Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Meet the one-lunged town crier warming up for Platinum Jubilee proclamations
Town criers across Shropshire are shining their bells and exercising their vocal cords in preparation for this week's historic jubilee occasion.
Newport's one lung town crier Peter Taunton is this year celebrating his 25th year in ceremonial robes and says Thursday's proclamations - read by 300 people in the UK at 2pm and 1,500 around the world - have been phenomenal for his business.
"It's been phenomenal," said Peter, aged 76. "So much so that I produced a video so that towns and villages that don't have town crier can play it on screens or just the proclamation.
"I will be in Yorkshire, London and other places at the same time as I am in Newport reading the proclamation at 2pm."
Peter will then be heading to Stafford, where he holds that town's crier role, to read the proclamation in the evening for a lighting of the beacon.
"I have the most wonderful job in the world, there is nothing that beats it," he said.
Mr Taunton, Newport's crier since 2009, actually has only has one working lung but he has learned how to cope and project his voice.
"When I started off I was left exhausted but was told "use your diaphragm" and trained to do that," said the former Coldstream Guard, tank driver and coach driver.
Shrewsbury town crier Martin Wood, aged 62, attends events with his consort wife Susan. He will be reading the proclamation from the tops of Pride Hill at 2pm on Thursday. He is also at the beacon event in the evening at Bomere Heath.
"It is an honour to be a town crier and especially for the Platinum Jubilee, which is an occasion that is once in a lifetime and I do not think it will ever be repeated," he said.
"We did a similar event for the last jubilee and it was amazing to think 'I am in Shrewsbury and in Canada they are doing the same cry, all doing the same thing, it's quite interesting," he said.
