The King's Speech

The King’s Speech is a story based on the recently discovered diaries of Lionel Logue, a self taught Australian speech therapist who coached King George VI who had a stammering problem to speak in front of his people.

The story unfolds with the day the King George VI was to be crowned King, after his brothers abdication. Traditionally, the ceremony is held 18 months after the monarch comes to the thrown leaving him enough time to prepare. But this case was different. The coronation date had been fixed for his elder brother.
In the present circumstances, the coronation would be done as per the schedule.
At the same time, in Sydenham Hall, Lionel Logue is facing butterflies in his stomach. He was the King’s speech doctor, who had spent considerable amount of effort is coaching the King to speak in public. The preparations were elaborate, each word on which he faltered were worked upon. Days of practice had gone into the process.
Words which began with hard k or g sound or with repeated consonants were replaced.

The moment of truth, the test of all efforts would be the evening of the coronation day when the King would make his maiden speech on live radio address- even more challenging than speaking to a live audience.

This book is an exposition of sorts of the notes regarding the therapy sessions. Mark Logue has pieced them together to form the complete back story of his grandfather and his therapy sessions with the King.
It deals with his early life and his passage to England with his family, during what was originally an adventure trip to see the world.
The family settled in Britain and thereon his association with the then Duke began.

The book is interspersed with old photographs of the British Monarchy, the coronation march, newspaper clippings among other pictures.

It is a nice book to read, and has a complete story of Lionel more than the King.