James Nesbitt: NI actor proud to be loud

Northern Ireland actor James Nesbitt has been crowned the celebrity winner of the UK’s largest ever measure of how loud people can yell.

A reading of the Cold Feet star’s voice – taken at Victoria Square in Belfast – revealed it to be 94.51 decibels. That is as loud as a jack hammer or a motorcycle engine.

Recordings of over 10,000 UK residents were taken by Yell.com, in a specially designed booth, which travelled over 9,000 miles across the country, visiting 20 different locations.

The tour marked the final delivery of the Yellow Pages in each area and challenged people to yell different types of small businesses as loudly as they could – for example ‘pub’, ‘florist’, or ‘plumber’.

Celebrities local to each location also took part in the competition, with Mr Nesbitt coming out on top.

The Coleraine FC fan was loud enough to see off hotly tipped favourite, TV presenter Alison Hammond, who came second after managing to record a yell of 94.1 decibels.

Cardiff-born TV presenter Matt Johnson came in third place with 94.20, followed by Glaswegian Lorraine Kelly with 89.79 decibels. In Manchester X-Factor star Shayne Ward managed 85.76 decibels.