By: Peter Jefferson

Paperback

Click on the Google Preview image above to read some pages of this book!

This affectionate look at the revered British radio broadcast surveys the history and lore of the four-times daily announcements of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. Written from the perspective of an announcer who read the on-air forecast for nearly 40 years, this book begins with the genesis of the forecast itself. This narrative spans from 19th-century inventions of the Beaufort wind scale and Fitzroy's barometer and the founding of the British Meteorological Office to maritime codes, conventions, and traditions and life on the ocean wave. With a look at how technological progress has intervened in the collation, production, and transmission of the Shipping Forecast, this book shows how the broadcasts earned such a deep-rooted place in the audiences' psyche.

In 2009, The Guardian said of Peter Jefferson's long career reading the Shipping Forecast: 'For this daily dose of the beautiful to work, nothing is more important than the god who administers it. None has been more perfect in the last few years than Peter Jefferson, the voice of perfect modulation, the near-equal of the incomparable Charlotte Green, neither thin nor fruity, effortlessly clear, understanding that the beauty of the moment depends on restraint and the absence of any hint of doubt.'

1. Prologue 2. The Genesis of The Shipping Forecast 3. Name changing but not name calling 4. The Meteorological Office 5. The Lighter Side 6. Unexpected Outside Broadcast 7. Sailing By and sailing by the seat of your pants 8. A Tale of Shipping Area Turbulence Part 1 9. Shedding some light - on Lighthouses 10. Codes, Conventions and Traditions 11. A Tale of Shipping Area Turbulence Part 2 12. Greenwich Means More Than Time 13. A Life on the Ocean Wave

ISBN: 9781906860158
ISBN-10: 1906860157
Audience: General
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 256
Published: 1st April 2012
Dimensions (cm): 19.8 x 13.2  x 2.4
Weight (kg): 0.248