The Voice pays tribute to the late Bill Mitchell, a legend in his own lifetime.

 

I only saw Bill once, standing at the back of a London Equity meeting. It was a bit like "Who was that masked man?". Bill was dressed from head to toe in black and wore a Black Stetson. I couldn't help but feel in awe of a man whose voice has growled and rumbled out of every radio in the country, a voice envied and copied by so many young voice-overs.

 

Bill's recording sessions were legend: you never knew in which direction the script would deflect him. The sensible engineer and producer would just keep the tape rolling as the gems, broadcastable and otherwise streamed out.

 

My favourite Bill Mitchell recording featured Bill voicing a series of Easter commercials which finished with "open on Good Friday". Having rubbished the typeface used on the script amongst other things, he finally got to the end of a script. "Good Friday?" He questioned. "Good Friday?" He queried further. "Jesus Christ. What was good about it? That's the day the guy bought it!"

 

Bill Mitchell became an integral part of an era of UK Radio which is, sadly, slipping further and further away. Bill was a giant in the world of voice-overs as much so as his unmistakable voice.