In olden times, when few people were literate, and there was little access to printed media, town criers were a central part of urban living. Town criers were responsible for keeping the populace up to date with the latest news and events, and for disseminating news from the ruling classes to the wider populace. Now, the general literacy of the populace, and the ease of access to printed (and digital) media has rendered the town crier somewhat redundant – Town Crier Day celebrates the historical role of the town crier by encouraging people to take up the role of the town crier in their town or city. Where is your nearest one? - I think Chester is closest to me.
our very own Shrewsbury. they just mounted a metal cut out sillioutte ? or our town cryer, and one of a soldier from the 1st world war, could be war poet Wilfred Owen at a glance when i drove passed them on the way home, yesterday....
Well at the weekend all the bampots round this way do get rather vocal announcing their all too predictable arrest, and usual cry is , "aw want ma louwer"<translate "I want my lawyer" < like ,they think they have their own lawyer.?
No Town Crier anywhere near us, there's a few Town Bikes ( so I've been told), but no Town Criers. A mates Dad is the official Town Crier for Toowoomba in Queensland. I've heard him do his "Oyez Oyez" routine & I must admit it's pretty impressive. RalphCockle
one of my good friends is our local town crier near south lakes in cumbria, he covers a few differant towns. he's allways had a bit of a gob on him though
Croydon has loads of town cryers and often they are female, they can usually be found staggering about or sitting in the gutter at 3 or 4 o'clock on a Saturday morning, bawling lines like 'but i love him' or 'she's a tart and i hate her' (i've paraphrased these lines are they are usually full of expletives too).
Living in Chelmsford is we have the ever self-promoting Tony "Flashbulb" Appleton as our town crier... seemingly self-appointed king of town cryers and toastmasters... he's spent most of his life selling carpets and desperately trying to be famous http://www.englishtowncrier.co.uk/
