With the recent introduction of the pleasant automated voice announcing TTC stops, it is interesting to read that the voice actor behind the familiar London Tube announcements has been fired sacked. She was let go because she posted a series of spoof announcements on her website (listen to them here).
The spoofs by Emma Clarke, one of the country’s most successful voiceover artists, included a reminder to “our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly” and an appeal to the passenger in the red shirt to stop “staring at that woman’s chest”.
But Transport for London decided that it was the end of the line after Ms Clarke, a 36-year-old mother of two who is trying to build a career in comedy, told a newspaper that she never used the Tube any more because it was “dreadful”.
A TfL spokeswoman said: “Some of the spoof announcements are very funny, but Emma is a bit silly to go round slagging off her client’s services. London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Ms Clarke are experiencing severe delays.”
Clarke claims that she was misquoted and that she was saying “how dreadful it was to always hear my voice on Tube trains” — she has a blog and you can read her account of events here. For those of us in Toronto familiar with the TTC’s own record of humourless officiousness, some comfort can be found now that it can be blamed on colonialism. Though even the spokesperson for the TfL appears to have a sense of humour about the sacking.
Photo by DigitalUrban.
12 comments
Those are great. She should have known better — maybe in a performance it would work, but posting them on her blog was a silly miscalculation to make. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin her career in voice-overs.
She has a lovely voice. I always liked the way she said “Chalk Farm”.
What a humourless world we live in.
This could only help… As she says, “…The phone’s still going mental, I’ve been talking so much all day I sound like Bonnie Tyler’s laryngitic gran, I haven’t eaten all day, I’m a bit clammy. It’s no fun being misquoted…”
Still, I think she could have gone even further. A bit more offensive perhaps? One might as well if they’re going to post the recordings on their own blog and subsequently get fired for it. Still, I wish I could play the tourist selection at work. Every hour or so.
Let me submit this idea: Ms Clarke should be invited as the new voice of the TTC. I say we could use something to make the trips more interesting (plus a British accent always makes things feel more world class).
I’m serious about this!
I love how on one hand they don’t have a sense of humour about the whole thing, but then upon firing her they say this:
“London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Ms Clarke are experiencing severe delays.”
I have always thought the Toronto vehicles should use a British voice. Perhaps we’d all get classier accents.
Emma Clarke’s site also has real samples of her Underground announcements. Even the announcements reminding passengers that smoking is not permitted don’t have the patronizing nag that the announcements about “the kinder way” have here. Her voice is soft, yet authorative, no wonder she’s been able to make a living being a professional voiceover artist.
If I ran the TTC, I’d hire her in an instant.
My most memorable announcements during my one time one-week visit to London back in 2004 was from the Bank Street Station where a very loud Clarke kept repeating “MIND THE GAP” on the speakers in the station, which was really useful, as I noticed a 30 cm or so gap, where I was getting out thanks to the curved platform.
Man, there’s so much Toronto could do here. Without sacrificing clarity and comprehensibility, natch.
Apparently, the paper that misquoted her isn’t known for the highest standards of journalism, which suggests TfL really should have asked for her side of the story first. Oops.
Those announcements do stick with you (a bit like the smells of a city). For me, it’s the one that plays when approaching Charing Cross, where the first or last door of the train doesn’t open. Having a station that isn’t big enough to fit modern trains, and then having a high-tech system to warn people about it, always seemed to capture old vs. new London perfectly. (And yes, some people manage to ignore the announcement and get caught standing at a door that won’t open.)
Emma’s voice is fantastic, I’m sure they’ll reconsider once it’s all blown over.
I love hearing about these voice artists – one of my real favourites is the voice on the trains/in train stations in Scotland – her voice is so soothing!
Here’s an interview with the voice of the Montreal metro: http://www.metrodemontreal.com/history/ouimet.html
Importing a British accent is a tad colonial, sort of like using single quotation marks in body copy. (Well, almost nobody here does that, except, notably, the -TOPia books’ publisher.)
It would help if the current voice of the subway had actual training and didn’t make 1/3 of station names? a question? But then they’d have to pay residuals, and after forking over 450K for lawyers to fight any requirement to announce stops in the first place, there’s hardly any money for that, now, is there?
From a smart-ass letter I wrote on Jan 29,07:
“Last night during my Carlton streetcar journey I overheard a conversation between a rider and the driver about the new automated stop and station announcements that have made their way onto certain bus and subway routes. The driver commented that the announcements would be system-wide before long and that he wasn’t looking forward to that day because he enjoys the job of calling out the stations. It got me thinking that if I were a driver I would detest the announcements too, but for a different reason. The new computer woman that the TTC has chosen to be its voice to the public is about as lively and cheerful as a funeral procession.
Now, keep in mind that I’m a long-time advocate for automated announcements. There was one morning rush-hour subway operator in particular who would always grunt out the station names in a sickly and frightening manner, and frankly, it was an embarrassment to the commission. To be sure, the time for progress had come. However, I imagined that the voices of these old bruisers would be replaced by a gentle, motherly voice that cared desperately that we made our stop. Instead we got robotics! Have you traveled by London underground? Londoners love their station announcement woman. Her voice is miraculous. In fact, my suggestion would be to look her up and give her a week’s voice work in the studio. No matter that she has an English accent. Call it a nod to the most exciting transit system in the world. Maybe James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman would take on the work pro-bono, knowing that their rendition of ‘You are now arriving at Queen Station’ would be consigned to posterity for a weekly audience of millions.
As a life-long TTC rider I congratulate you on your exciting new position as chair of the TTC committee. I hope in your role that you are able to help bring some fun and cheerfulness to the system where so many of us spent a good chunk of our day.
p.s. I also think there is absolutely no reason to make two announcements for each subway stop, but maybe that’s for another letter
And the response on Mar 7, 2007:
“Chair Adam Giambrone has forwarded your email of recent date.
Dear Mr. Giambrone,
We appreciate you sharing your views on our automated surface stop announcement system. The plan is for all surface vehicles to be equipped with automated stop announcement technology and that all new and subsequent vehicle purchases will be equipped upon delivery. I agree that the announcements need not be devoid of personality, and I have forwarded your suggestions and London Underground reference to staff involved in this project.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond.”