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'I have been a town
crier for almost 30 years and before that
I was an actor. My official title is town
crier for the Mayor of London and various
London boroughs, but I also work for the
Covent Garden and Regent Street
associations, airlines, hotels and tourist
boards to promote London. My motto is
"have bell will travel".
I thoroughly enjoy my
job because a lot of what I do is making
people smile. It's a great feeling when
people wave to me from the bus.
'Town crier history
goes back a long way. In olden days town
criers would read their proclamation then
post it on the door, hence the expression
"daily post". Town criers were also
messengers for royalty
On the odd occasion I get a tired voice
I gargle with port a tip I was given by
Ralph Richardson'
and the lord of the manor and were
protected, hence the expression "don't
shoot the messenger". "Oyez, oyez", comes
from the French which means "hear ye, hear
ye". The first town crier was at the
Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the reason
we think that is because there is a little
picture of a man with a bell on the Bayeux
tapestry.
'I've got five coats, four pairs of boots,
four pairs of breeches, three feathered
hats and a hardhat for when it's really
bad weather and I don't want to ruin the
feathers. My costumes are made by Ede and
Ravenscroft, who make the Queen's
robes.
I wear various emblems on my costumes.
Today I have ones for Southwark, Tower
Hamlets, Covent Garden, the New Year's I
timed it once. I started in Parliament
Square and walked to TrafaIgar
Square,
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'Oyez, with my bell I'm bound to be able
to attract a waiter'
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Day Parade in
London,and one badge I am very
proud of: the Freedom of the City
of London, which I was given
eight years ago for my services
to tourism. Freedom of the City
means that if I were to be
hanged,
I could choose
to be hanged by a silken rope; I
can walk around Tower Green with
a broadsword; and until
recently
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I could have
driven my sheep over London
Bridge. I have actually driven
sheep over the bridge. I was one
of the last people to do it seven
years ago. My bell is made by the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry who also
made Big Ben and the American
Liberty Bell.
'I have so
many photographs taken of me
every week they would fill a
library.
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which normally would
take about ten minutes but took me 45
because I was stopping for photos. It's
all wonderfully good fun!
'I do a diverse amount
of things each week. On Mondays l am in
Covent Garden, on Tuesdays I am in Regent
Street, I promote the London Aquarium on
Wednesdays and Thursdays, lam in Southwark
on Fridays and every Sunday morning I am
in Hamley's. The quirkiest job I've done
was for a very shy Irishman who telephoned
me one day and explained that he was
coming to London with his girlfriend for
Valentine's Day. I hid behind a bush in
front of the Hyde Park Hotel, where they
were staying,and when they came out I
jumped up and rang my bell crying "Oyez,
oyez, on behalf of Declan who loves you
very much and wants to know if you will
marry him'. I wouldn't do it again because
I am not a singing telegram, but I enjoyed
it that once. Fortunately she said yes and
they now have two children and still write
to me.
'My job sounds
glamorous but it's hard work. I speak from
my diaphragm so I don't get sore throats,
but on the odd occasion I get a tired
voice I gargle with port-a tip I was given
by Ralph Richardson.
'London is for
everybody. It's a wonderful,
multicultural, cosmopolitan city and is,
in my opinion, one of the safest cities in
the world. It is also one of the most
cultured. Where else can you go within one
square mile and find a couple of hundred
restaurants, 20 to 30 theaters, dozens of
pubs? lama great believer of Samuel
Johnson who said, "When a man is tired of
London, he is tired of life; for there is
in London all that life can afford". I
have that phrase inscribed on my bell and
think it's as important now as it was all
those years ago.' Interview: Kathryn
Miller
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