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Speech - Stuttering

Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe, if you recall, both spoke in a very slow deliberate way, in Marilyn's case, it was breathy and sexy. Pretty amazing to discover that her speaking style was taught to her by a speech coach, to help control her stuttering. Winston Churchill coped with his by preparing his speeches weeks in advance. You can learn more in the following book - Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure by Benson Bobrick.

That it claimed many distinguised writers is perhaps little surprise, although some of their names might be (Henry James, Somerset Maugham, John Updike, Lewis Carroll, ...). But what you may find astounding is that two of the greatest orators in England during the 1940s - Winston Churchill and Aneurin Bevan - were both stutterers. Psychology has a word for that phenomenon - overcompensation.

For those of you who remain unconvinced, Keith Sharp has put together a set of contemporary quotations that will convince even a non-stutterer that Churchill stuttered at www.stutterers.org

Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure
by Benson Bobrick
[Amazon.com - funny review by Henry Raddick]

Bobrick, a stutterer himself, writes a fascinating historical overview of both the famous stutterers in history (Greek orator Demosthenes, Winston Churchill, Nai Bevan) and reviews the "cures" on offer through the ages. I am similarly afflicted and found the book fascinating. My good friend Jon bought it for me after a low point in my life when I did jury service. My oath took the best part of 25 minutes and my fellow jurors elected me foreman. The verdict was real edge-of-your-seat stuff.

12 - Speech Impediment »