Newmarket town crier Brenda Willison is officially the world's loudest woman
Brenda Willison, a town crier since 1987, shouted "oyez" at 105.9 decibels to land two Guinness World Records titles – including loudest shout by a woman. She had a cold at the time.
If you are visiting Newmarket in Suffolk, you may hear Brenda Willison before you see her.
The town crier is now officially the loudest woman on Earth. On 9 September she bellowed her profession’s famous cry of “oyez” at 105.9 decibels (C-weighted), earning two Guinness World Records titles: loudest town crier (female) and loudest shout by an individual (female). Guinness World Records says that is like standing right next to a snowblower or a blasting car horn.
Stock photo: Newmarket High Street (2024). Photo: Hugh Venables / CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons).
“Oyez”, for the record, means “hear ye” and comes from Anglo-Norman or Old French. And Brenda reckons she was not even at full volume: she was full of cold on the day and is sure she can get louder.
AI illustration – imagined scene, not the real adjudication.
She has been a town crier since 1987, and it all started with chips. Brenda was living in Peterborough and working as catering manager at a country park with two cafés a mile and a half apart. When the local paper advertised for a town crier, her daughter secretly wrote in, saying that if Brenda stood outside one café and shouted “chips”, they would hear her at the other one.
AI illustration – imagined scene. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere in this picture.)
Stock photo: a town crier in Guildford (2023) – not Brenda. Photo: Colin Smith / CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons).
“I’m absolutely amazed and thrilled to have reached these records and I’m going to hang the certificates with pride in our house,” she said.
Guinness World Records adjudicator Emma Salt even borrowed Brenda’s hat and bell to have a go herself. Brenda’s verdict: “Actually, I don’t think you need any lessons.”
The men’s version of the loudest shout record belongs to Australian town crier Joseph McGrail-Bateup, whose yell of “now” was measured at 122.4 decibels earlier this year.
Reported by Guinness World Records (Vicki Newman, 4 Nov 2026) and UPI (Ben Hooper, 5 Nov 2026).
