She has a shout that can bring even the loudest crowds to a hush.
Brenda Willison, a town crier from Newmarket, Suffolk, is officially the world’s loudest woman.
On September 9, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that her cry of ‘oyez’ at 105.9 dB was the loudest shout by an individual woman.
‘For context, that would be like standing right next to a snowblower or a blasting car horn,’ Guinness wrote.
Despite setting the world record, she believes she could have done better – as she had a cold at the time.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
Brenda first became a town crier in Peterborough when her daughter entered her without her knowledge.
Eventually, she went on to cry at Buckingham Palace for the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday.
Britain’s town criers have been making headlines in the last few months.
Last month, a council worker was crowned Britain’s best town crier amongst other world champions.
Christian Ashdown, 57, placed third at the world championships held in Chester, Cheshire. He finished behind an Australian and a Belgian, making him Britain’s best town crier.
Christian has been the town crier in Haslemere, Surrey, for 16 years but said he did not think he would place in the top three at the competition, describing his finish as a ‘pleasant surprise’.
Christian said: ‘I like to think I am up in the top 30 town criers. At that competition there were some top criers, especially from Canada, and I came ahead of them, so I was quite impressed with that.
Twenty-five people entered the World Town Crier Tournament, held over five days at the end of last month.
Competitors were judged on three cries: one on their home towns, one on a luxury lingerie shop that sponsored the event and another on their hotel accommodation.
Kevin Howarth from the city of Toowoomba in Australia ran out as the winner, with Joris Goens of Veurne in Belgium placing second.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.
For more stories like this, check our news page.