Coastal Stories

As the shipping forecast reaches its broadcast centenary on January 1st 2024, here's a look back to its beginnings and a tribute to the place it has found in our cultural affections. Find tour dates and ticket details for Charlie's 'Attention All Shipping' theatre show here: https://www.facebook.com/charlieconnellyauthor/ https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly.

The Christmas Day dip is a growing tradition around our coasts. This episode celebrates those hardy swimmers and tells the remarkable story of the greatest Christmas Day swimmer of them all - Herbert Wray of Grimsby. https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly.

Coastal Stories is back for a fifth series! At last! I know! Exciting. We kick off with the secrets and mysteries of Spurn Point, a spindly finger of land off the coast of East Yorkshire.  https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly.

A quick update from Charlie on the immiment arrival of the fifth series of Coastal Stories and news of his new one-man show about the shipping forecast. More info and ticket details here: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/charlie-connelly-the-shipping-forecast

In April 1921 a tiny fishing village on the east coast of Scotland found its timeless rhythms and routines disrupted by the arrival of film stars and a film crew. A bumper episode to finish series four as we learn what happened when the movies came to Auchmithie.  https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly.

A terrific storm blew suddenly out of the north-east at the end of November 1774, wrecking many ships and claiming many lives up and down the east coast. The crew and passengers of the Ann, sailing from London to Dunbar, were lucky - they made it ashore and the vessel remained in one piece. The storm, however, wasn't quite finished them.  Pre-order Miles Hunt's spiffing new solo album here: https://thewonderstuff.bigcartel.com/product/things-can-change-cd-pre-order Miles's tour dates: https://thewonderstuff.co.uk/tour/ https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod/ https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

As well as a curious pliable hinterland between land and sea, the beach has always been a place where the boundaries of conventional morality blur. Not least with the innovation and introduction to piers and promenades at the end of the 19th century of the Mutoscope. Lower yourself to the level of What The Butler Saw in this week's Coastal Stories.  Buy Coastal Stories a pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod Coastal Stories is researched, written, produced and presented by Charlie Connelly

For 52 years Horatio Mole rowed people back and forth the short distance between Mersea Island and the Essex mainland.  Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly. https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod/ https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Mary Russell, the Duchess of Bedford, was some woman. Pioneering ornithologist, nurse, radiographer, jujitsu expert and, well, duchess, when she discovered the magic of flight at the age of 60 it changed everything. Having flown to Cape Town, India and points in between, a quick jaunt to check the extent of flooding in the fens one spring  afternoon in 1937 was the kind of flight she could almost make with her eyes closed.  Then, unseasonably, it started snowing.  Coastal Stories is researched, written, produced and presented by Charlie Connelly. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories/ https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal

Sandend, a tiny fishing village on the coast of the Moray Firth, has seen its fair share of the joys, hardships, successes and tragedies that go with being a place for sea people. When a storm put the crew of a German cargo ship in mortal danger there in 1903 it brought together people who spoke not a word of each other's languages but who knew. Because sea people just know.  With special thanks to Meike Scheidemann. Coastal Stories is researched, written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

A delve into the ancestry for Charlie this week as he reads an account of a Spanish attack on Cornwall in 1595 in the words of his 11x great-grandfather Richard Carew, author of one of the first travel books written in English.  Coastal Stories is written, presented and produced by Charlie Connelly. https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Beach huts today go for ridiculous amounts of money but they've always been desirable things, ever since their popularity skyrocketed after the First World War. For a penniless couple in 1935, however, an unlocked beach hut was just a welcome place of refuge. Until PC Hunt arrived with his lamp.  https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

One foggy afternoon in April 1940 the crew of an armed trawler escorting a convoy off Fraserburgh in the North Sea spotted something remarkable - two men in a rowing boat who'd come a very long way indeed.  Vanishing Postcards from Miami, Oklahoma: https://www.vanishingpostcards.com/episodes/postcard-from-miami-ok-a-foreign-field-that-is-for-ever-england https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

Britain is in political turmoil, there's a lame duck prime minister and the solution is only to be found by looking to Europe. It's 1834, the king has sacked the government, Robert Peel's on holiday, the captain of a Channel packet is looking hard at his pocket watch and the people of Dover are about to miss everything. https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

On a quiet Thursday night in February 1866, Harriet Harton was thinking of closing the Jolly Fisherman in Brighton early. Then the door opened and in walked a horribly familiar face - holding a revolver.  Vanishing Postcards: https://www.vanishingpostcards.com/ Centre for Women's Justice: https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/ Women's Aid: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/ Buy Coastal Stories a pint: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

In January 1917 the submarine K13 was in Gare Loch undergoing its very last trials before going into service. One brief, 15 minute dive just to check one last thing and K13 would be ready to go. Shortly after the sub slipped beneath the surface 17-year-old Annie MacIntyre was walking along the shore of the loch when she noticed something unusual in the water... Remembering Toby Carr on 25th June: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tobys-kayak-flotilla-tickets-335321203747?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&keep_tld=1 Toby's legacy: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca62BJpgEjt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Nobody swam farther than the man mountain Jabez Wolffe when attempting to conquer the English Channel. More than 600 miles, in fact. But despite 22 attempts over 15 years he never once made it to the other side, defeated by circumstances ranging from 'biliousness' to war breaking out when he was halfway across.  Hear Jabez's story and his, ah, unorthodox opinions on what kind of woman is best equipped to swim the Channel. Pre-order the paperback edition of Charlie's book 'The Channel': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Streak-Personal-History-English/dp/1474607926/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

By 1926 only five people had ever succeeded in swimming the English Channel. Then a 19 year old ukulele-toting gal from New York showed up in France with a swimsuit, a gramophone and a whole bunch of world swimming records. This week's episode is an extract from Charlie's book 'The Channel', the paperback edition of which is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on June 23rd. https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In 1747 a new recruit joined the British naval sloop Swallow at Portsmouth. James Gray distinguished himself on the voyage to India and in fighting the French when he got there. When the fleet returned to Portsmouth, however, James Gray dropped quite the bombshell.  https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

On October 3rd 1957 three elderly men were driven slowly through the village of Quilty, County Clare, sitting in a rowing boat on the back of a lorry. Exactly 50 years earlier they had braved a fearsome storm to effect a remarkable rescue. And they had the church to prove it. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

When two middle aged men who ran a care home for aged clerics and a string of church organ shops went missing in 1975 it opened up a wild tale of fraud that drew in bishops, blackmail, a TV quiz show accompanist, racing cars, a psychic from Orpington, some non-existent church organs, the occult, Julie Andrews and 232 nights camped out on a tiny, remote Scottish island in the depths of winter.  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

Rhyl, 1880. A young man stands on the shore about to resume a voyage he hopes will change his life and the world of seafaring forever. The sea might have other ideas.  https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Come and see Charlie interviewing Bobby Gillespie: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/bobby-gillespie-tenement-kid

110 years ago today, on 22nd April 1912, a week after the Titanic sank, Denys Corbett Wilson became the first person to fly between Britain and Ireland. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

He'd once roamed the Pacific but for a finback whale called Eric his final journey would be in a glass case, towed by a lorry from Southend to Morecambe.  https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Coastal Stories is back bigger*, better** and brinier*** than ever.  * the same ** the same *** the same

A special edition in memory of Toby Carr, whom I met through his project to kayak the shipping forecast areas and who died on 10th January. I've paid a brief tribute to Toby, including how he was remembered by the shipping forecast itself on the day he died, then revisited an old episode about the forecast. He was a lovely man who'll be greatly missed. Toby's story: https://www.m-b-g-l.org/my-story Toby's social media contains plenty of pics and footage from his kayak odyssey: Twitter: https://twitter.com/KayakForecast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moderatebecominggoodlater/ Coastal Stories Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal Coastal Stories Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

200 years ago this week, on 23rd December 1821, the occupants of the lighthouse at the end of the eerie shingle spit of Dungeness experienced something they would never forget.  Buy Coastal Stories a Christmas sherry here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

Charlie stands on a blustery beach and talks for a bit.  Vanishing Postcards: https://www.vanishingpostcards.com/ Sea Fever: A British Maritime Miscellany: https://amzn.to/3BYW4ps Buy Coastal Stories a pint: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the spring of 1777 Britain held its breath as the mysterious, terrifying 'John the Painter' embarked on a campaign to burn England's naval dockyards to the ground, one by one. If he hadn't been such a frankly rubbish arsonist Britain's maritime power could have been all but wiped out and history taken a very different course indeed.  Come and see Charlie telling Coastal Stories in Canterbury: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Buy Coastal Stories a pint, if you like: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Most of these stories have some kind of happy ending. An epiphany, even. But that's nothing like the whole story of the sea. This week we recall some tiny tragedies; individuals taken by the sea then washed up on the shore. The claimed, the missed, the loved, the forgotten, a tiny sample of the sea's ruthless legacy of untold stories.  Come and hear Charlie telling some coastal stories live: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Buy the podcast a pint: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

In March 1928 the King of the Afghans received the red carpet treatment when he arrived in Britain as part of a vast European tour. Progressive and liberal, King Amanullah and Queen Souriya arrived in Portsmouth apparently at the dawn of a new global era for Afghanistan.  Buy Coastal Stories a pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Hear Charlie telling coastal stories live in Canterbury: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

For 500 years Winchelsea had been protected by a man with a telescope. For the half century before the Second World War that man was Chummy Barden, lookout, shove-halfpenny maestro and beer drinker.  Buy Coastal Stories a pint and help keep us going: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Come to Canterbury for Charlie's only live event for the rest of the year. Coastal, Channel and shipping forecast stories: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Coastal Stories on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

When they embarked for Dublin from Greenock on the night of 8th October 1921 the Southern Syncopated Orchestra was one of the best known musical acts in Europe, bringing Black American music to a Britain and Ireland still processing the trauma of the First World War and leaving a legacy that influences Black British music to this day.  That night on the sea, however, would be the beginning of the end.  Come and hear Charlie telling some coastal stories in person: https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-lane Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal Buy Coastal Stories a pint: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

This week's story takes us from Aldeburgh to Plymouth on the trail of a man and a large sum of money via a chance sighting through a telescope. Buy Coastal Stories a pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

You won't find many places more remote than Cape Wrath, stalwart of the inshore waters shipping forecast. In 1814 Sir Walter Scott joined a six-week lighthouse inspection cruise around the Scottish coast and islands, including a visit to Cape Wrath. Here's what Scotland's greatest writer made of the place.  Donate to help keep Coastal Stories up and running: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Follow Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Hardy women whose lives were governed by the tides. Gathering cockles was - and is - dangerous work.  Donate to help keep Coastal Stories going here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal Coastal Stories on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoastalStoriesPod

In part two of the special 50th episode coastal story we follow Betsy into her marriage to James Curry, whaling captain, a man with a link to one of the world's most extraordinary sea stories and one of its greatest books who leads Betsy through the rest of her remarkable century.  Donate to keep Coastal Stories running here; https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Follow Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Part one of a two-part story to mark the 50th episode of Coastal Stories.  In 1811 one man's fateful decision to steal a bale of cotton from the hold of a ship in Plymouth harbour changes lives and destinies for generations. Explore the remarkable life of Betsy Siverson, an ordinary girl whose life becomes extraordinary after her father turns to crime.  Buy Coastal Stories a 50th episode celebration pint here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

On a stormy afternoon in September 1889 passengers on a steamer from Liverpool to the Isle of Man caught sight of something unusual in the distance. It turned out to be a leaky lifeboat barely afloat that had been at the mercy of the Irish Sea for almost three days. It contained quite a story. Buy Coastal Stories a pint here, if you like:  https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories Coastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcastcoastal

In the first of two stories about sole survivors of shipwrecks, it's November 1930 and a man stumbles soaking wet into a post office on the coast at Weston-Super-Mare. When he recovers he has quite a story of remarkable survival. Come and see Charlie telling stories in Canterbury:https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-channel/canterbury-rose-laneBuy Coastal Stories a frankly well-earned pint here:https://ko-fi.com/coastalstoriesCoastal Stories on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

For many decades during the golden age of sail coastal towns and communities lived in genuine fear of the press gangs who were sent out to abduct unwary men into the navy. Donate to Coastal Stories here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstoriesCoastal Stories on Twitter:https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

When Lena Pearson bought herself an island to live on she needed a handyman to help her around the place, not to mention row her back and forth to the mainland through dangerous waters. Sydney Hicks was just the guy. But when his sister suffered an accident, something changed. Charlie at the Folkestone Book Festival on 11th June:https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/whats-on/the-sea-pavilion/Help keep Coastal Stories going by buying it a pint:https://ko-fi.com/coastalstoriesCoastal Stories on Twitter:https://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

In July 1914 as the world teetered on the brink of war a man somewhere in London was not happy. Was he vexed by the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Angry at diplomatic shilly-shallying? No. He was fuming at the cost of his recent holiday at the English seaside. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstorieshttps://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

On May 13th 2021 Trinity House in a short 'notice to mariners' announced the decommissioning of the Channel Light Vessel, for forty years a director of Channel traffic and stalwart of the shipping forecast. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstorieshttps://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

After he'd spent 25 years in a Sussex lunatic asylum, the family of Prince Ahmed Saif ed-Din of Egypt were determined to get him out and across the Channel. It was just a question of how. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstorieshttps://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Thomas Sinclair Leinster of North Shields might have been a master mariner but he definitely wasn't a master criminal. The story of his disastrous 1894 attempt at insurance fraud on the high seas is a tragic tale of farce, incompetence, high comedy and a fake beard.https://ko-fi.com/coastalstorieshttps://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

When a quiet, shy teenager from Abergavenny meets a charismatic Portuguese sailor in a Cardiff café in 1923, it leads to love, drama, global adventure - and a bullet in the leg. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstorieshttps://twitter.com/PodcastCoastal

Coastal Stories is coming back for series three. I know! It's a game changer for the world of podcasting. Twitter: @PodcastCoastalFacebook: Coastal Stories PodcastDonate here:https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the second and final part of Atlantic Stories we find Clarence about to reveal himself, Betty starting a spell in chokey and Vincenzo sailing serenely on towards New York. A two-part special brought to you by Coastal Stories, written, produced and presented by Charlie Connelly.https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

In the first part of a bonus double header from Coastal Stories, Charlie Connelly brings you the tale of three very different transatlantic stowaways crossing an ocean for very different reasons. Meet Clarence, Betty and Vincenzo as they set out illictly across the sea in 1928. Different journeys, different motivations, extraordinary stories. https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories

The shipping forecast turned 97 on January 1st 2021. In this final episode of the second series of Coastal Stories Charlie Connelly sums up what makes this iron horse of the broadcasting schedule so special.  Treat Coastal Stories here: https://ko-fi.com/coastalstories