Friday 28 January 2011

The King's Speech





The movie concentrates on the King's stammer, his efforts to overcome this and deliver an unprecedented radio broadcast on the outbreak of World War II. The intention had been to distribute copies of the speech to every household (the first lines emphasise the King's wish to address "each one of you"), but this was abandoned on grounds of cost. This edition is No. 1 in a series of publications from the Ministry of Information, and also includes statements from President Moscicki of Poland, Neville Chamberlain and others. There are also summaries of correspondence between the UK and Germany (the latter also contained in command paper Cmd.6102)during August and September, with the chilling conclusion that the two countries were at war as from 11 a.m., 3rd September.