Tom Baker back as BT voice

The BBC News website reports that Tom Baker is to return as the voice of British Telecom's text-to-voice service over the forthcoming Christmas season. The service, which uses an automated system to convert SMS text messages sent from mobile phones to landlines into audio, launched earlier this year with Baker providing the voice for the initial weeks. Baker is quoted as saying: "It's rather like being Santa Claus, delivering all your festive greetings. I only wish I could hear what I'm saying."

Baker's return is part of a BT charity initiative called TextAid. For each 10p text read by the service, BT will donate 2p to the charities Shelter and Focus Ireland. BT has also put together a single of Baker's sampled voice "singing" a cover of the Kinks song "You Really Got Me". You can listen to a preview of the song now, and beginning December 18 it will be available for download for 79p, with the profits going to the same charities.

(Additional material by Josiah Rowe)