The King's Speech

The King's Speech was excellent. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. You might assume that, not having any fights, or chases, and not being a comedy it would drag, but you would very wrong in that assumption. It draws you in, it makes you laugh, and it proves that you don't need the threat of death in a film to have high tension. There were moments in The King's Speech that made me more nervous than I have been in a long time. I cared about George VI, and Colin Firth's acting had a lot to do with that. He was simply superb. Amazing. If he doesn't win a BAFTA than something is very wrong with the world. He deserves an Oscar, though I think there's less chance of that because the film is so very British. He played the Stammer perfectly. It wasn't for laughs, it didn't seem forced, it just seemed to come naturally.

Moving away from the film, and into life, I've always had a speech impediment. Similar to a lisp, I can't quite pronounce my 'S's correctly. They slur very slightly. Now that I've had my brace, and my teeth done et al, it's not as obvious, and I'm told that if you've known me for a while you barely notice it. I don't hear it myself when I'm talking, but when I watch myself back, which I do often because of video editing, I can hear it clearly. Something else I've noticed when watching myself back, is that I have a Stutter. Not a stammer, and most people wouldn't describe it as a stutter either, but I can't think of a better way to put it. I repeat words, usually just one, but occasionally two or three. I don't do it deliberately, but I've noticed that when I try hard not to do it, my speech is more stilted, and doesn't flow at all.

A Message about Stammering.