‘Krazy Kev’ crowned the world’s best town crier

Kevin Howarth's destiny seemed to written from a very young age.

“When I was about six or seven, we were walking through a little village and there was a town crier there yelling out,” he recalled.

“Dad said to me, ‘do you know what Kevin, you could do that, you got a voice like a foghorn’.”

Decades later, Howarth is Australia’s latest world champion.

He’s not an athlete with bulging biceps – rather his tonsils need to keep toned.

He is the 2026 World Town Crier Tournament champion.

“I just love the way when you put the uniform on or the costume, you bring smiles to people’s faces,” Howarth told A Current Affair.

“And of course with the hat as well, all the kids come up thinking, I’m the guy from The Wiggles, Captain Feathersword.”

Once a staple, town criers are rapidly becoming a rarity – a historical throwback to the days before modern communication.

“It was the way people found out what was going on. When I go around to do talks at schools and places and I would sort of say we were the original Google,” Howarth said.

“Back then, the town crier was the only person who could read and write, the king or whatever would give them a decree, and they’d say, right, we’re selling all your pigs. We’re putting your taxes up, things like that.

"If anybody attacked a town crier, they would be punishable by prison, and that's where the saying, don't shoot the messenger comes from."

Howarth faced stiff competition from all over the world, travelling to Chester in the UK to compete last month.

After three rounds of “cry-offs”, he was declared the world’s best.

“I finished with ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’, which was great”

These days, the job of a town crier is more ceremonial.

Howarth hails from Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, and he attends citizenship ceremonies, which are among the more formal occasions.

“I think, you know, there’s a strong feeling of tradition here, and Kevin brings that tradition very loudly, I have to say - very, very loudly,” Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Geoff McDonald said.

“In fact, in the citizenship ceremonies, we have to do a disclaimer pre-warning before Kevin arrives because there’s often little children who are half asleep – they don’t last long half asleep.”

The town crier job is a volunteer position for Howarth.

His fulltime job is a DJ, after winning the UK's DJ of the Year many moons ago.

He also cameos as one of Santa’s helpers at Christmas.

But it’s the crazy, colourful call-outs as town crier that he loves – like Toowoomba’s annual Paw Parade on the weekend, where Howarth broke tradition to bust out a version of Who Let the Dogs Out during his loud welcome.

It had the hounds howling.

“Of all the achievements I’ve had, though, right now, my biggest achievement, of course, is my daughter,” Howarth said.

But don't expect her to follow in her father's footsteps.

“She’s studying to be a lawyer,” he said.

For Howarth, part of the thrill of the job is to be an ambassador for the town he loves.

“Toowoomba I think is like a city town – a country town trying to be a city town – but it’s got the melting pot of both of them and the people are so friendly,” he said.

“It’s all about the people.”