Shipping Forecast The Controller of BBC Radio 4, Mark Damazer, attempted to explain its popularity: Zeb Soanes, a regular Shipping Forecast reader, described it thus: Another regular reader of the Forecast, Kathy Clugston, described it as "Like a lullaby, almost". The Shipping Forecast has inspired a number of songs and poems. Frank Muir and Denis Norden parodied the Shipping Forecast in a song written for an episode of "Take It From Here": "Dead Ringers" parodied the Shipping Forecast using Brian Perkins rapping the forecast ("Dogger, Fisher, German Bight – becoming quite cyclonic. Occasional showers making you feel cat-atatatatatata-tonic..."). Many other versions have
Long Forties Long Forties Long Forties is an area of the northern North Sea that is fairly consistently forty fathoms (240 feet/73 metres) deep. Thus, on a nautical chart with depth shown in fathoms, a long area with many "40" notations can be seen. Long Forties are located between the northeast coast of Scotland and the southwest coast of Norway, centred about 57°N 0°30′E; compare to the Broad Fourteens. The Shipping Forecast area "Forties" is named after the area. The Dutch weather service KNMI uses the name of the Fladen Grounds, a slightly more northernly and deeper part of the North Sea.