A British woman who has served as a town crier since 1987 has been crowned the loudest woman on earth after a shout that reached 105.9 decibels. For comparison, a commercial jet at takeoff reaches 120 decibels. Brenda Willison is now the proud holder of the Guinness World Record for the loudest town crier (female) and the loudest shout by an individual (female). “Oyez” — a word commonly used by town criers — means “hear ye” and originates from Old French. Willison, who says she doesn’t think her official attempt represented her loudest possible shout, first became the town crier of Petersborough in 1987. "I was catering manager at a country park which has two cafés one-and-a-half miles from one another," said Willison. "The Peterborough paper put an ad in to say 'could you be town crier of Peterborough?' Unbeknown to myself, my daughter sent in a letter saying that if I stood outside one café and shouted 'chips' they'd be able to hear me in the other."
