King's speech

At whatever cost, and God helping us, we will not falter or fail. In 1941, the Christmas speech by King George VI was written to bring the people of the Commonwealth together during the dark hours of World War II. 19-year old David Martin had just started working for the BBC and he told his family in a letter the part he played in editing the King's Speech on the instructions of Winston Churchill. We didn't have a tape in those days, and all recordings were made on metal discs, which made the whole exercise rather tricky. It all went well, and the final result sounded pretty good and no one would have known that the King had a stutter. David's daughter, Jane, who lives in Chiswick, is proud of her late father's part in editing the King's speech in 1941, but realizes just how much pressure he was under. I think it was probably a very exciting time, and a very exciting time to be nineteen and having your first job in the BBC, because, obviously, they were broadcasting news to the world. But equally, I think he was, at the time, yes, he confessed he was terrified, because, had he made a mess of it, he couldn't make a mess of it, it wasn't conceivable he could make a mess of it, but if he had, his job, his career, would have ended there and then. The film "The King's Speech" tells the uplifting story of how the King largely overcame his stutter with the help of a therapist. The bare facts of the friendship between the two men are certainly true. It was here, at these basement rooms, at 146 Harley Street that the unconventional Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue first treated King George VI, or the Duke of York, as he was when he first came here. But the letters that Jane 's kept from her father tell us that perhaps these sessions weren't quite as successful as the filmmakers would have us believe. It's Hollywood, isn't it?, it's a movie, I think they're allowed a bit of artistic licence, but at the same time I'm really delighted that my father's role in helping King George sound as he should has come to light now, I'm absolutely thrilled about that after all these years. In all parts of the world, are listening to me now. The technology has come a long way since the young David Martin edited out the King's stutter in 1941, but his family say his part in projecting a strong image in wartime will be remembered proudly in that family for years to come.