Hello and welcome to todays Levy Letter for Friday. I hope youve had a good week. Thank you for all the comments and messages weve received on the programme over the last few days, keep it up and you never know when we might read your message out on Look North or cover your story. I look forward to more busy days next week.
Coming up on Look North tonight, the Bakkavor Pasta factory in Scunthorpe will close with the loss of 100 jobs. We'll report on the latest factory closure to hit the area We'll be continuing to look at those worst affected by petrol prices by speaking to disabled people who claim they've become prisoners in their own home, unable to afford to fuel their vehicles. We visit the new Humber Seafood Institute opening today, hoping to boost an industry worth over a billion pounds to our region. And we'll look ahead to an event this weekend offering nature as the antidote to the hectic modern lifestyle. As I said, were always grateful for your comments, stories, and any interesting pictures you want to send us to show before the weather. I have to say weve been a little surprised at how popular the cut out pictures of me and Paul have been, thank you for all of those weve received, although some of them have been a little cheeky! If you want to get in touch with us then you can leave a message on our hot lines or text numbers, or email us directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] We look at every single one. Perfect Voice Now in the world of broadcasting your voice can sometimes make or break you, and scientists have now decided that using mathematics, they can find the perfect voice. The research, commissioned by a telecoms company, asked people to rate 50 voices, then analysed the results based on the combination of tone, speed, frequency, words per minute and intonation. The researchers have concluded that the ideal voice should speak at 164 words per minute and pause for 0.48 seconds between sentences. Sentences themselves should fall rather than rise in intonation. Thats all well and good, but one of the interesting parts of this research is the celebrities theyve picked out as examples. Apparently the perfect female voice is a combination of Mariella Frostrup, Dame Judi Dench, and Honor Blackman. In males, those with silver tongues are Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons. Listeners liked voices with traits associated with confidence and trust, describing Mariella Frostrups sultry tones as mesmerising because her way of speaking is slow, deep and confident. Not coming out as well in the study was Jonathan Ross who was judged to speak too quickly, with short pauses in between sentences. His voice featured frequent highs and lows, which are associated with expressiveness and intelligence, but his rising intonation was symptomatic of being weak or unsure. Very interesting research, although maybe including Jonathan Ross in there belies the research a little as he is of course a hugely successful television and radio presenter, yet here hes an example of bad speaking. He must be doing something right. Hiding Theres an amazing story in the news today about a woman who apparently lived inside a mans closet for a year without him knowing. He only became suspicious when food started going missing from his fridge. The bizarre incident happened in Japan, and was ended when the man installed surveillance cameras which captured the woman walking around in his absence. Police found her hiding inside the wardrobe, where shed installed a mattress and had been staying on and off for up to a year because she had nowhere else to live. An incredible story, but you have to wonder how you wouldnt notice a stranger living in your house for such a long period of time! It makes you want to go home and check your wardrobes, doesnt it! Well thats about it from me for this week. I hope youll be able to join me tonight at half past six for all the days news, and dont forget that if youre unlucky enough to miss the programme, you can watch it online at our website www.bbc.co.uk/looknorthhull. So wherever you are in the world, as long as you have an internet connection you can keep up with whats going on in your area. If youve got anything planned over the weekend, I hope it goes very well indeed, and well have the full weekend weather forecast tonight, so dont miss that. Bye for now Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
