The Roaring Forties
The Roaring Forties (French: Les quarantièmes rugissants) is a 1982 French drama film directed by Christian de Chalonge and starring Jacques Perrin, Julie Christie and Michel Serrault. The film was loosely based on the book The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin about the death of the British round the world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst in 1968.
Cast
References
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Roaring Forties
The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator towards the South Pole and the Earth's rotation, and there are few landmasses to serve as windbreaks.
The Roaring Forties were a major aid to ships sailing the Brouwer Route from Europe to the East Indies or Australasia during the Age of Sail, and in modern usage are favoured by yachtsmen on round-the-world voyages and competitions. The boundaries of the Roaring Forties are not consistent, and shift north or south depending on the season. Similar but stronger conditions occur in more southerly latitudes and are referred to as the Furious Fifties and Shrieking or Screaming Sixties.
Mechanics
Hot air rises at the Equator and is pushed towards the poles by cooler air travelling towards the Equator (an atmospheric circulation feature known as the Hadley Cell). At about 30 degrees from the equator, the outward-travelling air sinks to lower altitudes, and continues toward the poles closer to the ground (the Ferrel Cell), then rises up again from about 60 degrees as the air joins the Polar vortex. This travel in the 30 to 60 degree zone combines with the rotation of the earth to move the air currents from west to east, creating westerly winds.
Roaring Forties (album)
Roaring Forties is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his own Fie! label in 1994. It, and the following album, X My Heart, are Hammill's most recent albums that primarily contain an organic, full-band rock style. While there are occasional tracks on later albums in this style, Hammill's principal mode has moved since this album towards a more intimate, chamber-music style.
The album also contains "A Headlong Stretch", one of Hammill's occasional long, episodic song suites (see also "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" from Pawn Hearts and "Flight" from A Black Box).
Track listing
- Up Ahead
- Continental Drift
- The Twelve
- Long Light
- Backwards Man
- As You Were
- Or So I Said
Personnel
Roaring Forties
Well I met a fervent lady in the splendour of the night,
and a harlot is a curse and so began my plight.
I am a poor unhappy soul within these walls I lay.
And transportation sentenced, I'm going far away.
I spent ever sovereign to maintain the lofty dame.
And when it all ran out she treated me with disdain.
So upon her orders I began a life to plunder.
But now she is long gone and I am left to wonder.
So here I ride on the roaring forties.
She'd tear for seven years in a foreign land.
Here I ride on the roaring forties.
She'd tear for seven years a forsaken man.
Well I was a young man proud, but I turned a common thief.
A man will do most anything for a woman's spell beneath.
My aged parents proud, they bitterly did cry.
They bid farewell their son, and his soul, goodbye.
So come all you native boys, come and gather round.
I'll tell you all the story of why I'm ironbound.
I stood before the judge and was sentenced for my ways.
He said my lad you are transported - To Botany Bay.
So here I ride on the roaring forties.
She'd tear for seven years in a foreign land.
Here I ride on the roaring forties.