Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

A very good book, involves excersise for all exam tasks, 05 Mar 2002
The book covers thoroughly all CAE activities, including Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each unit is like an exam in miniature.
The author pays attention to phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, as well as grammar rules and excersises.
Basically, having studied this book from beginnig to end, you get a good idea of what the future exam is like, not to say about practice itself.

Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

A very good book, involves excersise for all exam tasks, 05 Mar 2002
The book covers thoroughly all CAE activities, including Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each unit is like an exam in miniature.
The author pays attention to phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, as well as grammar rules and excersises.
Basically, having studied this book from beginnig to end, you get a good idea of what the future exam is like, not to say about practice itself.

The thorough way to approach the First Certificate exam., 17 Jan 2001
As both a College EFL lecturer and private Cambridge exam coach, I find this book an excellent course in preparation for First Certificate. If a student knows all the grammar and vocabulary in this book, they'll have no problem passing the exam. The layout of the book is friendly and the material contained under each topic is comprehensive. As an EFL teacher of many years standing, I've tried other course books, but always return to Focus - it just has everything a student needs. I, personally, cannot recommend it highly enough.

Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

A very good book, involves excersise for all exam tasks, 05 Mar 2002
The book covers thoroughly all CAE activities, including Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each unit is like an exam in miniature.
The author pays attention to phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, as well as grammar rules and excersises.
Basically, having studied this book from beginnig to end, you get a good idea of what the future exam is like, not to say about practice itself.

The thorough way to approach the First Certificate exam., 17 Jan 2001
As both a College EFL lecturer and private Cambridge exam coach, I find this book an excellent course in preparation for First Certificate. If a student knows all the grammar and vocabulary in this book, they'll have no problem passing the exam. The layout of the book is friendly and the material contained under each topic is comprehensive. As an EFL teacher of many years standing, I've tried other course books, but always return to Focus - it just has everything a student needs. I, personally, cannot recommend it highly enough.

Simply Amazed, 07 Sep 2008
Having become increasingly fearful of flying for no logical reason I decided I needed to take action as I was starting to feel increasingly anxious in the weeks leading up to my holiday.

I have just returned from a week in Turkey and the two most relaxing, almost enjoyable flying experiences I've ever had. Bearing in mind that the last time I flew three months ago I spent the whole flight sweating, shaking and nipping of to the toilet to swig brandy to try and calm my nerves!

I have no idea how this works and didn't think it would, but it does. One thing I will say which I didn't expect is that I felt nervous right up until I boarded the plane, which I thought meant it wasn't working, then steadily leading up to takeoff I began to feel calmer than I ever had on a plane. The flight went quickly and I even swapped seats with my wife for landing so I could look out of the window - previously unheard of.

So, thank you Glenn Harrold.

If you hate flying please try this, however sceptical you are (I was) I'm sure you won't regret it.

BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT BRILLIANT !!!!! AMAZING !!!!, 05 Aug 2008
Overcome the Fear of Flying
Do not know how it works, but it does !!!!. For the 1st time in years I actually enjoyed my flight. !!!!!!
Before I used this cd I would be ill days before I my flight with anxiety and stress. NOT THIS TIME ! It was such a welcome relief not to feel any fear days before and not have to take any tranquillers before and during the flight. My Family all said how much better I was and I did not think about the flight home untill I was at airport. Before I would so worried about flying home it always ruined the last part of my hols.
I played the cd (on I pod) thru headphones (as recomended) everyday for 2 weeks before my trip.
IF YOU HAVE A FEAR OF FLYING HOWEVER BAD (and mine was so bad ) THIS IS FOR YOU. I CANNOT RECOMNED IT ENOUGH.

SO IMPRESSED WITH HOW IT WORKS (not sure how it works) THAT AM CONSIDERING OTHER HYPNOSIS CD'S NOW.

One thing to remeber.... play the cd whilst you are away in preparation for your return trip. I did a 3 refresher sessions a few days before returning home and perhaps should have done more, as not as relaxed coming home as going.




It worked, 31 Dec 2007
This was fantastic and now i love to fly , just give it a chance !!

I cant believe how well this worked!!, 03 Sep 2007
I've never liked flying but in recent years (probably since 9/11 and thanks to movies such as Final Destination!) i have found it incredibly difficult, working myself up to a panic stricken state which would end up with me in tears. I recently had to fly alone (1st time!) to New Jersey and was considering going to get some prescription tranquilizers in preparation, however i came across this cd and read the reviews and thought i would give it a go. I am SO glad i did, it has honestly changed my life. I listened to it every night for a week before my flight and when the day of my flight came i was nervous but in an excited way, not panicky. The flight itself was fantastic, i enjoyed every minute of it! i was still a bit jittery at take off which is my worst bit but i just did the breathing exercises i was taught and they got me through it.

Remember to listen to the CD while on your holiday too, in preparation for the return flight! i didn't and tho i still wasn't as nervous as i had been in the past (no tears!) the flight home wasn't as easy as the flight out.
Overall I'm very impressed and plan to buy Overcome Fears and Phobias to see if i can cure myself of my irrational fear of spiders!

Very effective - this exceeded my expectations, 07 Feb 2007
I found this very effective and was very surprised at the relatively low level of anxiety I experienced - certainly no sense of losing control of my thoughts and feelings. I am sure it helps to do some other work on understanding long standing anxiety problems / meditation, diet and exercise as well as some cognitive mindfulness but I do think using this technique has a major impact on re-programming some deep seated catastrophic thinking! If it works for me it will for you.

Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

A very good book, involves excersise for all exam tasks, 05 Mar 2002
The book covers thoroughly all CAE activities, including Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each unit is like an exam in miniature.
The author pays attention to phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, as well as grammar rules and excersises.
Basically, having studied this book from beginnig to end, you get a good idea of what the future exam is like, not to say about practice itself.

The thorough way to approach the First Certificate exam., 17 Jan 2001
As both a College EFL lecturer and private Cambridge exam coach, I find this book an excellent course in preparation for First Certificate. If a student knows all the grammar and vocabulary in this book, they'll have no problem passing the exam. The layout of the book is friendly and the material contained under each topic is comprehensive. As an EFL teacher of many years standing, I've tried other course books, but always return to Focus - it just has everything a student needs. I, personally, cannot recommend it highly enough.

Simply Amazed, 07 Sep 2008
Having become increasingly fearful of flying for no logical reason I decided I needed to take action as I was starting to feel increasingly anxious in the weeks leading up to my holiday.

I have just returned from a week in Turkey and the two most relaxing, almost enjoyable flying experiences I've ever had. Bearing in mind that the last time I flew three months ago I spent the whole flight sweating, shaking and nipping of to the toilet to swig brandy to try and calm my nerves!

I have no idea how this works and didn't think it would, but it does. One thing I will say which I didn't expect is that I felt nervous right up until I boarded the plane, which I thought meant it wasn't working, then steadily leading up to takeoff I began to feel calmer than I ever had on a plane. The flight went quickly and I even swapped seats with my wife for landing so I could look out of the window - previously unheard of.

So, thank you Glenn Harrold.

If you hate flying please try this, however sceptical you are (I was) I'm sure you won't regret it.

BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT BRILLIANT !!!!! AMAZING !!!!, 05 Aug 2008
Overcome the Fear of Flying
Do not know how it works, but it does !!!!. For the 1st time in years I actually enjoyed my flight. !!!!!!
Before I used this cd I would be ill days before I my flight with anxiety and stress. NOT THIS TIME ! It was such a welcome relief not to feel any fear days before and not have to take any tranquillers before and during the flight. My Family all said how much better I was and I did not think about the flight home untill I was at airport. Before I would so worried about flying home it always ruined the last part of my hols.
I played the cd (on I pod) thru headphones (as recomended) everyday for 2 weeks before my trip.
IF YOU HAVE A FEAR OF FLYING HOWEVER BAD (and mine was so bad ) THIS IS FOR YOU. I CANNOT RECOMNED IT ENOUGH.

SO IMPRESSED WITH HOW IT WORKS (not sure how it works) THAT AM CONSIDERING OTHER HYPNOSIS CD'S NOW.

One thing to remeber.... play the cd whilst you are away in preparation for your return trip. I did a 3 refresher sessions a few days before returning home and perhaps should have done more, as not as relaxed coming home as going.




It worked, 31 Dec 2007
This was fantastic and now i love to fly , just give it a chance !!

I cant believe how well this worked!!, 03 Sep 2007
I've never liked flying but in recent years (probably since 9/11 and thanks to movies such as Final Destination!) i have found it incredibly difficult, working myself up to a panic stricken state which would end up with me in tears. I recently had to fly alone (1st time!) to New Jersey and was considering going to get some prescription tranquilizers in preparation, however i came across this cd and read the reviews and thought i would give it a go. I am SO glad i did, it has honestly changed my life. I listened to it every night for a week before my flight and when the day of my flight came i was nervous but in an excited way, not panicky. The flight itself was fantastic, i enjoyed every minute of it! i was still a bit jittery at take off which is my worst bit but i just did the breathing exercises i was taught and they got me through it.

Remember to listen to the CD while on your holiday too, in preparation for the return flight! i didn't and tho i still wasn't as nervous as i had been in the past (no tears!) the flight home wasn't as easy as the flight out.
Overall I'm very impressed and plan to buy Overcome Fears and Phobias to see if i can cure myself of my irrational fear of spiders!

Very effective - this exceeded my expectations, 07 Feb 2007
I found this very effective and was very surprised at the relatively low level of anxiety I experienced - certainly no sense of losing control of my thoughts and feelings. I am sure it helps to do some other work on understanding long standing anxiety problems / meditation, diet and exercise as well as some cognitive mindfulness but I do think using this technique has a major impact on re-programming some deep seated catastrophic thinking! If it works for me it will for you.

Save your money, 17 Feb 1998
The description sounds promising, but I was very disappointed. The author leads you very slowly, with his coddling 'Mr. Rogers' voice that would sound unnatural in any setting except leading a meditation. There are a few great techniques, but it takes a lot of patience to endure the entire series, which I did. On the other hand, I DO recommend "The Sound of your voice", also sold at Amazon. OK, there are a few corny lapses, but there are *plenty* of real-world examples, lots of excercises, and the delivery is very dynamic. Check it out.

Very enjoyable, 04 Jun 2008
This is a quirky but enjoyable book; Connelly sets himself the challenge of visiting all the areas of the Shipping Forecast that have a land mass within them over a year-long period. In doing so, his experiences are in turn funny, absurd, perceptive and informative. Various tales made me laugh out loud, particularly his experiences on his first port of call, where's he's unexpectedly at a party with a die-hard Liverpool fan who knows nothing about the geography of Liverpool. Some of the places he visits hold no appeal, but others, such as Lundy, are appealing and have whetted my curiosity. A good read, and an illuminating insight into one of radio's most iconic broadcasts.

Cromarty, westerly four, squally wintry showers, good, 16 Mar 2008
Four times daily, at 0048, 0535, 1201 and 1754, BBC Radio 4 airs the Shipping Forecast, a weather prognostication for each of thirty-one geographically well-defined but more or less arbitrarily designated and sited maritime areas surrounding the British Isles. What may be incomprehensible code to the uninitiated listener is actually a simple and frugaly worded forecasting statement divided into four parts: area name, wind direction and strength, weather conditions, and visibility.

The forebears of English author Charlie Connelly, a sportswriter of several books chiefly about European soccer, led lives touched by the sea. Yet, beyond a few ferry trips, Connelly, to his self-admitted embarrassment, was notably landlocked. Thus, to make up for his landlubberliness, he vowed to visit all thirty-one of the shipping forecast areas, or at least those that had peripheral or inclusive terra firma to stand upon, in a calendar year. In ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING, he tells us all about it via a congenial and humorous narrative.

Obviously, the book is more about interesting and/or out of the way places than the Shipping Forecast itself, though, by the end of chapter two, one has learned all that's necessary about the history, evolution, and value to sailors of the forecast, which dates, in its current form, back to 1924. In the eleven chapters that follow, Connelly makes landfall in twenty-five of the areas. Five (Viking, Forties, Dogger, Bailey, Rockall) he only flys or sails over. One, Trafalgar, down off the southwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, he almost entirely neglects for no other reason than it's mentioned in only the 0048 bulletin. Otherwise, his meandering journey takes him to:

North and South Utsire: Utsira Island (Norway)
Cromarty: Cromarty (Scotland)
Forth: Arbroath (Scotland)
Tyne: Whitby (England)
Fisher: Hanstholm (Denmark)
German Bight: Sylt Island (Germany)
Humber: Cromer (England)
Thames: the Principality of Sealand
Dover: Dover and the White Cliffs (England)
Wight: the Isle of Wight (England)
Portland: Portland peninsula (England)
Plymouth: Plymouth (England)
Biscay: St-Jean-de-Luz (France) and Bilbao (Spain)
FitzRoy: Finisterre (Spain)
Sole: St. Mary's, St. Agnes, Tresco, and Bryher islands (Isles of Scilly, England)
Lundy: Lundy Island (England)
Fastnet: Cork and Cobh (Ireland)
Irish Sea: the Isle of Man
Shannon: Kilrush (Ireland)
Malin: Malin Head (Ireland)
Hebrides: Barra and Eriskay islands (Outer Hebrides, Scotland)
Fair Isle: Mainland and Fair Isle islands (Shetland Islands, Scotland)
Faeroes: Torshavn (Faeroe Islands, Denmark)
South-east Iceland: Heimay (Vestmannaeyjar, aka the Westman Islands, Iceland)

Charlie succeeds in making all his destinations interesting by sharing facets of each locale's history, events, or famous residents. For instance, Whitby was the hometown of Captain James Cook and Cromer that of Henry Blogg, renowned as the greatest lifeboatman who ever lived. Heimay was evacuated during a volcanic eruption. The oddest place is perhaps the Principality of Sealand, which was originally one of four World War II heavy gun platforms constructed in the Thames Estuary. After being abandoned by the British military, it was purchased by a private citizen who subsequently proclaimed it a sovereign state, a claim that, surprisingly, has been upheld by British courts. At the other extreme of novelty is Hanstholm, the Danish ferry port so excruciatingly boring that it's Connelly's account of fending off tedium for two days that is in itself droll. Even area Rockall, an expanse of open sea which Charlie doesn't visit for obvious reasons, contains Rockall "island", a mid-ocean protrusion of rock 89 feet in diameter and 72 in height that occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of the world's ludicrous territorial and political squabbles.

The author's commentary is so engaging that he can be forgiven the occasional factual misstatement. Charlie asserts that the lighthouse on Spain's Cape Finisterre is at "the end of the finger of land that is continental Europe's westernmost landfall", when, in fact, that honor belongs to Portugal's Cape Roca. Later, Connelly writes that "Fair Isle is actually Britain's remotest island community" when, actually, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is not only the most isolated British island community but also the most far-flung archipelago in the world. Regarding Fair Isle, I suspect that the author meant to say that it's the remotest community within territorial waters contiguous with the home islands.

ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING deserves 5 stars because it transports me in fine style to places that I shall likely never visit but, after reading this fascinating travelogue, wish I could some day. Then perhaps, I could express something similar to Charlie's experience:

"I was sorry to leave Scilly, a special part of the United Kingdom. Sit on the front at Hugh Town and look out beyond the palm trees across the clear azure water to the white sandy beaches of Tresco beyond and it's hard to believe that you're less than thirty miles from the English mainland ... when I think of that Hugh Town vista and then look out of my window at my south-east London Victorian terraced beehive of a street as I write this, I know where I'd rather be."

Good potentially interesting idea, let down by the poor writing style and writer's 'humour', 22 Oct 2007
I bought this book randomly, attracted by the cover and needing a third book in a three for the price of two offer. It is a good idea and this is potentially a very interesting book. However, it is badly let down by the writer's chatty style of prose which is highly annoying and adds nothing to the book but takes up more than half of the pages. He offers such banal, predictable insights into the different areas that it is painful to read. Its in a similar vein to Dave Gorman and the 'ooh arent I making humorous comments and being satirical' type of knowing humour; Mr Gorman however to a large extent carries it off, Connolley doesnt.

If this could be published without Connelly's insights and a few more facts it might be interesting but as it is I would not recommend this book.

Read this - Good, Don't read this - poor, 28 Oct 2006
Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

If you are an anal retentive or an anorak it might just appeal to you a bit more, but whatever you are there's something here for you. Perhaps my job (Export sales, so a lot of travelling) or my hobbies (flying and birdwatching) helped, but if I could be objective, I still think it was great.

Bill Bryson get your big fat US ass out of the way for Charlie Connelly.

Rob Sawyer




Goes down a storm, 16 Apr 2006
This was one of my surprisingly good reads of 2006. Having never heard the shipping news (well, consciously at any rate), this would never have been a first choice and I must admit to being a little dubious about receiving it as a gift.

The basic premise seems designed for retired sailors safely tucked under their lap blankets in an out of the way coastal town. The author, oddly intrigued by the shipping forecast since his youth, would spend a year travelling through each of the areas named in the forecast and give us a potted history of each. Not generally my cup of tea, particularly when some of these places have so little to offer your regular tourist that even the locals are surprised to see him.

However, Connelly's writing style clearly carries this concept. He is a brilliant observer of both people and places and kept me giggling away at even the most banal travelling mishaps. The book is packed with cringeworthy character studies, laugh out loud anecdotes and interesting local histories - all of which come together in an exceptionally good read.

While I have no inclination to visit many of the places on Connelly's travels, I am at least now better informed as to why that might be and definitely have admiration for an author who can find so much of interest in even the most banal of places. Definitely worth a read.

A very good book, involves excersise for all exam tasks, 05 Mar 2002
The book covers thoroughly all CAE activities, including Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each unit is like an exam in miniature.
The author pays attention to phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, as well as grammar rules and excersises.
Basically, having studied this book from beginnig to end, you get a good idea of what the future exam is like, not to say about practice itself.

The thorough way to approach the First Certificate exam., 17 Jan 2001
As both a College EFL lecturer and private Cambridge exam coach, I find this book an excellent course in preparation for First Certificate. If a student knows all the grammar and vocabulary in this book, they'll have no problem passing the exam. The layout of the book is friendly and the material contained under each topic is comprehensive. As an EFL teacher of many years standing, I've tried other course books, but always return to Focus - it just has everything a student needs. I, personally, cannot recommend it highly enough.

Simply Amazed, 07 Sep 2008
Having become increasingly fearful of flying for no logical reason I decided I needed to take action as I was starting to feel increasingly anxious in the weeks leading up to my holiday.

I have just returned from a week in Turkey and the two most relaxing, almost enjoyable flying experiences I've ever had. Bearing in mind that the last time I flew three months ago I spent the whole flight sweating, shaking and nipping of to the toilet to swig brandy to try and calm my nerves!

I have no idea how this works and didn't think it would, but it does. One thing I will say which I didn't expect is that I felt nervous right up until I boarded the plane, which I thought meant it wasn't working, then steadily leading up to takeoff I began to feel calmer than I ever had on a plane. The flight went quickly and I even swapped seats with my wife for landing so I could look out of the window - previously unheard of.

So, thank you Glenn Harrold.

If you hate flying please try this, however sceptical you are (I was) I'm sure you won't regret it.

BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT BRILLIANT !!!!! AMAZING !!!!, 05 Aug 2008
Overcome the Fear of Flying
Do not know how it works, but it does !!!!. For the 1st time in years I actually enjoyed my flight. !!!!!!
Before I used this cd I would be ill days before I my flight with anxiety and stress. NOT THIS TIME ! It was such a welcome relief not to feel any fear days before and not have to take any tranquillers before and during the flight. My Family all said how much better I was and I did not think about the flight home untill I was at airport. Before I would so worried about flying home it always ruined the last part of my hols.
I played the cd (on I pod) thru headphones (as recomended) everyday for 2 weeks before my trip.
IF YOU HAVE A FEAR OF FLYING HOWEVER BAD (and mine was so bad ) THIS IS FOR YOU. I CANNOT RECOMNED IT ENOUGH.

SO IMPRESSED WITH HOW IT WORKS (not sure how it works) THAT AM CONSIDERING OTHER HYPNOSIS CD'S NOW.

One thing to remeber.... play the cd whilst you are away in preparation for your return trip. I did a 3 refresher sessions a few days before returning home and perhaps should have done more, as not as relaxed coming home as going.




It worked, 31 Dec 2007
This was fantastic and now i love to fly , just give it a chance !!

I cant believe how well this worked!!, 03 Sep 2007
I've never liked flying but in recent years (probably since 9/11 and thanks to movies such as Final Destination!) i have found it incredibly difficult, working myself up to a panic stricken state which would end up with me in tears. I recently had to fly alone (1st time!) to New Jersey and was considering going to get some prescription tranquilizers in preparation, however i came across this cd and read the reviews and thought i would give it a go. I am SO glad i did, it has honestly changed my life. I listened to it every night for a week before my flight and when the day of my flight came i was nervous but in an excited way, not panicky. The flight itself was fantastic, i enjoyed every minute of it! i was still a bit jittery at take off which is my worst bit but i just did the breathing exercises i was taught and they got me through it.

Remember to listen to the CD while on your holiday too, in preparation for the return flight! i didn't and tho i still wasn't as nervous as i had been in the past (no tears!) the flight home wasn't as easy as the flight out.
Overall I'm very impressed and plan to buy Overcome Fears and Phobias to see if i can cure