Rockall

Rockall is a small, rocky islet in the North Atlantic but is probably better known as one of the British Sea Areas named in the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The status of the surrounding ocean floor is disputed between the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Denmark (for the Faroe Islands), and Iceland.

Rockall in literature and culture

• The Rockall dispute was explored in an episode of the BBC drama, The Ambassador, which starred Pauline Collins as British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland.
• Rockall is the setting for William Golding's novel "Pincher Martin" (1956), a surreal, nightmarish vision of one man's battle for physical and-more tellingly-mental survival in the most unforgiving and hostile of environments. The rock itself becomes the central motif of the novel and symbolises the main character's post-modernist alienation from the "real" world.
• An Irish/Celtic band, "The House Band", has an album called Rockall, named after the place.
• The Icelandic jazz-funk band Mezzoforte recorded an instrumental track called 'Rockall', which was used as the chart countdown music on BBC Radio 1 in the 1980s.
• Lyrics of "Ether" by English Band "Gang of Four" proclaim "There may be Oil, Under Rockall" http://gang-of-four-lyrics.wonderlyrics.com/Ether.html
• Lyrics of Rock On Rockall http://celtic-lyrics.com/lyrics/426 (Irish claim)
• Lyrics of The fleet set sail for Rockall (British claim)http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/and_rock.html
• Rockall is also the name of the land where Anthony Swithin's series "The Perilous Quest for Lyonesse" takes place.
• The conclusion of a famous episode of the 1950s BBC radio series The Goon Show, "Napoleon's Piano", takes place on Rockall. Bluebottle (Peter Sellers) is lowered from "a recording of a helicopter" to salute the Union Flag and claim Rockall as "British". Rockall is shortly thereafter demolished by a nearby rocket-testing range.
• "The Master," an adventure novel by T.H. White, involves two children who are stranded on Rockall. They find that it is hollow and inhabited by a mysterious person who aims to take over the world.
• Rockall is the home of several of the avian characters of Steve Bell's comic strip, "If..."
• After the British annexation of the isle, Flanders and Swann composed the following song in mock celebration:

:Rockall

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::The fleet set sail for Rockall,

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::Rockall,

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::Rockall,

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::To free the isle of Rockall,

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::From fear of foreign foe.

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::We sped across the planet,

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::To find this lump of granite,

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::One rather startled Gannet;

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::In fact, we found Rockall.

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::So, praise the brave Bell-bottoms,

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::Bottoms,

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::Bottoms,

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::Who saw Britannia's Peril,

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::And answered to her call,

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::Though we're thrown out of Malta,

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::Though Spain should take Gibraltar,

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::Why should we flinch or falter,

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::When England's got Rockall.

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