Don’t worry, you’ve not stepped into a Life on Mars episode, but it definitely feels like we’ve woken up somewhere in the mid-90s.
Not only are Oasis (well a couple of the original members) warming up in Cardiff, but Pulp frontman, Jarvis Cocker, has recorded a special version of the Shipping Forecast.
This is to mark the programme’s 100th anniversary on the BBC – it was first aired on 4th July 1925.
“The Shipping Forecast is something you absorb unconsciously if you live in the UK,” said Cocker.
“It’s been on the airwaves for over 100 years…Now technically speaking, it’s a weather guide designed to help sailors on the high seas. But it helps people navigate in other ways than that. For instance, for insomniacs, it’s a mantra that hopefully helps them drift finally off to sleep.”
Cocker recorded his special forecast at the Crossed Wires Festival – the Sheffield-based celebration of all things podcasting.
The session was part of BBC Sounds’ free Fringe festival with live podcast recordings and exclusive sessions.
It will be preceded by a piece of music called Sailing By. Cocker chose this track as one of the eight he would take to a desert island when he appeared on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2005.
“When you listen to Sailing By, it really does feel like life is drifting past you in an extremely pleasant way,” continued Cocker.
“A handy go-to sedative to have to hand if you ever happen to become a castaway – or get cut off from normal life for any other reason.”
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The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK’s statutory obligations to provide Maritime Safety Information to seafarers via approved broadcasting methods. The Shipping Forecast is also shared with the BBC for its own broadcast.
“I think because even though sometimes it’s talking about bad weather conditions and storms and stuff, it’s actually an oasis of calm in the day,” said the Pulp singer.
“There’s no musical backing to it, it’s just a human voice talking to you. Some words, which you don’t really know what they mean at all, but the sound of it is comforting and will put you into a nice place.”
An online journey through the one-hundred-year history of the Shipping Forecast can be found on the BBC History website.
