 | | Our Fraudie - Peter Wood |
As part of the BBC’s Voices week (broadcast in August 2005), BBC Radio Newcastle held a unique experiment where one non-North Easterner was put through an intense training programme to try and make them sound like a Geordie. A couple of weeks before, BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Tyne put out an appeal for people who thought they could fool a panel of judges into believing they were real Geordies. We were inundated with entries and auditions were held to find our wannabe. From the auditions, one person was selected to take part in the tough challenge. Listen to how their identity was revealed on Breakfast with Mike Parr...
Our Fraudie is Peter Wood, who is originally from Kent, but now lives in Whickham.
 | | Our Fraudie at the Grainger Market |
Peter's challenge began with a session conducted by Brian James from the Northumbrian Language Society. Then, it was comedian Brendan Healy's turn to teach our Fraudie a thing or two about Geordie humour. And where did this lesson take place? Why, the pub, of course!
After all this expert tuition, Peter needed somewhere to practice what he had learnt so far.
 | | The Fraudie or Geordie final |
So, off he went to meet Radio Newcastle listener Steve Ellwood at the Grainger Market, to see if he could convince some bona fide Geordies that he could sound just like them! But the real challenge came at the end of the week, when Peter's skills were put to the test, live on BBC Radio Newcastle's Breakfast with Mike Parr. Listen to the highlights and find out whether he managed to successfully dupe our judges, Sid Waddell and Sue Sweeney, in the Fraudie or Geordie grand final.
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