Zorbing

Stornoway is an English alternative indie pop band from Oxford. Singer and guitarist Brian Briggs who was reading ornithology at Oxford University hooked up with cellist and keyboardist Jon Ouin, who was studying for a degree in Russian literature there. Brian told The Daily Mail: "We met during Fresher's Week. I was studying ducks. Jon was trying to decipher Russian poems. We began talking about music and did some gigs as a two-piece."

The acoustic duo decided they needed a fuller sound, so they recruited Brian's trumpeter brother Adam and South African-born brothers, bassist Oliver and drummer Rob Steadman. They named themselves after the Hebridean town on the Isle of Lewis, which appears on all UK televised weather reports and shipping forecasts. 'Brian explained the name to the The Daily Mail: "We wanted something nautical, Then we watched the BBC weather forecast and saw the name Stornoway at the top of the map. We played there this year. I'm sure the islanders were suspicious. We needed to play well to convince them we weren't going to give their town a bad name!"

This was the band's first major label single, which was released in July 2009. Zorbing is the sport of rolling downhill in a transparent plastic globe and the song describes steering one of the titular plastic orbs through Oxford city centre. It was re-released the following year and this time it peaked at #74 on the UK singles chart.