Sara Mendes da Costa
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Sara Mendes da Costa (born c. 1966) from Brighton became the fourth permanent holder of the iconic role of the voice of the UK Speaking Clock, first established in 1936, at 08:00 BST on 2 April 2007.
Biography
On 23 October 2006, to mark the BT clock reaching its 70th year, a competition was launched to find the new modern voice of the Speaking Clock. Applicants were invited to leave telephone recordings of their voice, with the proceeds of each call going to Children in Need. Sara Mendes da Costa, a telemarketer and part-time voiceover artist, was announced as the winner on BBC One's Children in Need telethon on 17 November 2006.[1]
She was the unanimous choice of a voting panel that included the clock's previous voice, Brian Cobby, the BBC presenters Natasha Kaplinsky and Alan Dedicoat, and Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of BT Group, the clock's providers. As the host of Children in Need, Terry Wogan launched her voice on BBC Radio 2.
She appeared as a "stranger" on the first UK episode of the game show Identity (broadcast on 27 August 2007), with the identity "Speaking Clock", and was successfully identified by that day's contestant.[citation needed]
She was educated at Dollar Academy.
References
- ^ "Woman becomes new voice of clock". BBC News. London: BBC. 17 November 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
External links
- Daily Telegraph Editorial[dead link]
- Stephanie Ciccarelli, "Sara Mendes da Costa: The Voice of Time", 21 November 2006
- Website of Sara Mendes da Costa
- Articles with short description
- Short description matches Wikidata
- BLP articles lacking sources from March 2018
- All BLP articles lacking sources
- Use dmy dates from April 2021
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- Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020
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- Articles with dead external links from July 2021
- Living people
- English voice actresses
- Clocks
- Telephone voiceover talent
- 1960s births
- People from Hemel Hempstead
- People educated at Dollar Academy
- English people of Portuguese descent