THE voice behind many of TV's famous four-fingered, yellow- skinned characters has described Llanelli's fast-flowing conversation as sounding like a "tree full of birds".
Harry Shearer — the voice of The Simpsons' Principal Skinner, Mr Burns, Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy — visited the town with his singer/songwriter wife Judith Owen.
Shearer, who will also be familiar to many for his cucumber-hiding antics in the catastrophic heavy metal rockumentary Spinal Tap, had always wondered why his wife insisted on talking over him.
That is until the pair visited Judith's hometown and the indoor market, where Shearer learned just how a typical Llanelli conversation plays out.
"Harry's a brilliant man, but he could never understand why I always talked all over him; why I didn't wait for him to finish his sentences," Judith said.
"I brought him to Wales, and I took him to visit Llanelli Market, which I thought he'd get a real kick out of — we could get some Welsh cakes, enjoy the atmosphere.
"So we sat down next to a group of women, who were all talking over each other, and I just told him to listen to them.
"He turned to me and said: 'I get it!' He thought they sounded like a tree full of birds!"
The couple didn't stop at just visiting Carmarthenshire, turning the occasion into a cross-country road trip.
"Harry loves Wales," Judith said. "We drove across the country and he tried to read the place names as we went.
"Although he's yet to master the accent.
"The only people I've heard who can do a good Welsh accent are Dudley Moore and Eric Idle. Most people sound Jamaican or something!"
The American-based songstress might have been born in London, but credits her south Walian heritage with shaping her as a person and singer.
"Even though I was born in London, the place that I call home is Wales," she said. "My sister and I were seen as being Welsh in London, and in Wales we were seen as Londoners. But visiting my mamgu and dadcu in Dafen — that's what I always considered going home."
And while her Welsh language skills don't stretch much further than grandma and grandpa, it is a longing for her homeland that has fuelled her exploration of human emotions in her songwriting.
Judith is currently in the UK to promote her new album Ebb and Flow, which she sees as a homage both to the music of her childhood, and in particular to the memory of her late father.
"It's something special to celebrate his life," Judith said.
"When my dad died — having seen him through that journey at the end — I wanted to express what I went through.
"It's also a tribute to the songs I grew up listening to, and the musicians I emulated.
"A beautiful mix of all the things I love."
Judith's album Ebb and Flow goes on sale on Monday.
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