Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown

Carolyn is a Yachtmaster, and when she began reading the Shipping Forecast on Radio Four, she found the perfect complement to her passion for sailing.

Her career as a journalist began at Radio City in Liverpool, at the time one of the biggest and best newsrooms in Independent Radio. Soon she joined BBC Radio Leeds but the call of the sea took her to regional television, working first for "Spotlight" in Plymouth and then for "Points West" in Bristol.

She decided radio was where her heart was and in 1991 joined Radio Four on a six month contract. She became a continuity announcer and has never left. When she was given the job of reading the Shipping Forecast, her sailing friends joked that she should have buckets of water thrown at her as she sounded too smug.

After a brief flirtation with television, I decided my heart was in radio

Carolyn Brown

It was not until December 1991 that Carolyn began reading the news on Radio Four and she came into her own when given the task of breaking the news of the Queen Mother's death: "it felt very scary afterwards although at the time there was a blanket of calm as I had thought about it and rehearsed it".