The voice of London's iconic 'Mind the Gap' announcements has died of cancer at the age of 62.
Phil Sayer, whose voice has been used across the London Underground network, was also known for TV and radio work, having presented a daily show on the BBC's Manchester station in the 1980s. His voice was also used for train announcements elsewhere on Britain's rail network.
Announcing his passing on Facebook, Sayer's family said his service "terminates here". Describing him as a "voice of reason, radio and railways", the message remembered Sayer as a "dearly loved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend".
A message posted on the Facebook page of Sayer's voiceover business on April 5 announced that he was retiring from voiceover work due to "a sudden decline of health". BBC News reports that he died of cancer.
While Sayer's voice is well known across London's tube network, it isn't an ever-present. Passengers travelling through the northbound Northern Line at Embankment are greeted by a 40-year-old "Mind the Gap" recording by theatre actor Oswald Laurence, who died in 2007.
Laurence's voice used to be heard across the tube network, but was phased and eventually removed from all stations in November 2012. But TfL was persuaded to reinstate the more sternly-voiced announcement, which had run since 1969, following a plea from Laurence's widow.
Margaret McCullum frequently visited Embankment station to hear the voice of her late husband, until she arrived on November 1, 2012 to discover he was gone. "Since he died I would sit and wait for the next train until I heard his voice," she told the BBC in 2013. "On 1 November he wasn't there. I was just stunned when Oswald wasn't there anymore."
TfL had said that a new digital system necessitated the removal of Laurence's voice, but having heard from McCullum the recording has since been reinstated at one platform at one station.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
