To no one’s surprise, “The King’s Speech” deservedly won the best movie Oscar at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards last night. A great film! I love how it highlights the heroics of two men who were largely unknown before.
The movie is the true story of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (1880-1953) and his unlikely friendship with Great Britain’s King George VI (1895-1952), the father of Britain’s current Queen Elizabeth II. Logue’s help with the King’s speech impediment proved to be essential during the crucial years of WWII when the King was needed to speak to the British people in one of their darkest hours.
Logue was not your typical speech therapist. He had no formal education or medical credentials in the field, yet he had a successful London office and his reputation for being effective attracted the attention of the King’s wife.
Lionel Logue - Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 10, 2010
I had heard that Logue was a Christian Scientist, although this was never mentioned in the film. This omission reminded me of Seattle’s Roy Olmstead. Roy was a famous bootlegger during Prohibition who found Christian Science in prison and spent the last twenty years of his life healing others as a Christian Science practitioner. Roy is a colorful part of Seattle history, but his healing practice of Christian Science is rarely mentioned. I am hoping this will change when he is featured in a new Ken Burns film later this year.
Nonetheless, I learned that Logue’s son Valentine and other sources did confirm that Logue was indeed a Christian Scientist for most of his life. Since Christian Science is both a Christian theology and system of healing–I was intrigued to consider how much of what Logue understood of Christian Science was instrumental in helping the King, especially since the techniques presented in the film wander from the purely spiritual approach of Christian Science.
It seems apparent that Logue had his own unique practice that combined various therapeutic methods. Unlike Roy Olmstead, it is unlikely we’ll ever have a clear understanding of Logue’s healing method and to what degree it included ideas from Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science.
My colleague in London, Tony Lobl, has written extensively about Lionel Logue and his connection to Christian Science. To explore this subject more, I encourage you to visit his blog.
If you have a speech problem and are seeking to be free of the condition consider reading “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy or contact a Christian Science practitioner. There are many testimonies where the speech condition was not only improved, but completely healed by this spiritual approach. To read of one such case, see The Christian Science Sentinel.
Thanks for this article, Bill, and the link to Tony Lobl’s as well. Fascinating information, and good clarifying points to share with others!
Thanks for this article. I was healed of stammering through Christian Science as a child. My stammering began around 1st grade and became worse by 3rd grade. I was assigned to a school district speech therapist. My Mom, a dedicated Christian Scientist, agreed to the school therapist, but immediately called a Christian Science Practioner. I remember going to the Practioner’s office only once. I stopped stammering shortly afterwards, and I remember the Speech Therapist telling my Mom that she had never seen such a quick change in a stammer.
[ Val, thank you so much for sharing your story. - Bill ]
Thanks Bill!
Regards.
Wilian
São Paulo – Brasil