Shipping Forecast Weather

[Mallorn]

What is the music used on the shipping forecast on the radio? We're trying to find it for the funeral of a sailor.

[mozzer]

It's called Sailing By, but I can't help you with the composer.

[mrsrobinson]

"Sailing By", the tune which precedes the shipping forecast was first commissioned by the BBC in the early 1960s to go with a hot air balloon epic shot over the Alps. It is played by the John Scott Orchestra and was recorded in 1965. I nicked this info from this site: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/slup/Articles/shippin
g.html No mention of the composer, though - sorry.

[mrsrobinson]

Have now found the composer, although looking at the date of your original inquiry, I'm sorry to have found the Answerbank too late to help very much! The composer was Ronald Binge:

In 1935 he joined Mantovani's orchestra as accordionist and chief arranger and it was Binge's orchestration of Charmaine, with its shimmering, cascading strings, which swept Mantovani to world fame in the 1950s. After leaving Mantovani, Binge had his own successful series on the BBC Light Programme called String Song and his composition Elizabethan Serenade became an international hit

I lifted this straight from RB's website at http://www.ronaldbinge.skynow.co.uk/page2.html