Lionel George Logue was born in Australia in 1880. He attended Prince Alfred College between 1889 and 1896. He received elocution training from Edward Reeves, while also working for him. He set up his own elocution school afterwards. He even developed treatments for teaching World War I veterans who were suffering from post traumatic stress and had lost the ability to speak how to speak properly again. (I thought this was amazing, and was probably my favorite fact that I learned.) Clearly, his most famous client was the Duke of York, who had a terrible stutter. The Duke of York was determined to overcome his stutter, and sought out Logue for help. The methods worked, and the future King George VI was able to address the public on many occasions without stuttering. In fact, Logue was often called on if there was a speech to be made for the confidence and assistance he gave George VI.

I really enjoyed this book. I recently watched the film, but the book was better. I had read before that George VI had a stutter, but I had never heard a recorded speech that he made. It was really interesting to see how speech therapy has evolved over the years. I am certain that Lionel Logue was a massive asset to George VI. I also liked reading about the relationship that they had with each other. People often think of monarchs as stuffy and unreachable, but they are people too, despite the privilege. This was a good book.