The London Traveler

The voice of the Tube has been sacked!

by Jed on November 27th, 2007

Just a few days ago I wrote about Emma Clarke, the “Voice of the Tube.” She has been creating the recorded announcements for the Underground trains and stations for several years.

My post linked to some of her “spoof” Tube announcements, which poked fun at people who play Sudoku, yuppie professionals, American tourists, and more. Well, it turns out that she has now been fired as the “Voice of the Tube!”

London Underground is saying that it actually wasn’t for the spoof announcements, but for an interview she recently did with a London newspaper where she “slagged off” the Tube. To be fair to her, this was a quote:

The thought of being stuck in the Tube with strangers for minutes on end and having to listen to endless repeated messages of my own voice fills me with horror.

But the Tube seems to have a bit of a sense of humor about the firing. They were quoted as saying:

London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Ms Clarke are experiencing severe delays

So while you’ll still be able to hear Emma’s voice on the Tube for quite a while (since there isn’t a reason to re-record hundreds of messages), any future announcements will likely not be her. Too bad, in my opinion.

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POSTED IN: Just a Little Bit Weird - Fun & Quirky Places, Miscellaneous