Five facts worth knowing about town crying

_Elsa_

1.- While town criers today are mainly ceremonial announcers, in the past they were an essential and trustworthy source of information. From royal proclamations to local news, for centuries, townspeople would hear them proclaimed by a crier or bellman.

2.- It really wasn’t a good idea to shoot the messenger when you didn’t like what you heard, as town criers were protected by law.

3.- The “Oyez, oyez, oyez!” that often introduces announcements is Anglo-Norman for “Listen!”.

4.- Some claim that the expression “something rings a bell” refers to Pavlov’s famous experiments with dogs. I’d like to think that it comes from the bell drawing attention to the town crier’s messages. You can’t put the finger on where you heard it before but you can hear the sound of a bell. Rings plausible, no?

5.- “Posting a notice” apparently originates in the town crier’s practice of attaching a message to the doorpost of a local inn after reading it out. That’s why, I imagine, we talk of “blog posts”.’ (Source) 

The town crier asks Tiffi if she’d like to watch a brief video that can give her a better idea of what town criers are all about. He asks for her phone and he types something into a Google search and then he hands the phone back to her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1DzY_2mT0

Wow! That was very interesting. The town crier tells Tiffi that he has some information when a couple of town criers were interviewed. 

“This is first hand information when these town criers were asked specific questions,” says the town crier.

Let’s continue - Interview with Michael Wood, town crier

Start at the beginning – Hear ye … hear ye …