An enigmatic nautical bulletin that has transmitted across dark waters for a whole century, it has beguiled everyone from Carol Ann Duffy to Blur – and offered a very British comfort to people across the globe

There are warnings of gales. Wintry showers, rain later, moderate or good. The familiar rhythms and cadences of these misty, magical phrases have now been familiar to British islanders for a whole century. They are communicated to us at strange, twilit times, every weekday at 12.48am and 5.20am, with an extra gust of early-evening drama at 5.54am at weekends.

The Shipping Forecast celebrates its 100th year of broadcast on the BBC in 2025, and this New Year’s Day, Radio 4 is going storm-sized in its appreciation. The simple bulletin, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (try reading that without taking on the measured, honeyed tones of a continuity announcer) is the subject of the station’s regular series that day, as well as several special documentaries.