John Walland looks for one famous voice, finds another!

John Walland has interviewed everyone from sporting legends to music icons over the years, but even he wasn’t expecting one of his latest phone calls to take quite this turn.

The HOT 102.7 Drive host was preparing for what should have been a nostalgic conversation with Helen Naude — the legendary voice many South Africans remember from Telkom’s old speaking clock and weather service. If you ever dialled 1023 or 1026 back in the day, chances are you heard her calm, reassuring voice announcing the time or weather before smartphones made those services obsolete.

Instead… John accidentally phoned another very well-known Helen.

Rather than reaching Helen Naude, he’d dialled Helen Zille, the mayoral candidate for Johannesburg.

Completely unaware at first, John warmly welcomed his guest before asking about the years she supposedly spent recording the famous time announcements. There was only one problem.

Helen Zille had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

With perfect timing, she politely replied that none of her jobs had ever been “tedious” before admitting she didn’t think John had the right person. The penny finally dropped when she revealed, “No, this is Helen Zille.”

What followed was a wonderfully good-natured exchange, with John apologising profusely while Zille laughed along, joking that she was quite happy to accept the compliment that she apparently had a “sweet and mellifluous voice.”

Never one to miss an opportunity, John rounded off the conversation with his own version of the famous speaking clock announcement before thanking his accidental guest.

Sometimes the best radio moments aren’t planned at all. This unexpected mix-up produced one of those delightfully unscripted exchanges that could only happen live — proving that occasionally, dialing the wrong number makes for exactly the right entertainment.