Oratory
My friend is doing a survey: whom would you choose as the most inspirational orator you have come across and why? Answers please!
posted by Whispering Walls at 10:43 pm
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
My friend is doing a survey: whom would you choose as the most inspirational orator you have come across and why? Answers please!
10 Comments:
Nelson Mandela
His thoughts and words evolved from 27 years of imprisonment and seclusion.
Hmmm yes he was a powerful speaker, but perhaps not how I would define an orator.Churchill has to be up there, Lloyd George, even David Cameron ( occasionally) is a great orator.Hitler could lay claim to fame too.
But the person who I have actually heard on more than one occasion who can take an entire audience into his hand is George Galloway. You may hate him, you may disagree with everything he says, but in full flow he is a wonder to behold. His defence of the Union recently was a masterclass
Interesting, KL! I wouldn't have considered DC to be a candidate. I note you don't mention Alex Salmond or Ed Milliband... My first choice was Cicero and my friend lamented that she couldn't hear him on You Tube. o tempora, o mores!
Salmond is not a great orator - he speaks with passion and conviction, not oratory. DC's best performance was when he was bidding for the Tory leadership but he has gone down hill since! Ed Milliband I can't even listen to!
BTW did you see the Speccie picture the other day of DC that had the eldest Ms Lear on the extreme right of the picture? Her default mode....!
I'm surprised someone hasn't put Cicero on Youtube. You'd need a good actor but his actual speeches would be interesting to see enacted.
I missed that photo KL but am sure she looked wonderful as ever! I like your YouTube idea (in Latin, I presume?)
Surely Alexander 'I will make those who stay the envy of those who return ' peerless. Demosthenes, although unfashionable, a plausible second ? .
what about caesar …..or mao..hitler has to get a vote
Greetings Angus - yes Demosthenes and Isocrates would be up there. Alexander was certainly a leader of men but didn't leave any direct speeches to posterity: we hear him through Arrian via Ptolemy (nit picking, I know).
Hello Anon - yes interesting ideas and also Mussolini may be a candidate.
How about Putin?
Was Cicero not supposed to have polished and rewritten what he actually said and to have been a less impressive speaker than his written works might suggest?
You are right, Anin, that some of his written speeches were not one's that he had in fact given in court. Nevertheless, he was considered to be a brilliant orator, so much so that when he was dead, people stuck pins through his tongue.
Post a Comment
<< Home