The speaking clock will have a new voice to celebrate its seventieth birthday - and it could be one with a Welsh accent.
A Torfaen man has made it on to a shortlist of 15 people to become the new voice of the speaking clock.
John Kinge, 29, a health and safety manager from Cwmbran, Torfaen, said he was "delighted" with being a finalist.
The speaking clock has been ticking since 1936 and still receives more than 70 million calls a year.
In October a competition was launched to find the new modern voice and applicants were invited to leave telephone recordings of their voices.
More than 18,400 entries were recorded by British Telecom (BT) - all raising funds for BBC Children in Need.
"I am delighted albeit very surprised at being in the last 15," Mr Kinge said.
"I find it hard to believe that a quick phone call before going into work could see me in this privileged position only a few weeks later.
"Andy Warhol once said that everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.
"For me this is an opportunity to take that 15 minutes and extend it to a full 24 hours."
BT's speaking clock has only ever had three voices and the new one will be selected by a panel, which includes the current voice Brian Cobby.
'Clarity and character'
The judging panel also includes Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of BT, Nicola Loftus, general manager of Accurist, BBC presenters Natasha Kaplinsky and Alan Dedicoat (the voice of the lottery balls), as well as independent judge, Louise Crowley, who is a voice coach.
A spokesperson for BT said the panel were looking for a voice with "clarity, character and one which is easily understandable".
Beth Courtier, BT's head of charity programmes, said: "It's going to be terribly difficult to choose the new voice because the BT speaking clock is a national treasure.
"We're looking forward to announcing the winner on Children In Need's big night on Friday 17 November on BBC ONE."
BT received around 525 entries from Wales, 43 entries from the Channel Islands; 4,038 from England; 251 from Northern Ireland, 1,089 from Scotland and 2,459 non-geographic calls.
Callers can access the speaking clock by dialling 123 from most landline or mobile networks.
First published on the BBC website|