It was a World Service programme of course – all the others were election-driven
It was a World Service programme, of course – all the others were election-driven. Mr Pearce was talking about how awful most of us sound these days because we’ve lost touch with our true selves.Voice is far more than just sound. It is literally our persona (Latin per sona “through sound”) and represents the totality of our being. I invited Mr Pearce to elaborate further on why politicians especially sound so aggressive and strangulated, and can reveal that the totality of his being must be in pretty good nick because he has an absolutely wonderful voice. The timber for the stage and auditorium is English oak cut not with a chainsaw but by hand as it would have been in the 16th century. It is everything a man’s voice should be: rich, resonant and perfectly suited to his Gilbert and Sullivan title – Master of Voice for the Globe Theatre.That figures Everything at the Globe is authentic. Funny, I always thought it was breasts, but with all these implants men have probably become a bit wary.
The survey didn’t mention what attracts women to men, though to judge from my friends I suspect it’s wallet, car, manners Not with me I go for voices. It’s the considered opinion of Stewart Pearce, the voice therapist who recently coached the people responsible for selling Britain’s 2012 Olympic bid to the visiting international Olympic Committee.I happened to hear him talking about the power of the human voice on my new improved digital radio with 25 per cent more options which lets me listen to the World Service any time I like, not just at 3am. I like them deep, dark and preferably Scots.Of all our political leaders Charles Kennedy certainly has the most attractive voice, and that’s not just the opinion of a frustrated Lib Dem living in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The moment the news comes on I turn off the radio, so disenchanted have I become with the same dreary politicians’ voices ranting on about their new healthier options for Britain. Apathetic moi?
As a near lifelong resident of the country’s safest Conservative seat (if Malcolm Rifkind doesn’t win Michael Portillo’s old Kensington and Chelsea seat this Thursday I shall expect to see Noah’s Ark floating under Albert Bridge), there’s precious little point in my strolling round the corner to the Town Hall to register my tactical protest vote, though of course I shall. I don’t believe a word of it, of course, but I might if only I could warm to their voices.According to a recent survey, the first three things that attract men to women are: one – eyes; two – bum; three – smile.
Apathetic moi?
Twenty years ago I ran into Mrs Thatcher coming out of a polling booth. She used to live in one of the six-bedroom mock-Tudor £2m jobs across from our modest shop-fronted block. Mr Blair’s difficulty is that on both levels he now looks out of touch with large segments of the electorate. Will he recover his campaigning magic? Will Mr Howard’s gamble on the personal invective pay off? Will Mr Kennedy and his Liberal Democrats be rewarded for their opposition to the war, or will their civil liberties agenda prove a liability? We look forward to next week’s final instalment of this unusual and volatile campaign.. Well-briefed, incisive and friendly with it, Mr Kennedy deserved to win over at least some of those voters hitherto concerned about his competence. Coolly formulaic, Mr Howard had lost much of the verve that had distinguished the early stages of his – largely solo – campaign.