Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast

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 show more 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 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 show more 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; 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, show more 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

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.

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 show more 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. show less

The tales of Charlie Connelly's travels around the 31 Shipping Forecast areas were, in general, entertaining and enlightening. I enjoyed his visit to Utsire immensely, and the Isles of Scilly (area Sole), Cromer (area Humber) and Fair Isle were other highlights, combining insights into the histories of the areas with personal observations of and reflections on where he stayed. However, especially towards the end of the book, it seemed to be rather more focussed on his ineptitude. He seemed not to have grasped the notion of checking whether he would be able to get to his destination in the time he'd given himself, and would then spend several pages wailing about it. Area Malin was allotted a paltry four pages in which he told a story of show more how the alarm in his hotel had gone off, and he spent his entire time on Lundy feeling very sorry for himself because he'd done the crossing on a very rough day. Instead of spending more time there, he sat in the pub and made himself feel more ill before going back.

So not a perfect travelogue by any means, but I did learn a few interesting snippets and it's certainly inspired me to visit some of the places he visited on his meanderings. show less

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.