Avatar of Richard III 'speaks in his voice'

PROJECT WILL BE UNVEILED AT VISITOR CENTRE TOMORROW

- By STAFF REPORTER

RICHARD III will speak tomorrow - at the museum built on the site where he was buried after the Battle of Bosworth.

A lifelike, speaking digital avatar will be unveiled at the King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester before going on permanent display.

The avatar is the continuation of a project that saw the king's voice recreated at York's Theatre Royal in November last year.

It was the result of a decade-long collaboration between historians, voice experts, computer specialists and actors.

The project began with after-dinner entertainment by Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, a voice teacher and vocal coach, to compare Shakespeare's character with what we know of the real man.

The result is a reconstruction of Richard's head speaking his prayer in the authentic pronunciation of the time.

Joining her tomorrow for the unveiling will be cranio-facial identification expert Professor Caroline Wilkinson, and Dr Jessica Liu, from Face Lab, who worked on the avatar.