Sound action recordings are of sounds designed to have an effect on others, including situations where many people make sounds together for some common goal. Often they're of voices, but they also include sirens, bells, fireworks and more.
| Anybody lost or needs information | A man with a large London street atlas offers to help tourists find their way around town. | 0:45 | 2010 |
| Big Issue 1 | Big Issue seller in Hammersmith, west London, repeats his call but no-one's buying. | 1:00 | 2008 |
| Brick Lane curry touts | Curry touts in Brick Lane, east London, try to encourage the recordist to go inside different restaurants. | 1:02 | 2009 |
| Croydon phone card seller | A man stands behind a tiny stall and repeats his sales cry for international phone and SIM cards. | 1:08 | 2009 |
| Evening Standard 1 | Evening Standard newspaper seller outside Whitechapel tube station, east London. | 0:12 | 2008 |
| Evening Standard 2 | Evening Standard seller on the forecourt of London Bridge station. | 0:33 | 2009 |
| Flyer distributor Camden | A man repeats the cry of 'Drum and Bass, Dub, Roots and Culture' while handing out flyers in Camden. | 0:40 | 2010 |
| Get your royal wedding flags | Flag sellers shout their wares at Embankment during the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. | 1:00 | 2011 |
| Ice cream van January | An ice cream van prowls the streets of south-east London while sounding its chime. | 0:28 | 2009 |
| Kiosk owner St Giles Circus | A kiosk owner advertising drinks and sweets keeps up a steady stream of sales patter | 1:07 | 2009 |
| One pound your Pope flags | A man in Hyde Park sells flags and badges commemorating the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. | 0:42 | 2010 |
| Perfume seller Oxford Street | A perfume seller hands out free samples to a crowd of enthusiastic bystanders. | 1:37 | 2010 |
| Show ticket seller | A man working for a ticket agency calls out the titles of West End shows. | 0:21 | 2008 |
| Ticket seller Leicester Square | A Leicester Square ticket seller calls out the names of West End shows. | 1:30 | 2009 |
| Acrobat South Bank 1 | A street acrobat on the South Bank pushes a six-inch nail up his nose. | 1:47 | 2008 |
| Acrobat South Bank 2 | A street acrobat on the South Bank speaks at length to elicit money. | 1:03 | 2008 |
| Chinese busker Covent Garden | A busker plays a traditional one-stringed Chinese instrument with syrupy backing music. | 1:38 | 2010 |
| Conjuror Covent Garden | A street conjuror performs magic tricks to onlookers at Covent Garden. | 2:09 | 2008 |
| Daniel Waples busker | By the river near Bankside, a busker plays a small steel drum-like instrument called a 'hang'. | 3:39 | 2009 |
| Ebony steel band | A steel band plays 'Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer' to an appreciative audience of Oxford Street Christmas shoppers. | 1:08 | 2009 |
| Harmonica South Bank | A busker plays the harmonica on the South Bank near the London Eye. | 1:11 | 2008 |
| Operatic busker Kings Cross | An opera-singing busker recorded at Kings Cross station. | 0:40 | 2009 |
| Randolph the Remarkable | A fire-eater banters with onlookers and performs his act outside St Paul's church, Covent Garden. | 2:30 | 2010 |
| Sax player Soho | A saxophonist plays 'The Girl from Ipanema' at night in Soho, central London. | 0:41 | 2008 |
| Soprano sax busker Oxford Street | An Oxford Street busker plays a curved soprano sax in a slow and warbling style. | 1:55 | 2010 |
| South Bank blue busker | An otherwise silent busker plays his guitar on the South Bank. | 1:16 | 2009 |
| Street band by Hungerford Bridge | Busking band plays to passersby along the Thames near Hungerford Bridge. | 2:30 | 2009 |
| The Euston drummer | A homeless man plays an improvised drum outside Euston station. | 1:35 | 2012 |
| The Great Franko | An escapologist entertains a crowd of onlookers at the South Bank. | 2:00 | 2012 |
| Trumpet busker Euston Road | A busker plays the trumpet against a backdrop of traffic noise on the Euston Road. | 1:07 | 2010 |
| Underpass sax busker | A saxophone player gives a good performance while busking in an underpass at Charing Cross. | 4:18 | 2009 |
| Villiers Street poet busker 1 | A busking poet with a pitch in Villiers Street recites a poem entitled 'A London Ode'. | 1:07 | 2010 |
| Villiers Street poet busker 2 | The Villiers Street poet recites a second poem, entitled 'It's a long day, lady'. | 0:38 | 2010 |
| Violin busker Villiers Street | A busking violinist plays on a Saturday night in Villiers Street, central London. | 1:45 | 2010 |
| Whistling busker | At St Paul's Underground station, a busker whose act consists solely of whistling. | 0:45 | 2009 |
| Magic pens Hamleys | A product demonstrator shows off a range of 'magic pens' to customers in Hamleys toy shop. | 1:07 | 2009 |
| Mobile phone competition Lewisham | Lewisham Shopping Centre onlookers encourage a boy trying to win a mobile phone. | 0:40 | 2012 |
| Place item in the bagging area | Recorded voices instruct supermarket shoppers on using automated self-service checkouts. | 2:54 | 2005 |
| Toy helicopters Hamleys | A toy demonstrator in Hamleys gets a bit carried away showing off model helicopters. | 1:27 | 2009 |
| Thames boat trip | The captain of a Thames pleasure boat talks about the river to his passengers. | 1:23 | 2008 |
File name: Street band by Hungerford Bridge
Classification: Economic > Street entertainers
Recorded by: Jonathan Prior
Recording date: 2 May 2009
Duration: 2:30
Description: Busking band plays to passersby along the Thames near Hungerford Bridge. A train traveling along the adjacent Hungerford Bridge can be heard at the end of the recording.
Technical guff: Stereo. Rode NT4 mic and Zoom H4 digital recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Jonathan Prior for sharing this recording, which appears as part of the sound map on his website 12 Gates to the City.