"From now on, all my speeches on the radio will be read by this man," ordered Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Yuri Borisovich Levitan. It turns out that the USSR could have completely missed out on this legendary announcer. The young Yuri was initially rejected from a film technical school because of his strong regional accent and his youth. But Levitan was undeterred—he eventually made it into radio announcer courses. For a long time, few knew what the country’s first announcer actually looked like. It was said that he was an enemy of Hitler because Yuri Borisovich’s voice made Soviet soldiers believe in victory. A reward was even placed on Levitan’s head. Because of this, he was always accompanied by guards, and false descriptions of his appearance were spread in newspapers. Interestingly, Yuri Borisovich became the voice not only of the war but also of the first human spaceflight. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin and the announcer became friends, and Levitan was often invited to visit the cosmonaut. Gagarin was called Yuri the First, and Levitan was called Yuri the Second to avoid confusion on air.