My lovely wife occasionally likes to fall asleep listening to a sleep story on the Calm app. Her interest in sleep stories, and my interest in weather crossed paths unexpectedly with Peter Jefferson and his Shipping Forecast for BBC Radio.

The Daily Mail had a nice summary of the BBC Radio Shipping Forecast, which has become such a fixture of British life that it was even referenced in the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics.

The Calm Shipping Forecast Sleep Story is very meta, in that they hired Peter himself to tell the story of the Shipping Forecast, and his decades of reading it into the night. And then, to finish the story, he reads a forecast. While I may understand a little more of jargon than the average joe, I will say, it is quite soothing and poetic to listen to.

“The version of it broadcast last thing at night”, says Jefferson, 71, “has been likened to a meditation, a mantra and a kind of lullaby since for many people it is not just rhythmic, familiar and soothing but also the last thing they listen to at night before falling asleep.”