The King's Speech - Mark Logue [0]
THE
KING’S
SPEECH
Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
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Published in the United States of America in 2010
by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2010 Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Quercus
21 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NS
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of the material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make restitution at the earliest opportunity.
Text and plates designed by Helen Ewing
PICTURE CREDITS
All images courtesy Logue family archive except:
PLATE SECTION
♣, top courtesy Prince Alfred College school archives, bottom courtesy of Alex Marshall, Logue family archive; bottom © Daily Express; © Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy; all images courtesy of Alex Marshall, Logue family archive; all images courtesy of Alex Marshall, Logue family archive; all images courtesy of Alex Marshall, Logue family archive; top © Sunday Express, bottom © Sunday Pictorial
INTEGRATED IMAGES
♣ © RA/Lebrecht Music & Arts; ♦ © RA/Lebrecht Music & Arts; ♥ © Getty images; ♠ © Getty images; † © Getty images; ‡ © Getty images; Δ © The Times, London/Lebrecht; ♣ © Rex Features; ♦ © Times, London/Lebrecht; ♥ © Roger Viollet / Rex Features; ♠ © AP/Press Association Images; † © Getty; ‡ © Scottish Dm / Rex Features
Printed in the United States of America
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Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-8676-1
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Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ONE God Save the King
TWO The ‘common colonial’
THREE Passage to England
FOUR Growing Pains
FIVE Diagnosis
SIX Court Dress with Feathers
SEVEN The Calm Before the Storm
EIGHT Edward VIII’s 327 Days
NINE In the Shadow of the Coronation
TEN After the Coronation
ELEVEN The Path to War
TWELVE ‘Kill the Austrian House Painter’
THIRTEEN Dunkirk and the Dark Days
FOURTEEN The Tide Turns
FIFTEEN Victory
SIXTEEN The Last Words
Notes
Acknowledgments
Firstly, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Peter Conradi. If it wasn’t for his unflinching determination in the face of a daunting schedule, this book may never have existed.
I would like to thank my extended family, especially Alex Marshall, whose discovery of a treasure trove of letters led to a more profound understanding of Lionel’s life and work. Anne Logue for her recollections, Sarah Logue for her time and Patrick and Nickie Logue for their help in looking after the archive. Also my lovely wife Ruth and our children for allowing this project to take over our lives for a year. Without their support this book would never have happened.
Thanks also to Caroline Bowen for answering so many questions about speech therapy, and who was pivotal in putting the film’s producers in touch with the Logue family, and starting the ball rolling. Francesca Budd for her help in transcribing the archive and her support throughout the filming process. All involved in the film, Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and everyone at See-Saw Films, especially Iain Canning.
Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates was central in getting the book published.
I’d also like to thank Meredith Hooper for some illuminating facts, Michael Thornton for letting us publish his accounts of Evelyn Laye, Neil Urbino, whose genealogy work helped dig deeper, Marista Leishman for her help with the Reith diaries, and David J Radcliffe for his own account