Town crier secures Olympics role
Town Crier Tony Appleton.
A TOWN crier, who has become a staple of Bury St Edmunds’ Christmas Fayre, has something else to shout about after securing a performing role at the London Olympics.
Tony Appleton has been handpicked to appear in the games’ closing ceremony – a once in a lifetime opportunity which will fulfill a life-long ambition.
The 75-year-old, who has been a feature of the Bury festive market for nine years, will join thousands of other performers after impressing organisers in a gruelling audition process.
He said: “The first audition was three and a half hours and we had to do quite a bit of dancing. The second one was similar.
“There were 10, 000 people who applied for it and 2,000 selected. It’s been my life ambition to do something like this. You couldn’t get much more of an accolade than being in the Olympics.”
For the moment though, Mr Appleton has been kept in the dark about the nature of his performance.
He added: “I haven’t a clue. It’s all hush hush but we’ve got lots of rehearsals.”
Mr Appleton, of Chelmsford, has been a town crier for 20 years.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.