'Meltdown' after newsreader's fit of the giggles

The BBC switchboard was said to be in "meltdown" today after a newsreader collapsed in a fit of giggles in the middle of a bulletin.

Charlotte Green had just introduced an item about the oldest known recording of the human voice on the Radio 4 Today programme's 8am news bulletin.

As the recording of a woman singing the French song Clair de Lune, made in 1860, played, somebody in the studio apparently whispered in her ear that it sounded like a bee buzzing in a bottle.

The result was an uncontrollable fit of the giggles as Ms Green struggled to make it to end of the next item - a report about the death of the Hollywood screenwriter Abby Mann.

Courtesy of the BBC

Presenters Ed Stourton and James Naughtie both denied responsibility for the unfortunate whisper which caused Ms Green such hilarity.

Her embarrassment however clearly amused the listeners. Mr Stourton said that the BBC had been besieged with calls begging them to play it again.

"We have been inundated with hundreds of emails asking us to play that again. Apparently the BBC press office is in meltdown with calls about it," he said.

He added: "We hope that the family of Abby Mann will understand that it obviously wasn't intended as any slight towards him."