British town crier Brenda Willison enters Guinness with a 105.9 dB "oyez"
· BehindLines newsroom
A British town crier has just won two Guinness World Records for the power of her voice. Brenda Willison, town crier of Newmarket in Suffolk, let out an "oyez" measured at 105.9 decibels, according to a Guinness page published on 4 November and a UPI article dated 5 November.
Two records for a single shout
Guinness recognises her as the loudest town crier (female) and as holder of the loudest shout by an individual (female). Her official attempt took place on 9 September, according to Guinness, which specifies that the measurement is C-weighted, in dB(C). UPI notes that Ms Willison has held the role since 1987 and presents her title as that of the "world's loudest woman". The headline of Guinness's own article calls her "officially the world's loudest woman", but the record titles themselves are the two categories above.
"Not at my best"
Ms Willison says, according to Guinness, that she was not at her best that day, with a cold, and that she thinks she can shout louder. UPI also reports that she does not believe the official attempt captured her loudest possible shout.
A male benchmark
UPI points out that the male record belongs to Australian Joseph McGrail-Bateup, who let out a "now" at 122.4 decibels earlier in 2026. That figure is higher than Ms Willison's 105.9 dB, but the two articles we read do not detail the measurement distance.
The Guinness page does not state the year of the 9 September attempt; UPI, in its article of 5 November, gives the same 9 September date.
Neither source names the previous holder of the female record or gives the exact place of the attempt.