And now, the Shipping Forecast issued by the Met Office

Often described as a litany, mantra or lullaby, the Shipping Forecast has long been a favourite of cosy homes on chilly evenings. Its practical use as a precise reading of the marine weather around the British Isles has been largely forgotten by its recreational listeners, who instead value its gentle rhythm and curious wording as a comfort, a charm, or fail-safe formula for inducing sleep.

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, sailing by the coast of France, Spain and Portugal, via both sides of Ireland up to the west coast of Scotland and as far as the nearest shard of Iceland. Forties, Dogger, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight These words speak to us like a spell, nonsensical in their substance, but enchanting in their delivery.

Since its first BBC broadcast in 1925, the Shipping Forecast has captured the nation's heart. Good, Occasionally Rhyming is a love letter in poetry and prose, from Britain's literary landscape to this iconic radio broadcast.

That's the end of this shipping bulletin.

A worthwhile anthology * Times Literary Supplement *

Rob Stepney writes on medicine, science, travel and The Archers for the broadsheet newspapers. He has edited three poetry anthologies, co-written two books of poetry, and contributed to Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent. Rob has pictures with Science Photo Library, paints watercolours, lives in the Cotswolds and was a founding father of the Charlbury Beer Festival.

Kathy Clugston chairs the long-running radio programme Gardeners' Question Time on BBC Radio 4. Prior to that she was a continuity announcer for many years and read the Shipping Forecast hundreds of times. In 2014 she co-wrote But First This, a comic stage musical about Radio 4.