The Mystery Geography not being my strong point, the location of “Viking North Utsire Sole Lundy Fastnet Irish Sea Shannon” is a mystery to me. More important than my complete ignorance, is the fear of stumbling across some sort of well-guarded national secret. For surely only the selective few, sworn into secrecy at the Radio 4 Headquarters and the omnipotent gods of the sea, understand the Shipping Forecast. I mean who (other than the nautically inclined members of the long-wave listening community) can honestly say they have any idea what is going on when the frankly absurd sounding names “Forties Trafalgar Fitzroy” come crackling over the airwaves at night?

And that’s the way it ought to be. For it’s not the content of the broadcast that attracts me and thousands of listeners, but the pulsated, hypnotic quality of the reading, which has a unique and reassuring sound. Most of us prefer to enjoy the lullaby qualities of the shipping forecast safe on solid ground, away from the elements and cosied up under a duvet. With references in songs by Blur, Beck, Radiohead and The Prodigy; poems by Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy, the shipping forecast has been, and remains a much loved part of British culture. Jarvis Cocker chose “Sailing By” which accompanies the shipping forecast, as his Desert Island Disc. Highly evocative of the British Isles, it’s been his aid to a sound sleep for many years.

Why need ‘German Bight’ conjure up any image? I say, keep the mystery.