IF you were asked to name a career that could take you around the world, the chances are town crier would not be the profession that immediately springs to mind.

Yet for Bromyard town crier Peter Dauncey, that's exactly what has happened. His job has taken him to the likes of Singapore, Australia and Bermuda.

It was in 1994, that Peter first took up the traditional bell and tricorn hat. He was present at a meeting of the local tourist group and was asked for ideas to brighten up the town.

"I suggested a town crier and a spring festival and, as luck would have it, I ended up as the town crier and the chairman of the festival!" he said.

Peter's inspiration came from a trip to Truro in Cornwall, where he saw a crier attracting big crowds.

"I'd done a lot of shouting from my time with the morris men so that wasn't too difficult," he said. "I've also been a singer for some years and I had some advice from Maria Moll, the soprano."

Peter's first costume had to be hired, before he eventually had one made by a tailor in Bristol.

"It's worth £3,000 and was made from leftovers from costumes for the Sharpe TV programmes," he explained.

Peter's costume is a copy of a senior warrant officer's uniform from around 1740, when criers were traditionally retired military men. Before that, the history of town crying is blurred.

"No one knows when the first crier was but the first recorded one is on the Bayeux Tapestry," said Peter. "William the Conqueror was a great reformist and a great radical and he wanted his new laws spread throughout the land in the local dialect. There was no way back then that someone from Malvern would understand someone from Bromyard."

The first recorded crier in Bromyard itself was in 1705. The job remained in the same family until 1927 with the death of Henry Thomas, who is buried in the churchyard.

As well as public announcements, a crier is also the mayor's officer, a sort of bodyguard for the town's civic leader.

"I usually carry a big staff and I have to use it to protect the mayor," said Peter. "There have been two incidents where I've had to use it - once where a gentleman of Middle Eastern origin tried to get hold of the mayor's chain. He later explained that in his country, if you touched a person of power, then some of that power rubbed off on to you."

Three years ago, Peter was appointed chairman of the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers, a worldwide organisation with 1,200 members, including countries such as Poland, the Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East.

"I've travelled to Singapore, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Canada, the US, Bermuda and Wales," he said. "This year I'm going to Seattle and Vancouver for the World Championships."

Around four years ago, Peter finished tenth in the World Championships in Australia but more recently he has been involved in the organisation of the event.

Bromyard has been the setting for several competitions, including the European Championships and the Guild Championships this year.

Peter said that the qualities of a good crier are "sustained volume and clarity, pitch and inflection and dignity".

"You've got to have the bottle to dress up and be able to take the cat-calling," he explained.