Town Crier: An ancient art

Mr Smith expects it will be an "amazing" occasion when the procession heads up New York's Sixth Avenue towards Central Park next month.

In addition to playing his part in the record-breaking effort, he will also be raising cash for the Marie Curie Cancer Care campaign.

"I have lost a number of relatives to cancer in recent years and I can't praise the work of the Marie Curie organisation highly enough," he said.

Mr Smith, 53, has been using his booming voice and official regalia to raise cash for charity as both a crier and a toastmaster over the last 16 years.

Overcoming shyness was the motive for taking up both professions.

Human face

But there will be no place for bashful behaviour on Tartan Day, when he will be wading into the New York crowds to raise funds and win new friends for Scotland.

"Crying is communication with a human face," said Mr Smith, who values the human contact.

There is a perception that town criers are an English invention, but he stressed that the job had a venerable history north of the border.

"It was probably at its peak 200 years ago," he said.

John Smith: "It is going to be amazing"

"Any town of a respectable size had a crier, in the days before the mass of people could read or write."

He said the tradition died out in Scotland in the 1950s - and that he is making the first to attempt to revive it.

"The last crier, so far as I am aware, retired in 1952 in Dumfries."

Mr Smith is keen to encourage more people to take up his profession.

And he says Scottish councils should realise the advantages.

"The whole community benefits and it can bring in money," he said.

"The town crier in Chester is hired out by the city for special occasions."