Stephen Peter Woodmore (13 December 1959 – 6 February 2023) was a British electronics salesman known for his rapid speech articulation, being able to articulate 637 words per minute (wpm), a speed four times faster than the average person. Woodmore was listed by the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' as the world's fastest talker, taking the record from John Moschitta Jr. in August 1990. Woodmore lost his record in 1995, when Sean Shannon from Canada was able to articulate 655 wpm.

Career

Fastest talker

Steve Woodmore could rapidly articulate at a rate of 637 words per minute, four times faster than the average human. Woodmore first realised his skills at rapid speech when he was seven years old. At school, he was asked by his form teacher to recite an 8-minute speech, as a punishment for his talkativeness. It took him only two minutes. On the ITV television show ''Motor Mouth'' on 22 September 1990, Steve Woodmore recited a piece from the Tom Clancy novel "Patriot Games" in 56 seconds, yielding an average rate of 637 words per minute, breaking the previous record of 586 wpm, set by John Moschitta Jr. Guinness World Records listed Woodmore as the world's fastest talker. His ability to articulate at such a fast rate is apparently due to his recruiting more portions of his brain to the task than the average person, as shown in an fMRI scan.

Reality television

Woodmore has appeared on numerous television and radios shows, including

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''1Xtra Breakfast Show with Twin B'' and the documentary '' Stan Lee's Superhumans''.

Electronics salesman

Woodmore worked as an electronics salesman for Currys.

Other appearances

In June 2011, Woodmore launched the 5050 Phone a Friend nationwide competition, together with John Lonergan, at an event held in

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, in which the Irish public was challenged to beat Woodmore's world record of 637 wpm live on television. The finals were held on 10 September 2011.

Personal life and death

Woodmore was born in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen ...

on 13 December 1959. He lived in Chislehurst and was divorced with four children. Woodmore died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on 6 February 2023, at the age of 63.

References

External links

Steve Woodmore, World's Fastest Talker
on

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The world's fastest talker takes on the UK tax code
on '' The Telegraph'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodmore, Steve 1959 births 2023 deaths Salespeople People from Hackney, London