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5:22 and on last night's show we spoke to Jeremy Clarke
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He was the All Requests roll-over caller roundabout quarter to seven
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and Jeremy was mid-journey on a train between London and Christchurch in Dorset
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and he kept on being rudely interrupted.
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JEREMY: ...Joe, and...
ANNOUNCEMENT: ...part of the train is for Southampton Central...
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MAYO: Stop it!
JEREMY: She was mother of the bride last weekend
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JEREMY: at her daughter's wedding
ANNOUNCEMENT: ...Brockenhurst, Sway, New Milton
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MAYO: Right, ok.
ANNOUNCEMENT: ... Hinton Admiral, Christchurch and Pokesdown for Boscombe.
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MAYO: Good -- ok, good. Well it's nice to have that tannoy announcement again.
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So that automated voice that was causing all the chaos
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may well be familiar to you.
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Uh, maybe like Jeremy you've been on a South Western Train
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or a Virgin East Coast train, uh, or the London Underground Northern Line
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as well because the voice belongs to Celia Drummond.
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Hello Celia!
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DRUMMOND: Hello Simon!
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MAYO: This is going to be a very strange conversation because
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DRUMMOND: [laughs]
MAYO: the only time I ever hear you is when you're telling me where to get off, if you don't mind me saying!
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MAYO: the only time I ever hear you is when you're telling me where to get off, if you don't mind me saying!
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DRUMMOND: [laughs] I'm very sorry about that!
MAYO: [laughs]
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MAYO: So are you-- are you a voiceover artist? Or actor? Or something like that?
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DRUMMOND: Yeah, I trained as an actress but I've been a voiceover
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actor-- actress for a very long time.
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MAYO: So how does that-- how do you become a voiceover actress?
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DRUMMOND: Well, way back when I was married to a Radio 1 disc jockey called Pete Drummond
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MAYO: Oh, yes!
DRUMMOND: who did a lot of voice work
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MAYO: He was a famous voiceover artist.
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DRUMMOND: Indeed. And he got me into it.
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About 1980, and it was fairly near the beginning of all the
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voiceover stuff so during that period I voiced just about everything that the voiceover does.
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MAYO: So--
DRUMMOND: It's pretty good training.
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MAYO: So your voice is instantly identifiable for people who have been
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on those train lines.
DRUMMOND: Yeah
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MAYO: So how long ago did you tell us about getting off at Brokelhurst (sic)
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DRUMMOND: Oh I [laughter] I don't know about that particular one but
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I started voicing them, I think, in 1990.
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It's a long time ago, yeah.
MAYO: So do you go in and--
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presumably it's quite boring because you just have to
DRUMMOND: [laughter]
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MAYO: go through great long lists
DRUMMOND: No! It's fun, it's not boring!
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MAYO: Oh
DRUMMOND: [laughter]
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MAYO: How long's it take to do, you know, a whole train line?
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DRUMMOND: A long, long time, trust me, yes, it really does
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because there's a lot of repeats. The way they do it is
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because they need to, sort of, patch bits of information together
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it would be something like, "The next train on platform." Pause.
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"One." Pause. "Is the." Pause. "13:30." Pause.
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[laughter] et cetera, and so it goes, and doing that through all the
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numbers, through all the platforms, and everything else, can take a very long time.
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MAYO: I can imagine. And do you do "this train is delayed" or "leaves on the line"?
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DRUMMOND: Oh, I do all of them!
MAYO: Do you do those as well?
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DRUMMOND: Yeah, I do, yeah. Yeah. Cows on the line and everything.
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MAYO: Really?
DRUMMOND: Yes! [laughter]
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MAYO: So that's all--
DRUMMOND: It's difficult sometimes because
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you laugh so much with some of these so-called excuses that
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it's very hard to sound serious again and get back in mode.
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MAYO: And do you have different pronunciations, different tones of voice?
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DRUMMOND: No, for the train stuff I do all the same.
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It's-- it has to be pretty much the same because it has to slot in
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when they make new sounds or maybe the train company has changed names
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or anything like that so I have to keep it pretty much the same.
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Uniform. Where, for other places, of course, yes I change voices all the time.
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MAYO: Are there some outtakes of you doing these train services when
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you're being Yorkshire or...?
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DRUMMOND: Oh, no no, sorry I beg your pardon, no. I don't-- I stick to this voice
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My own voice for all of the train services.
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I sometimes develop a slightly flatter tone to say something like
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"Newcastle" rather than "Neewwcastle!" simply because
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it's-- I think it's really rotten to
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MAYO: Yes...
DRUMMOND: say the name wrong but I must ask to do that
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MAYO: Elsewhere I understand you're a wedding celebrant in France?
DRUMMOND: Yes, yes.
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MAYO: So do you-- is this the voice that you would use-- do you use your
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train voice when you're marrying people?
DRUMMOND: No, no, I'm a little more friendly.
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No, wedding celebrant is much more friendly and smiley and joyous and everything else
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so-- because it's all about love and weddings and everything
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and I like to include humour in it as well. It's a different voice.
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BOTH: [laughter]
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MAYO: And presumably it's in French!
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DRUMMOND: It can be! I'm actually doing one in Brazilian in September.
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MAYO: Are you?
DRUMMOND: I have to learn-- yes, I've been learning
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Portuguese desperately!
MAYO: And have you ever been
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on a train in the UK and sat there listening to yourself telling you
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that you're off to Framlingham?
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DRUMMOND: Well, yes I have. I think the worst time was when I
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was once at Gatwick airport. We were going over to the States
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and there was a bomb scare, and I had to listen to myself for two hours
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telling everyone to evacuate the building. That was really horrid.
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MAYO: Right, well. Celia -- fascinating to talk to you. Thank you very much indeed for your time
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Would you-- Could you do an announcement for-- It's Kylie Minogue coming next.
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Could you do it in a suitably kind of trainy kind of voice?
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DRUMMOND: [RP voice] The next track on... Drivetime... is... Kylie Mingoue.
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BOTH: [laughter]
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MAYO: Works for me! Every time.
DRUMMOND: Thank you, Simon.
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MAYO: Celia Drummond, thank you very much! Thank you!
DRUMMOND: Bye!
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["On a Night like This" BY KYLIE MINOGUE PLAYS]
