective on people and places surrounding the UK. Connelly's travels around every sector of the Forecast provide a funny look at people and places. I was quite impressed by the quality of the writing and storytelling - but for my American eyes, the concept clearly held less promise than for other (UK) readers.

[justagirl_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliantly funny story of a man's journey around all the areas of the shipping forecast. Dangerous to read on public transport as not only will you laugh like a loon, you will also have to desperately curb the impulse to turn to the stranger next to you and read bits of it to them.

[megans_361455 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Doesn't get much better than this - what could be more entertaining than a journey round the shipping forecast!!

[bopeep_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A journey around the Shipping Forecast, somewhat in the manner of Tim Moore's Now Pass Go (about the Monopoly board). Well-written and genuinely interesting, it made me laugh out loud several times on the M6. Which can't be bad.

[herschelian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If it is a dark, wet and windy night it is wonderful to be tucked up in bed with a good book, listening to the soothing tones of the BBC radio announced reading out the Shipping Forecast. Familiar to many of us, yet few of us know much about the history of the shipping forcast and the places named in it. This book enlightens the reader on these and many other fascinating facts about the costal areas of the UK. Connolly brings the people and places together in a lighthearted manner and recounts some truly hilarious episodes during his journey.