How do you follow Sir David Attenborough? Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum records new audio guide

16 September 2010

Staff at the University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum have taken on the almost-impossible challenge of recording an audio guide to replace the existing guide narrated by Sir David Attenborough in the 1990s.

The new audio guide, which is being launched today, will take visitors on a tour of the Museum's collection with commentary from staff at the museum and external experts, and music.

Highlights on the guide include the sound of a Nigerian brass voice disguiser with a membrane made from lizard skin, the smallest doll in the world which stands at 1.5cm tall, Australian spearheads made from bottle glass and a chain mail shirt collected by Lawrence of Arabia.

Helen Hales, Special Projects Officer at the Oxford University Pitt Rivers Museum who wrote the script for the guide, said: 'There are few tasks more daunting than narrating an audio guide to replace Sir David Attenborough's, but our collection has expanded and the Museum has changed so much in recent years that we knew this day was coming'.'

The new audio guide is a more personal tour, and includes staff members' favourite objects selected because of the stories behind them.'

The random access tour features more than 200 objects spread across the three floors of the Museum, allowing visitors to choose their own route through the displays.

Sir David Attenborough's recordings from the 1990s have been preserved, however, in a 45-minute video to introduce visitors to the Museum, its history and its collection.

The video will be shown free on September 19 and 26, and October 3 and 10, at 10.30am.

Images and audio from the recording are available. For more information, please contact Matt Pickles at the University Press Office on 01865 270046 or matt.pickles@admin.ox.ac.uk or Nicola Temple at the Pitt Rivers Museum on 01865 613014 or Nicola.temple@prm.ox.ac.uk