A YouGov survey commissioned by Vonage, the internet telephone company, has revealed Winston Churchill's wartime address, 'We shall fight them on the beaches...', to be the UK's favourite public speech.

Churchill's 1940 declaration topped the poll with 49% of the survey's 2,180 respondents including it in their top three favourite speeches. Second most popular was Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech which was chosen by 44% of respondents, while Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was third with 24% of the votes.

Kerry Ritz, managing director of Vonage, said: "The great speeches of brilliant minds reveal the immense power of the spoken word to instil courage, resolve, hope and aspiration. Although not all of us are born for public speaking, we should never forget the effect that our own encouraging and soothing words can have, particularly at this time of year."

He added: "The increasing volume of emails these days can often leave people feeling overwhelmed and the pendulum is slowly swinging back to voice as the best way of keeping in touch and getting things organised. The addresses selected by the public demonstrate the powerful hold that speech has on the national consciousness."

The survey revealed an interesting difference between the sexes in their choices: Churchill's defiant wartime stand was much more popular with men than with women (61% compared to 37%) while Martin Luther King's inspiring, optimistic address was the most popular choice for women (42%). King's speech triumphed in Scotland too with 54% of the vote compared to 39% for Churchill's.

Despite the public's recognition of the power of great oration, the ability of the Queen's annual Christmas speech to inspire the nation would seem to be in doubt: just 23% of respondents intend to watch this year's address with 50% stating that they definitely will not be watching it. This figure rose to 54% in London and 62% in Scotland.

Other speeches rated highly in the poll were Nelson Mandella's inaugural address in 1994 (19%), Queen Elizabeth I's speech in advance of the invasion of the Spanish Armada (19%), and F.D. Roosevelt's inaugural address (14%).

YouGov carried out an online survey of 2,180 GB adults between 16th and 19th December. The data in this report is weighted to match the GB All Adults population profile from Census data.

Source: Vonage

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |