Jon Briggs (born 24 January 1965) is an English television, radio presenter and narrator. He is known for his voice-over work and as the British voice used by Apple Inc.'s Siri virtual assistant software.
Jon Briggs | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 January 1965 |
| Alma mater | Dragon School Magdalen College School, Oxford |
| Occupation | Voiceover artist |
| Known for | Voice of British Siri |
Career
editBriggs's voiceover credits include appearing as the voiceover statistician in over 1,800 episodes of the BBC TV quiz show The Weakest Link (2000–2012, 2017) and as continuity announcer for BBC Radio 2 (1996–2009) and Channel 4 (1988–1990). Briggs was the first presenter on air when QVC launched in the UK in 1993.[citation needed]
Briggs's radio credits include the breakfast show Oxford AM for BBC Radio Oxford (1985–1987), the breakfast show Morning Edition for BBC Radio 5 (1990–1992), Night Ride for BBC Radio 2 and The Weekend Wireless Show for LBC (1998–2003). His reporting credits include BBC Radio 4's PM, Today, The World at One and The World Tonight, as well as travelogue and transport programmes Breakaway and Going Places.
In 1996 Briggs founded the London based talent agency Excellent Talent, an entertainment agency representing VoiceOver actors. He sold it in 2020.[1]
In October 2017, he was a contestant on the celebrity version of the UK quiz show Pointless.[2]
In July 2019, Briggs co-presented BBC Radio 4's "Voice in the Machine" episode of the Archive on 4 series.[3]
In November 2020, Briggs launched the podcast You're On the Air! talking to UK broadcasters about the skill of broadcasting."You're On The Air Podcast".</ref> date=June 2023}}
Siri
editIn 2007, Briggs recorded his voice for text-to-speech software developed by ScanSoft,[4] later acquired by Nuance Communications. In 2011, Nuance's software was used by Apple Inc. for their British Male version of Siri, the personal assistant application for Apple devices.[5] Briggs's voice is renamed "Daniel" for these purposes. The voice is also the default British voice for Voice-Over on the iPhone, built-in software found within accessibility. This software reads everything out on the screen to enable blind and visually impaired people to use a phone independently.[6]
References
edit- ^ "About Nordlings".
- ^ "BBC One - Pointless Celebrities, Series 10, Famous Voices". BBC.
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Voice in the Machine". BBC.
- ^ "Apple tried to silence voice of Siri". 10 November 2011. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ^ "Nuance voices found in OS X Lion, patent application suggests new iPhone speech / text capabilities". Engadget. 16 May 2011.
- ^ "Adjust voice and speed for VoiceOver and Speak Screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch". Apple Support. 21 February 2020.
External links
edit- www.jonbriggs.com — Jon Briggs's website.
- www.youreontheair.co.uk - Podcast website
- Jon Briggs at IMDb
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJLxEvL6eCo — BBC Radio 2 Voice Party Video from The Jeremy Vine Show
- The iconic voices of technology - BBC Technology "Meet the real Siri, and other iconic voices of technology"