Sea change
The Guardian Weekly|February 10, 2023
BBC radio’ shipping forecast holds aspecial place in British culture. Mark Power tried to capture its mystery in his 1996 book, which has been updated with new images
Sean O’Hagan
Sea change

Though the shipping forecast is still broadcast daily on BBC Radio 4, the strange resonance of what Seamus Heaney called “that strong gale-warning voice” may not, in an age of digital information overload, cast quite the same spell it once did on the collective imagination. It nevertheless remains a constant for many listeners, reassuring in its steadiness even as it gives notice of unruly swells and approaching storms in those faraway-sounding hinterlands of Dogger, Viking and German Bight.

“It occupies a deeply rooted place in our culture,” says Mark Power, whose book The Shipping Forecast comprises photographs from the 31 sea areas that are enumerated in the daily radio litany. “For many of us there is an essential mystery to the shipping forecast that perhaps comes from hearing it in the background as a child, but not really understanding it. And, even as we grow older, it’s difficult for most of us to understand it, because we’re not depending on it the way sailors or trawler crews depend on it.”

This story is from the February 10, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.

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This story is from the February 10, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.

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