Bridgend resident makes final three of competition to find new voice of BT Speaking Clock

The winner of the Speaking Clock competition will be announced on the One Show tonight.

We can reveal the finalists of a competition to find the new voice of the iconic BT Speaking Clock.

The nationwide competition marks the Clock’s 80th anniversary.

Anyone 10 years and over was invited to enter the competition, which we ran this summer.

The finalists, who have been sworn to secrecy about their place until today, are:

• Verity Giles, a 37-year-old business manager for a recruitment company in Bridgend
• Crea Barton, a 20-year-old student from Bangor in County Down
• Alan Steadman, a 69-year-old retired civil servant from Dundee

The three finalists will be in BBC’s The One Show studio tonight when the winner will be announced.

All three finalists recorded full versions of the BT Speaking Clock script at a recording studio in the BT Tower in London.

Around 12 million calls a year are still made to the BT Speaking Clock, especially on Remembrance Day, New Year’s Eve or when the clocks go forwards or back.

Even Big Ben is set by the BT Speaking Clock, which is accurate to within 30 microseconds and has been keeping Britain on time, ticking away 24 hours a day, seven days a week since 24 July 1936.

David Hay, head of BT Heritage and a member of the judging panel, said: “It was so difficult to choose the winner from our finalists because any one of them would be a great new voice for the BT Speaking Clock.”

The winner’s voice will go live tonight during The One Show, which starts at 7pm.

The competition has been helping to raise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal as BT is donating 10p from each call to the BT Speaking Clock from the start of the competition in August until tonight’s announcement.