5. Practice reading the speech

Practice reading the speech.



SPEECH-MAKING


The speech which the King delivers at the end of the film was, in real life, delivered as a live radio broadcast in 1939. The broadcast was intended to help inspire people in the UK, overseas in the Empire and in the armed forces as Britain prepared to go to war. In the film, the King’s anxiety before he first speaks into the microphone is painful to watch: with the public listening, there was no room for re-recording errors or mis-readings.

The King's Speech.png

A recording of the actual 1939 speech, which is almost six minutes’ long, can be heard online:

BBC Archive: here

YouTube: here