The Portgordon villager known to millions in US '“ leader comment

The voice of Philip Banks is known to millions of people across the United States '“ even though he lives in a 'tumbledown cottage by the sea' at Portgordon near Buckie.
Philip Banks has an audience of millions in the US from his cottage in north-east ScotlandPhilip Banks has an audience of millions in the US from his cottage in north-east Scotland
Philip Banks has an audience of millions in the US from his cottage in north-east Scotland

His gravelly, crisp tones are currently helping to promote programmes on America’s CNBC business news channel and he has also worked for CNN, Sky, the BBC and on the trailer for the Star Wars film Rogue One.

Globalisation has had its critics, but this surely is an extraordinary example of its potential benefits. Once, such a job would have required Banks to live in a big city and probably one in the US.

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But now, the internet has made the world so small that he is able to live thousands of miles away in a beautiful part of the Scottish countryside.

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Depopulation has long been a problem for rural parts of Scotland as young people move away to find work. Banks is living proof that voice actors don’t necessarily need to do that and there are many other jobs that can be done just as remotely.

If the rest of us catch on to the idea, the age-old flow of people to the city might slow down or even reverse.