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Pat Simmons (speaking Clock)
Pat Simmons (1920 – 29 October 2005) was the voice of the United Kingdom's Speaking Clock from 1963 until 1985. A supervisor at a London telephone exchange, in 1963 Simmons won a £500 competition to replace Jane Cain, whose voice had been used since the service began in 1936. On 2 April 1985, Pat Simmons' last words on the clock were: "At the third stroke it will be 10:59 and 50 seconds", followed by the three pips and then the voice of Brian Cobby who succeeded her in the job. In 2000, a project called TIM 2000 was run by the Telecommunications Heritage Group to recreate the Pat Simmons speaking clock. Around 75 electronic speaking clocks with the Pat Simmons voice were sold. The Speaking Clock machine that was used by Pat Simmons was displayed on an edition of the BBC television programme, Antiques Roadshow, originally broadcast on 19 October 2008. It had been on display as a working machine at the museum of the British Horological Institute. About forty-four minutes in ...
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Speaking Clock
A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory, on 14 February 1933. The format of the service is similar to that of radio time signal services. At set intervals (''e.g.'' ten seconds) a voice announces (for example) "At the third stroke, the time will be twelve forty-six and ten seconds...", with three beeps following. Some countries have sponsored time announcements and include the sponsor's name in the message. List by country Australia In Australia, the number 1194 was the speaking clock in all areas. The service started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department, originally to access the talking clock on a rotary dial phone, callers would dial "B074", during the transition from a rotary dial to a DTMF based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1 ...
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Jane Cain
Ethel Jane Cain (1 May 1909 – 19 September 1996) was a British telephonist and the original voice of the speaking clock in the United Kingdom. She was appointed in 1936 following a "search for the Girl with the Golden Voice". Her voice was used from 1936 until 1963, when it was replaced by Pat Simmons. She also made a record for the GPO helping other staff improve their speaking voice and went on to become announcer for Henry Hall during one of his broadcast concerts. She was later offered a film part by Columbia Pictures under the name of Jane Cain. Originally the speaking clock was accessed by dialing 846, spelling out the letters T-I-M, on the telephone dial in 'Director Area' (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool & Manchester) and 952 as it was introduced elsewhere in the UK. Later the code on non-director exchanges became 80 and then 8081 before finally becoming standardised everywhere as 123, away from the numbering ranges used by subscribers. In the m ...
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Brian Cobby
Brian Cobby (12 October 192931 October 2012) was an English actor and telephone exchange worker who, in 1985, became the first male voice of the British speaking clock. Early life Cobby was born in Gravesend, Kent, the son of Amy and Sydney Cobby, a retail manager. Sydney had hoped to serve in the Royal Navy like his father and grandfather before him, but was unable to join due to a ruptured eardrum. He instead joined Woolworths and moved around the country managing its stores, finally transferring from Gravesend to Oxford, where Brian spent most of his early years. Cobby started singing while attending Ealing Academy, before becoming a chorister at Worcester College, Oxford and, later, the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where he won a competition to perform at St Paul's Cathedral. It was during this time that Cobby's love for acting grew, and he visited the Oxford Playhouse every week. One day he noticed an advertisement for a job for a young boy or girl at the Playhous ...
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Antiques Roadshow
''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (generally speaking). It has been running since 1979, based on a 1977 documentary programme. The series has spawned many international versions throughout Europe, North America and other countries with the same TV format. The program is hosted by Fiona Bruce and it is in its 45th series. History The programme began as a BBC documentary that aired in 1977, about a London auction house doing a tour of the West Country in England. The pilot roadshow was recorded in Hereford on 17 May 1977 and presented by contributor Bruce Parker, a presenter of the news/current affairs programme '' Nationwide'', and antiques expert Arthur Negus, who had previously worked on a similarly themed show, called '' Going for a Song''. The pilot was so ...
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British Horological Institute
The British Horological Institute (BHI) is the representative body of the horological industry in the United Kingdom. It was founded by a group of clockmakers in 1858, and has its current premises at Upton Hall in Nottinghamshire, which includes a museum of clock history. History The BHI was founded in 1858 by a small group of clockmakers, one of whom was Edward Daniel Johnson. Their aim was to unify the British horological industry and trades in the face of large numbers of imports of clocks and watches from abroad. The institute was an immediate success and within a year it had founded its own museum and library; it also began to offer evening classes in clock- and watch-making. The journal of the institute is the ''Horological Journal'', which has been published monthly since September 1858. It is claimed to be the oldest continuously published technical journal in the world. Upton Hall The current premises of the BHI are at Upton Hall in Nottinghamshire, England. Its ...
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Speaking Clock
A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory, on 14 February 1933. The format of the service is similar to that of radio time signal services. At set intervals (''e.g.'' ten seconds) a voice announces (for example) "At the third stroke, the time will be twelve forty-six and ten seconds...", with three beeps following. Some countries have sponsored time announcements and include the sponsor's name in the message. List by country Australia In Australia, the number 1194 was the speaking clock in all areas. The service started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department, originally to access the talking clock on a rotary dial phone, callers would dial "B074", during the transition from a rotary dial to a DTMF based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1 ...
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Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Lenny Henry Show'' in 1984. He was the most prominent black British comedian of the time and much of his material served to celebrate and parody his African-Caribbean roots. In 1985, he cofounded the charity Comic Relief with the comedy screenwriter Richard Curtis. He has appeared in numerous other TV programmes, including children's entertainment show '' Tiswas'', sitcom '' Chef!'' and '' The Magicians'' for BBC One, and in his later years has transitioned toward acting roles in stage and screen. He appears in the Amazon Prime series '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power''.Otterson, Joe (3 December 2020)"'Lord of the Rings' Series at Amazon Adds 20 Actors to Cast" Variety. .Retrieved 4 December 2020. Henry is the Chancellor of Birm ...
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Alicia Roland
A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory, on 14 February 1933. The format of the service is similar to that of radio time signal services. At set intervals (''e.g.'' ten seconds) a voice announces (for example) "At the third stroke, the time will be twelve forty-six and ten seconds...", with three beeps following. Some countries have sponsored time announcements and include the sponsor's name in the message. List by country Australia In Australia, the number 1194 was the speaking clock in all areas. The service started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department, originally to access the talking clock on a rotary dial phone, callers would dial "B074", during the transition from a rotary dial to a DTMF based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1 ...
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Sara Mendes Da Costa
Sara Mendes da Costa (born c. 1966) from Brighton became the fourth permanent holder of the iconic role of the voice of the UK Speaking Clock, first established in 1936, at 08:00 BST on 2 April 2007. Biography On 23 October 2006, to mark the BT clock reaching its 70th year, a competition was launched to find the new modern voice of the Speaking Clock. Applicants were invited to leave telephone recordings of their voice, with the proceeds of each call going to '' Children in Need''. Sara Mendes da Costa, a telemarketer and part-time voiceover artist, was announced as the winner on BBC One's ''Children in Need'' telethon on 17 November 2006. She was the unanimous choice of a voting panel that included the clock's previous voice, Brian Cobby, the BBC presenters Natasha Kaplinsky and Alan Dedicoat, and Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of BT Group, the clock's providers. As the host of ''Children in Need'', Terry Wogan launched her voice on BBC Radio 2. She appeared as a "strange ...
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1920 Births
Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music * 19 (band) 19 was a Japanese pop/folk duo. Its members were Kenji Okahira and Keigo Iwase The Japanese language has a system of honorific speech, referred to as , parts of speech that show respect. Their use is mandatory in many social situations. Ho ..., a Japanese pop music duo Albums * ''19'' (Adele album), 2008 * ''19'', a 2003 album by Alsou * ''19'', a 2006 album by Evan Yo * ''19'', a 2018 album by MHD * ''19'', one half of the double album '' 63/19'' by Kool A.D. * '' Number Nineteen'', a 1971 album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * ''XIX'' (EP), a 2019 EP by 1the9 Songs * "19" (song), a 1985 song by British musician Paul Hardcastle. * "Nineteen", a song by Bad4Good from the 1992 album ''Refugee (Bad4 ...
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2005 Deaths
This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked here. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 See also * Lists of deaths by day * Deaths by year {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ...
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English Voice Actresses
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community ...
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