Mastering the k-word

The film The King’s Speech, which is due to appear in the UK in January, tells the story of George VI’s struggle to overcome his stammer.

The film The King’s Speech, which is due to appear in the UK in January, tells the story of George VI’s struggle to overcome his stammer. The speech therapist who cured the King was an Australian called Lionel Logue, and Mark Logue is his grandson. This book grew out of the researches that he began when the film-makers approached him for information.

Lionel Logue was an amateur actor and elocution teacher who made a career teaching Australians how to speak correctly, back in the long vanished days when they were ashamed of their lazy diction and half-open mouths. After the first world war, Logue successfully treated returning soldiers who had been gassed and left unable to speak. This was the beginning of modern speech therapy. Logue had no medical training and little money, but he took a huge risk and moved to London, where he rented a consulting room in Harley Street. Two years later, in 1926, he was approached to treat the speech impediment of the 30-year old Bertie, Duke of York, later George VI (Colin Firth in the film).

The Duke had stammered atrociously since the age of eight. It was a handicap which effectively disqualified him from public life. He was unable to say the word ‘king’ — a serious problem for someone in his position (and no doubt a perfect hook for the film). The stammering went back to the Duke’s repressive childhood. A left-hander forced to write right-handed, he was abused by his nanny, terrorised by his father (George V), and outshone by his glamorous older brother (Edward VIII). At naval college, where he was bullied, he came 68th out of 68.