An Australian radio newsreader has hiccupped her way through a live news bulletin on Melbourne station 3AW.
Kate Wilson was preparing for the bulletin at 3 o'clock on Tuesday morning when she got an attack of the hiccups just before she was due to go on air.
Despite hiccupping around 20 times over the course of the bulletin, she carried on as if nothing was happening.
She recalled the last minute decision to go on air: "I had a minute and a half to go before I went to air and they just came. I didn't even have time to race to grab a glass of water. I hadn't had any alcohol or eaten anything dodgy it was just one of those random things.
"I’m sitting there, I’m swallowing, I’m trying to just get rid of them in any way I can. And I just took a deep breath and went: Right, I’m just going to have to do it. There’s no one else that can do it.’"
The journalist said it was her worst on-air mishap since once sneezing mid-broadcast. She said: "Sneezes you can often time when there’s a piece of audio. You read, you turn off your mic, and often that’s when a newsreader takes a breath, swallows. So I’ve sneezed on air but I’ve managed to time that."
She added: "‘There’s nothing you can do about it. We all have things happen to us and it’s just that, with a newsreader, obviously it’s going to have an impact. If you’ve got a cold your voice will drop. And if you get the hiccups, well… they arrived at the worst time.’"
After coming off air, she was able to banish her hiccups using a well-known remedy – placing her head upside down and pouring water down the back of her throat.
The clip's now gone viral round the world – you can hear the bulletin in full on the [link=http://radiofail.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/newsreading-hiccup-fail/]Radio Fail[/link] blog.