A famous local voice graced the national airwaves this morning, with a mysterious 'Martyn from Letchworth' featuring on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James.

Martyn, known off-air as Martyn Burrows, featured on the Top of the Shops segment - which has also been known as the Big Shop Boughty - this morning, much to the amusement of fellow Letchworth residents.

Soon-to-be dad-of-four Martyn was warmly welcomed by host Greg James and fellow Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, with the latter assuming that Martyn worked in voice overs as he graced the airwaves with his dulcet tones.

%image(15620980, type="article-full", alt="Martyn Burrows pictured with his wife Leanne, daughter Jennifer and sons Benjamin and Cameron")

It turns out that Martyn's voice may be familiar to people in the area, as he often announces (as well as drives trains) for Great Northern, with his broadcasts often raved about on Twitter.

"We can tell that you're a professional voice artiste," Greg James said, then noting that he'd love for Martyn to be the new voice of the breakfast show.

%image(15620983, type="article-full", alt="BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James at Piccadilly Circus, London, as the Radio 1 "Up Yours Corona" campaign in July 2020")

For the segment, the DJs had to decipher which of three items Martyn is the top purchaser of at his local supermarket - Sainsbury's.

Torn between Taste the Difference black forest gateau, Be Good to Yourself unsmoked bacon medallions or tahini paste, the DJs were thrown off the scent by Martyn's stories of his lockdown cooking habits.

Believing him to be the number one buyer of tahini paste, Martyn joyfully declared that he was, in fact, Letchworth Sainsbury's top purchaser of Be Good To Yourself unsmoked bacon medallions.

Martyn and his family purchase two to three packets of the bacon product a week.

Speaking to the Comet on his 15 minutes of fame, Martyn said: "I heard on yesterday's show that they were asking for anyone who's had a notification from a supermarket - which for me, was Sainsbury's - as to whether or not they were the number one buyer of any specific product in their local area.

"I sent them a text in with plenty of detail, saying we were the number one buyers of Be Good To Yourself unsmoked bacon medallions."

Loving the amount of detail included into his text into Radio 1, the show's producers got back to Martyn right away, eager to get him on the air.

Not anticipating that the DJs would take to Martyn's voice as much as they did, he added: "I work on the railways, and this is sort of my announcing voice. My wife did say that I was putting on a voice, but this is just the way that I speak down a telephone, or into a microphone!"

And with the DJs - and the nation - hooked onto Martyn's voice, his voiceover was then made into a jingle, which played out after the 8.30am Newsbeat bulletin, something that he was blissfully unaware of until speaking to the Comet.

Taken aback, he added: "Oh gosh! Wow, I feel like I'm part of the system now. Excellent!

"I have no words!

"It just feels quite humbling, and I hope I didn't embarrass my family too much!"

To listen to Martyn's segment on Radio 1, click here and listen from 1:21.