Research out today from Tesco Mobile to celebrate its new pay as you

go tariff has revealed that whilst they might be giving away free

credit for talk-time, some people make a fortune from the art of

talking.

Celebrities are reaping the rewards for their 'talk-time', with famous

celeb voices such as chat show host and DJ Jonathan Ross charging up

to a whopping £837 per minute.

Other celebrities charging top fees for their talk-time include Oprah

Winfrey, deemed the world's most powerful woman and valuing her

talk-time at some £585 per minute, and American rap-star Jay-Z who

earns himself a very respectable £256 each minute.

The most expensive celebrity talkers are:

1. Jonathan Ross (£837.00 per minute) 8. Bill

Clinton (£74.00 per minute)

2. Oprah Winfrey (£585.50 per minute) 9.

Charlotte Church (£48.10 per minute)

3. Jay Z (£256.40 per minute) 10.

Fern Britton (£22.50 per minute)

4. Simon Cowell (£224.30 per minute) 11/12.

Tony Blair (£16.00 per minute)

5. Paul McKenna (£169.40 per minute) 11/12.

Sir Alex Ferguson (£16.00 per minute)

1. Tess Daly (£133.00 per minute) 13.

Chris Moyles (£11.50 per minute)

2. Sir Trevor McDonald (£100.00 per minute) 14. Kirsty

Gallacher (£6.60 per minute)

Interestingly, cross-Atlantic politicians are beating our UK

counter-parts on talk-time value, with Bill Clinton charging a

staggering £74 for every 60 seconds of his speeches - more than four

times the talk-time fee per minute of ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The mobile network also looked at how much those who talk for a living

earn for a minute of conversation.

Voice over artists trumped even politicians, lawyers and doctors at

£1.67 each minute for their talk-time. Life coaches are in second

place earning a very decent £1.25 per minute, followed by

non-celebrity DJs.

At the bottom of the professionals list are priests, charging only 5p

per minute for talk-time - making for some very cheap sermons.

Tesco Mobile has just launched its new pay as you go tariff which

gives customers free credit when they top up to spend how they like on

calls, texts and browsing. For example, customers topping up by £15

will get £30 extra credit for free. This means customers can call

their five favourite numbers for as little as 3.3p a minute.

Lance Batchelor, chief executive officer of Tesco Mobile commented:

"We're delighted to be launching this tariff which gives our customers

free credit so they can chat and text to their hearts content. As the

research has shown, talking can be a very costly affair, and that is

why we're pleased to be able to reward our customers for the chatting

they do."