Speakola

Kyaw Moe Tun is Myanmar's permanent representative to the UN who spoke out against the military takeover in his country in February 2021. It was a moving speech, he was choking back tears by the end and finished with the three fingered Mockingjay salute of the Burmese democracy movement. In this episode, Tony talks to a Burmese woman in exile from her country, someone who was there for the terribl...

Simon Hill is the voice of Australian football. Manchester born, he called Premier League football and FA Cup finals for BBC in the UK, before emigrating to Australia to work for SBS and Foxsports. His calls of the Socceroos matches in their history making World Cup finals run in 2005-6 are iconic and still send shivers down the spine. In this episode he talks about how he became a commentator, wh...

Neil Kinnock was leader of the UK Labour Party from 1983-1992, and a member of parliament from 1970-95. With his Welsh accent, and his brilliant cadence and rhythm, he was renowned for his oratory and remains one of the most natural off-the-cuff speakers in the history of British politics. He lost the 1987 election to Margaret Thatcher, and the 1992 election to John Major. A fascinating chat with...

Rob Carlton is a well known actor in Australia most famous for his portrayal of Kerry Packer in 'Paper Giants'. He's a great speaker and this episode examines salon style storytelling at events like 'The Moth'. Rob talks about a speech he delivered at the Wheeler Centre in 2016 about an object dear to him for ''Show and Tell for Grown Ups' You can book Rob as a speaker or MC. If you'd like to dona...

Regarded by many as the greatest speech of all time, preeminent King historian Dr Clayborne Carson attended the March on Washington as a 19 year old. He tells about the experience of seeing 'I Have a Dream' in person, and then provides insight into how the speech happened, the drafting process with co-writer Clarence Jones, and the brave and history making decision to jump off-script. Dr Carson al...

Stella Young was just 32 when she died suddenly in December 2014. She was just winning fame as a comedian (Best newcomer, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2014) and her TED talk from June of that year was a smash. That talk about the objectification of people with disabilities as 'inspiration porn' has now been viewed over 4 million times. Her memorial at Melbourne Town Hall was an amazing...

A different sort of episode to finish the year, as regular host Tony Wilson turns interviewee to pay tribute to his best man and best friend, Chris Daffey, who took his own life on 21 December 2013 as a result of depression. Tony talked about Chris, and the eulogy, as part of an interview on ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler on 4 May 2020. The ABC And Conversations kindly allowed us to republi...

Fredrik Logevall is a Pultizer Prize winning historian and the author of the wonderful JFK: Coming of Age in an American Century 1917-1956 . The second volume will concern itself with the JFK presidency, but Fredrik joined Tony to jump ahead and talk about one of the great speeches of the 20th century, with its famous line, 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your co...

A bonus from the Don Watson interview that was the feature of last week's Redfern episode. To commemorate Remembrance Day (Armistice Day), speechwriter Don Watson talks about Paul Keating's beautiful ' Eulogy for the Unknown Soldier ' that was delivered at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 11 November, 1993. The occasion was the interment of the remains of one Australian solider, dug up f...

Paul Keating's speech delivered to a mainly indigenous audience at Redfern Park on 10 December 1992 is regarded as one of the great Australian speeches. In an ABC radio listener poll in 2007, it was voted the third greatest speech ofr all time, behind 'I Have a Dream' and 'The Sermon on the Mount'. Here is the video and transcript . In this episode,Keating's speechwriter Don Watson discusses the s...

On July 1st last year, a traditional day of celebration and protest in Hong Kong, pro democracy activists stormed the Legislative Council complex (Leg Co) and broke into the legislative chamber. One protestor, Brian Leung Kai-ping, seized the moment and stood on a desk to deliver a memorable speech calling for solidarity in the protest movement , and for the wider citizenry of Hong Kong to join th...

As a New York Times columnist, Anna Quindlen won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1992. She later 'took the leap' and quit her Times column to write bestselling novels and non fiction books . She is one of the most sought after commencement speakers in the USA, and has delivered more than a dozen since her famous offering for Villanova , which became the text for her bestselling small book, 'A...

This episode features award winning Australian journalist Stan Grant's stirring speech in an IQ2 debate at the Ethics Centre on the topic 'That racism is destroying the Australian Dream'. The speech went viral after it was broadcast in early 2016, and sits as one of the most articulate and challenging speeches ever delivered on the subject of racism. The IQ2 speech is on Speakola , as is Grant's p...

Writer, comedian, satirist John Clarke was a legend in his native New Zealand and his adopted Australia. He came to prominence with his character Fred Dagg, but was also the creator of farnarkling, ' The Game s', and the Clarke and Dawe satirical political interviews. John Clarke died on 9 April 2017 while hiking in the Grampians. On 2 July that year, there was 'A Celebration of John Clarke' at th...

At 22 years of age, Kokoberra woman Tania Major delivered an amazing speech to conservative Prime Minister John Howard when he visited Cape York in August 2003. She began with the words 'Here I am' and then preceded to describe the situation in her community, using the prism of her 15 classmates, and what has unfolded for them. In this episode, Tania talks about how she came to deliver the speech,...

Kate Mulvany studied theatre at scriptwriting at Perth's Curtin University, and graduated to a career in which she has won national awards in both categories. She won a Helpmann Award for her season as Richard III at the Sydney Opera House. She won a Phillip Parsons playwriting award for her debut play, The Seed, which drew on her real life experiences as a childhood cancer survivor resulting from...

Historian Ramachandra Guha is perhaps the leading Gandhi authority in the world today. He has written two major biographies, Gandhi Before India (Vintage 2013) dealing with his time as a lawyer and activist in South Africa, and Gandhi 1914-1948 The Years That Changed the World (Vintage 2018). Ram Guha speaks to Tony about five speeches. Four relate to the struggle for independence.  They are...

In May 2008, Margaret Edson delivered a brilliant commencement at Smith College   dedicated to the glory of classroom teaching. She is a teacher herself, for many years teaching kindergarten (prep grade) in Washington DC and Atlanta, and now teaching sixth grade social studies at Inman Middle School . She's also a Pulitzer Prize winner. Her play, ' Wit ', written in 1991, debuted in theatres...

Allan Jeans is a great of Australian Rules football He was coach of powerhouse Hawthorn during it's most successful era, from 1980-90, which included seven consecutive VFL grand finals and three premierships. He might have had four but he suffered a brain aneurysm at the end of 1987 and missed the 1988 flag that was secured by caretaker Alan Joyce. This is the story of Jeans' famous speech on Gran...

Melbourne comedian Damian Callinan talks about the two eulogies he wrote, in very different circumstances, for his parents' funerals. How did he balance his natural inclination towards comedy, with the need to pay proper tribute? What’s the right balance between laughter and tears? Should you read a eulogy or try to memorise? What are some tips for connecting with both your loved one's story...