Steve Woodmore

Steve Woodmore
Born	Stephen Peter Woodmore (1959-12-13)13 December 1959 Hackney, London, England
Died	6 February 2023(2023-02-06) (aged 63)
Occupation	Electronics salesman
Known for	Being the fastest English speaker in the world

Stephen Peter Woodmore (13 December 1959 – 6 February 2023) was a British electronics salesman known for his rapid speech articulation, being able to articulate 637 words per minute (wpm), a speed four times faster than the average person. Woodmore was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's fastest talker, taking the record from John Moschitta Jr. in August 1990.[1] Woodmore lost his record in 1995, when Sean Shannon from Canada was able to articulate 655 wpm. [2]

Career

Fastest talker

Steve Woodmore could rapidly articulate at a rate of 637 words per minute,[3][4][5] four times faster than the average human.[6][7]

Woodmore first realised his skills at rapid speech when he was seven years old. At school, he was asked by his form teacher to recite an 8-minute speech, as a punishment for his talkativeness. It took him only two minutes.[8]

On the ITV television show Motor Mouth on 22 September 1990, Steve Woodmore recited a piece from the Tom Clancy novel "Patriot Games" in 56 seconds, yielding an average rate of 637 words per minute, breaking the previous record of 586 wpm, set by John Moschitta Jr.[4][9] Guinness World Records listed Woodmore as the world's fastest talker.[10][11]

His ability to articulate at such a fast rate is apparently due to his recruiting more portions of his brain to the task than the average person, as shown in an fMRI scan.[12]

Reality television

Woodmore has appeared on numerous television and radios shows, including BBC's 1Xtra Breakfast Show with Twin B[13] and the documentary Stan Lee's Superhumans.[12]

Electronics salesman

Woodmore worked as an electronics salesman for Currys.[14]

Other appearances

In June 2011, Woodmore launched the 5050 Phone a Friend nationwide competition, together with John Lonergan, at an event held in Dublin, in which the Irish public was challenged to beat Woodmore's world record of 637 wpm live on television.[15] The finals were held on 10 September 2011.[16]

Personal life and death

Woodmore was born in Hackney, London on 13 December 1959.[17] He lived in Chislehurst and was divorced with four children.[14]

Woodmore died of COVID-19 and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on 6 February 2023, at the age of 63.[18][19]

See also

• Tachylalia, term for extremely rapid speech
• Fran Capo, the fastest female speaker

References

1. "Fast Talk".
2. "Guinness Book of World Records".
3. Heath, Allister (3 March 2011). "Time to tackle our terrible tax code". City A.M. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
4. "Follow Your Dream - Time Out". BBC. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
5. Georges, Marc (29 July 2012). "How Dictation Tools Can Help Speed Up Your Workflow [INFOGRAPHIC]". Mashable. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
6. "Stan Lee's Superhumans 2: Character List by Episode" (PDF). Headbalancer. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
7. "OUR MEMBERS AND THEIR WORLD RECORDS". Recordholders.org. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
8. Callihan, Jon R. (2 January 2002). "Hear This (Or Try To)". Popsci. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
9. Steve-o Stonebraker. "Absurdly Long BotCon 2000 Report". physics.ohio-state.edu. Archived from the original on 18 August 2004. Retrieved 6 October 2012. There's a man in the UK named Steve Woodmore who had a talk-off with Moschita on a live morning TV news show and completed the speech in .01 seconds less time. The Guinness judge then had to make an immediate declaration of the winner without having time to review the tapes of the contest because of a pressing international news item which had taken up more time than expected. Going just by the time, Woodmore was declared winner.
10. Mathews, Peter (1992). The Guinness Book of Records 1993. Guinness World Records Limited. p. 64. ISBN 9780851129785.
11. "Thursday 16th June". RTÉ Radio. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
12. "Pain Killer". Stan Lee's Superhumans. Season 2. Episode 14. History.
13. "1Xtra Breakfast Show with Twin B – World's Fastest Talker". BBC. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
14. Haywood, Bob (2003). "LOST FOR WORDS; Mercury's motormouth challenges the world's fastest talker". The Free Library. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
15. "World's fastest talker launches nationwide competition for Mayo charity". Mayo Today. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
16. Tubridy, Ryan (11 June 2011). "Tubridy Monday". RTÉ 2fm. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
17. "Talk about a fast show: Londoner rattles off Raglan in 25 seconds". Irish Independent. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
18. "Stephen Peter Woodmore". The Gazette. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
19. "Remembering Steve Woodmore". Facebook. Retrieved 17 May 2023.

External links

• Steve Woodmore, World's Fastest Talker on YouTube
• The world's fastest talker takes on the UK tax code on The Telegraph
• Steve Woodmore at IMDb