You sometimes meet people who speak incredibly quickly. It takes a moment – or even longer – to understand what they are saying. It seems rude to ask them to slow down. One man, however, has made a very good living through his ability to speak fast. You may not have heard of him, but you most likely have heard him speak.
When John Moschitta Jr was a fast-talking 12-year-old, he decided he wanted to be in The Guinness Book of Records. As every 12-year-old knows, since 1955 this book has included just about every world record that has ever been made. Whilst John was certainly ambitious, he was certainly no athlete, which meant that he would not be breaking records by running fast or jumping high. Nor was he very strong, so there would be no heavy lifting. He didn’t have any money either so he needed something that would not cost him anything.
He gave his ambition some careful thought. He may even have consulted his five younger sisters (Joan, Judy, Jill, Jane and Joye – spelt with an ‘e’ on the end so she would have four letters in her name just like the others!) He decided that he would try to become the fastest speaking person in the world. After all, he knew he could talk fast. It wouldn’t cost him anything either.
Locked in his bedroom for hours on end, John began practising diction exercises and learning tongue twisters. This tongue twister became his favourite:
‘She stood on the balcony inexplicably mimicking him, hiccupping and amicably welcoming him in.’
John was soon able to speak faster and faster. Eventually he was able to recite the popular speech of 278 words from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, which begins, ‘To be, or not to be… that is the question’ in just 19 seconds. He later tested with The Guinness Book of Records and was recorded at speaking 586 words per minute! He became a world record holder and his name was entered into The Guinness Book of Records.
Sometime later, John was at a party. He was showing off to a girl by speaking as fast as he could. A TV producer heard him and offered him a place on a show called, ‘That’s Incredible’. Before appearing on the TV show, he sent off 500 letters to producers of talk shows and casting agencies. He suggested to each of them that they watched the TV programme. One advertising agency that received John’s letter had been asked to produce a script for a TV advertisement for the courier company, Federal Express. It wanted to send out a message that said, “Fast, fast, fast, fast.” John was hired as the fast-talking sales executive in the TV commercial and the rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, John has made a career from his fast talking. He provided the voice of Blur on the original Transformers movie. He was also the voice behind ‘Letter of the Day’ in Sesame Street. His talent has taken him around the world. He’s even fast-talked for eight American presidents and the Queen of England.
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VIDEO: See the man in action:
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