Popular culture is something that is constantly influenced by the Shipping Forecasts, as a piece of traditional British heritage it has become a true representation of Britishness. The forecasts have influenced many people in many aspects of life and media including film, music, comedy, poets, artists, designers and more. They were used as a representation of Britain in the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. The world televised ceremony boasted a brief overview of British history opening with a small sound clip from the beginning of a broadcast accompanied by an orchestra. A reminder we’re a small island yet powerful.
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The forecasts are a treasure to the British Isles and something that’s cherished within our culture, inspiring many artists across many forms. Music and art are two of the mediums the Shipping Forecasts have influenced, with comparisons being made in music by bands as big as Blur and Radiohead. There are exhibitions and on going series of work being created by artists and photographers who continue to be inspired by the mystery and uniqueness to this fine British broadcast.
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PETER COLLYER
Peter Collyer is a watercolour artist who's inspirations are based around the British Isles and the Shipping Forecasts. He also delivers talks on the Shipping Forecasts and his travels around them whilst trying to capture them in different lights and sea scapes. I have contacted him regarding my MRP which he is actively interested in and helpful towards. |
NEIL STEVENS
A set of prints by Neil Stevens who was inspired by the forecast broadcasts with their unique language, unusual regional names and phrases. These are nicely designed, graphic and geometrical prints designed with simplicity in mind. They are inspired by the coasts and surroundings in these areas. |
MARK POWER
Power primarily shoots his work on large format film, but has more recently diversified into short film making. Power was inspired by the Shipping Forecasts for a project that involved travelling to and photographing all 31 areas covered by forecasts. This project was published as a book and was a touring exhibition across the UK and France. His works capture an essence of loneliness and emotion, all of which are understandable and able to link to the forecasts nicely. |
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SEAN STREET
Shipping Forecast: The Fisherman and His Wife in Donegal They have shared still late October, but salt stones and a broken tree, the peeled paint on the lifeboat house chime with places where the glass falls, prime sources encountering night’s bald predictions. Everywhere winter edges in, and now the time is ten to six... Lightness and weight, air’s potentials pressed into words, implication; here – on all coasts – listening grows passionately tense. Fair Isle, Faeroes, South East Iceland, North Utsire, South Utsire, Fisher, German Bight, Tyne, Dogger... This pattern of names on the sea – |
Weather’s unlistening geography – paves water. Beyond the music, the singing of sounds – this minimal chanting, this ritual pared to the bone becomes the cold poetry of information. The litany edges closer –Lundy, Fastnet and Irish Sea... Routine enough, all just routine, Always his eyes guessing beyond the headland, she perhaps sleeping, no words spoken. He stretches forward to grasp it, claims his radio place – and now the weather reports from coastal stations and then: Malin Head – such routine that she barely glances up, but hears now falling. |
SEAMUS HEANEY
The Shipping Forecast Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea: Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice, Collapse into a sibilant penumbra. Midnight and closedown. Sirens of the tundra, Of eel-road, seal-road, keel-road, whale-road, raise Their wind-compounded keen behind the baize |
And drive the trawlers to the lee of Wicklow. L’Etoile, Le Guillemot, La Belle Hélène Nursed their bright names this morning in the bay That toiled like mortar. It was marvellous And actual, I said out loud, ‘A haven,’ The word deepening, clearing, like the sky Elsewhere on Minches, Cromarty, The Faroes. |
Sailing By by Ronald Binge, 1963
Performed by the Alan Perry/William Gardner Orchestra This is the version played on the Shipping Forecasts. It acts as a buffer between the news bulletin and the Shipping Forecast, in order to make the Shipping Forecast play at exactly the same time each day. This gives the Radio 4 controllers leeway if the programming of Radio 4 is running late. There was an outcry when it was temporarily taken off air for two years in 1993. |
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Mercy by Wires, 1978 Album: Chairs Missing:
LYRICS: Snow storms forecast imminently in areas Dogger, Viking, Moray, Forth, and Orkney |
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This is a Low by Blur, 1994 Album: Parklife
LYRICS: "And into the sea Goes pretty England and me Around the Bay of Biscay ... ... Hit traffic on the Dogger bank Up the Thames to find a taxi rank ... ... On the Tyne forth and Cramity There's a low in the high forties " Blur take Inspiration from the forecasts, notable in their first tour film, Starshaped, featuring extracts from the forecasts during the opening and closing credits. |
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In Limbo by Radiohead, 2000 Album: Kid A
Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea I've got a message I can't read The lyrics were used to reinforce the idea of being lost. This album was on a vinyl release of which has the names of several of the forecast's sea areas etched into the runoff space. |
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New Ceremony by Dry the River, 2012 Album: Shallow Bed
But after we danced to the shipping forecast the words escaped your mouth... |
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The Shipping Forecast EP by The Blueprints
The whole EP has a maritme theme and seafairing references throughout. Oceans, icebergs, harbours and ships pull the songs together into one cohesive piece of work. The cover art is nicely thought out and designed with a vintage and retro style to reflect that of the band. |
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The Shipping Forecasts were used to represent Britain in the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, as part of a huge ceremony, shown world wide to cover everything British. What it is to be British and what it's like.
The forecast's, with centuries of heritage, set us apart from the world with the british isles reminding us and others we're a small island, however connected and powerful. The forecasts themselves are such a huge and mysterious part of our culture and heritage, something that defines us as islanders it only seems fitting to include them. |
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Last year in a bid to raise money for Children in Need, Radio 4 auctioned off a series of activities online. The activities were made up from all the things they do in Radio 4, with over 40 activities available to take part in, ranging from walking with Clare Balding on one of her ramblings followed by a pub
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lunch to being coached by one of the distinctive voices of Radio 4 Continuity in how to read the Shipping Forecast before recording your own version.
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SHIPPING FORECAST RAP
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UKIP SHIPPING FORECAST
Spawning after the Somerset Levels flooding and UKIPs excuse for it being the legalisation of gay marriage this hugely offensive UKIP Shipping Forecast was a clever way to create a firm link with there British values. It caused a huge backlash of very mixed views from both UKIP supporters and those form opposing parties, with shock, anger. Most commonly the reaction subjected Nigel Farage's party to severe mockery, in conjunction with there risk-ay past statements and views. It didn't have an effect on the forecasts themselves. |
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