Charlie Connelly

If, like me, you like to root for the underdog, you'll enjoy Charlie Connelly's sports/travel narrative about his year following Liechtenstein's national soccer team. Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in Europe with a population of just over 30,000. The team is realistic about their chances against teams from much larger countries with lots of professional players to choose from. However, their goal is to improve the quality of soccer in their country and the skill level of show more their young players, and playing in the qualifying rounds for the World Cup is a means to achieve that goal. The plan is already working by the time Connelly comes along. The team he follows through the qualification matches for the 2002 World Cup includes a handful of professional and semi-professional players, as well as several amateurs.

I became a Liechtenstein fan in the course of reading the book. I was impressed by the character of the players and by their outlook on life. Even the professional players realized that there's more to life than soccer, and they all had goals for life beyond soccer. They all seemed to be aware of the incredible opportunity that being on the national team gave them to play against some of the best players in Europe. While they might be a little star-struck, they weren't intimidated, and their defensive style of play forced their opponents to work hard for each goal.

Connelly seems to have had a genuine admiration for most of the people he met in his travels to Liechtenstein. His humor is just as often at his own expense as anyone else's. His frequent trips gave him plenty of time to see all the country has to offer, and his book is as much travel narrative as sports journalism. Highly recommended for both sports fans and readers of travel literature. show less

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 show more 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.) show less

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 show more 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. show less

Like Simon Winchester’s travels in Outposts this is a particularly British journey. Unless you are a “native' or spent time listening to the BBC news broadcasts the iconic subject of both the title and the purpose of the author’s trip might confuse. However, if you grew up listening to the beautifully modulated tones of the BBC news-reader intoning “Cromarty, Rockall and Viking” – as iconic to many as “Liverpool 1, Everton 2”- this book describes a trip of full of nostalgia; show more that most unreliable source of history.

Perhaps a quick look at the actual service would be helpful as a starter for non-Brits (http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/shipping_forecast/) and would explain the intent and purpose of the forecast, if not the alluring mystique. The author recollects his own, near Pavlovin reaction, to hearing the signature tune as a boy, because it signified his tea-time. He later decides to visit each region named in the forecast that shared at least on boundary line with an accessible point – and he took his celebrated humour with him.

A delightful book is the result of his journey, and brings gems to our reading from the sea-regions including the actual history of the invention of shipping news to save lives by Robert Fitzroy, the ex-Captain of the Darwin voyage in HMS (Her Majesty’s Ship) the Beagle. During one of the periodic adjustments of the sea-regions,150 years later, Fitzroy was honored by naming the southernmost region as Fitzroy – it was formally Biscay – after his contribution.

Connelly’s trip is full of Irish wit and fully explains the allure and mystery of why this broadcast is of heavy significance to those who depended on it for livelihood and to those who just listened to the sonorous announcements whilst shivering under the bedclothes at home, in gratitude for not having to weather it. show less