MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Joseph McGrail-Bateup, an Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier, has been recognized as the world’s loudest person.
Guinness World Records last week acknowledged the 58-year-old Canberra resident recorded the loudest ever shout by an individual. He yelled “now” at 122.4 decibels.
That broke the previous record of 121.7 dB set by Northern Ireland schoolteacher Annalisa Flanagan in 1994. She had yelled an ear-piercing “quiet.”
That is in the noise range of a chain saw, a jet aircraft taking off and an ambulance siren at close range.
The record attempt was not something McGrail-Bateup could train for, he said Tuesday.
“There’s no way that you can actually practice for it. You have to just keep it for the day, especially with the world record attempt,” McGrail-Bateup said.
“It took me seven attempts just for one word, which was the word ‘now,’ and my voice was shot for the next couple of days as well. It was husky. It was terrible. So no, you can’t really practice for it. But it’s a lot of fun when you’re doing it,” he added.
McGrail-Bateup considered himself the world’s loudest man rather than the loudest person, he said. There was no previous record for the loudest man.
“I’m pleased that she (Flanagan) gets to keep her record. So she’s still the loudest woman in the world and I’m the loudest male in the world,” McGrail-Bateup said.
McGrail-Bateup said he stumbled upon Flanagan's record when searching Guinness World Records unsuccessfully for feats in the realm of town crying.
He became competitively loud when he was appointed the official town crier of the national capital Canberra in 2017. It’s an honorary and part-time role established by the local government which he considers “a bit of fun.” His town crier name is Lord Joseph.
He makes announcements at community events, school fetes and car shows.
With the job came membership of the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Australian Town Criers, a competitive professional organization dedicated to preserving members’ historic and ceremonial roles.
He won a 2024 guild competition with the loudest “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” at 98 dB. That was a command for silence and attention before an Australian town crier makes a proclamation.
He experimented with several words for his world record attempt before settling on “now.”
His shout was recorded May 2 in a Canberra radio studio by a professional acoustic engineer and with witnesses present. The files were sent to Guinness World Records, which announced the record Friday.
It’s the second time McGrail-Bateup has broken a world record. In 2019, he broke a speed record for an archer shooting 10 arrows. His time of 60.03 seconds shaved a fraction of a second off a record that had stood since 2015.
Nine months later, a 7-year-old boy shattered McGrail-Bateup's record by 11.4 seconds.
McGrail-Bateup wasn’t interested in attempting to regain the archery record or in keeping his shouting record.
“If someone beats me, that’s fantastic,” he said. “Records are meant to be broken.”
In this image taken from video, Joseph McGrail-Bateup demonstrates his loud voice in Canberra, Australia, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, after he was been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's loudest person. (Australian Broadcasting Corp. via AP)
PARIS (AP) — Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures, while 40 people died from drowning over the past five days in the country.
Temperatures will remain high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert. That is about half of the country.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said after a crisis meeting that the 40 people who died by drowning since last Thursday were mainly young people.
In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted.
Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records.
“Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country,” Meteo France said. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many towns.
“Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” Meteo France said.
The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, “but with a still uncertain duration,” the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.
France introduced a heat watch warning system after that heat wave.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month. The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.
Across the English Channel, the Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June’s all-time daily temperature record could be broken.
Temperatures of around 37°C (98.6 F) are expected in southern England, with up to 35°C (95 F) in southeast Wales. The peak of the heat wave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 39°C (102.2 F). Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, the weather agency said.
The EU monitoring agency found that in Europe and globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the continent experienced its second-highest number of “heat stress” days.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.
This story corrects the name of the body of water between France and the U.K. to the “English Channel.”
People cool off in a water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A family walks through a cooling water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A man shields himself from the sun with a scarf as he walks in the garden of the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, during a heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Tourists with an umbrella take a photo in Paris, as France is enduring a grueling heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena )
A drugstore sign shows the temperature 43 degrees Celsius (109,4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Rennes, western France, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
