London's subway silences "Voice of the Tube"
In case you missed it Tuesday, the folks who run London's Underground have fired the woman behind the taped announcements for criticizing service.
It seems that Emma Clarke had mentioned on her Web site that she stopped using the Tube because of the "dreadful" service. Of course, her site was overloaded with traffic so you may not be able to hear that or some of her other spoof announcements:
"We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly."
Another news report: "In another [spoof announcement] she announces that the passenger pretending to read a paper but actually staring at a woman's chest should stop, since he was 'not fooling anyone, you filthy pervert'."
We could use some of that lighthearted stuff at the CTA, but Lee Crooks, the guy who voices the CTA announcements, lives in Milwaukee, so he probably doesn't know too much about dreadful service or leering eyes. He probably wants to keep the job too.
It's nice to see that the London Underground folks -- even though they fired Clarke -- still have a sense of humor about it:
London Underground spokesman: "London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Ms. Clarke are experiencing severe delays."
House transit funding vote today? Check the Yahoo CTA news feed to the right later today to see whether the House votes on and passes the funding plan to divert some of the gas sales tax to the transit agencies.
You've made my day with that link to Lee Crooks' site. In the first place, I had read only the article that talks about him as the voice of the L without identifying him. Great to put face to voice and hear him in other contexts. He certainly has a variety of voices for all occasions (try the audio demo). Hiring him was one of the CTA's better decisions.
Posted by: Scott | November 28, 2007 at 08:02 AM
Oh, uh, that's a news feed? I always skip looking at it cause I thought it was just ads.
Posted by: Anna | November 28, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Actually, she's explained to the BBC that she didn't call the Tube service dreadful. She said for her, riding it would be a dreadful experience because of having to listen to her own voice, just like she doesn't like it when she phones some company and finds it's her voice on their automated operator prompts. So it seems she's been sacked over a misquote.
Posted by: Dpnash | November 28, 2007 at 12:32 PM