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
Shipping Forecast reading it. She finds his voice arousing. In the BBC sitcom "As Time Goes By", the character Mrs Bale is obsessed by and constantly mentions The Shipping Forecast much to the befuddlement of the other characters. Many characters in the 1983 children's cartoon, "The Adventures of Portland Bill" are named after features mentioned in the Shipping Forecast. In Funcom's massively multiplayer online role-playing game "The Secret World", the shipping forecast plays over the radio in a London Underground station, adding to the British flavour distinguishing the setting from other worldwide locations featured in the game. A number of minor characters