Attention All Shipping

Book excerpt: The hilarious bestselling travel book that journeys round areas made famous by Radio 4's Shipping Forecast 'One of those simple yet brilliant ideas' Daily Mail 'Engaging and often very funny' Sunday Times 'A wonderfully eccentric study' Observer The Shipping Forecast is a curious piece of broadcasting; at once impenetrably baffling yet at the same time reassuringly familiar, most of us have grown up with this sonorous gazetteer firmly planted in our subconscious. But where are these places, and what secrets do they conceal? Charlie Connelly sets off on a journey round the forecast to find out, unearthing the history and culture behind one of Britain's best-loved broadcasting institutions. More than simply a hilarious travel book, Attention All Shipping ensures that the evocative stanzas of the shipping forecast will remain a mystery no more. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK