E12: Good, Occasionally Rhyming - Kathy Clugston And Rob Stepney - Richmond Cricket Club

A collection of selected poetry and prose celebrating The Shipping Forecast on the 100th anniversary of the first BBC broadcast.

Described variously as a litany, a mantra or a lullaby, the Shipping Forecast details wind, rain, pressure and visibility in the seas bordering the British Isles. Its thirty-one areas cast like a safety net take us on a virtual voyage that starts between the Shetlands and Norway, zig-zags down the North Sea, scoots westwards along the English Channel, down the coast of France, Spain and Portugal, and then via both sides of Ireland up to the west coast of Scotland and the nearest shard of Iceland. The forecast is delivered using precise vocabulary and with all the expressive qualities of a metronome and yet, the nation loves it. Good, Occasionally Rhyming is a love letter to this iconic radio broadcast.

Kathy Clugston is the current chairman and voice of Gardeners Question Time. As a BBC announcer she read the shipping forecast for many years. She has written a humorous word-play book, A Brief History of Tim, and co-created a stage musical about Radio 4, But First This.

Rob Stepney writes about travel, science, medicine, and The Archers as well as being a published poet.