ARTICLES

Since the publication of Insider Secrets of Public Speaking, we have been delighted and flattered to receive invitations to speak at all kinds of events on the subject. Distilling the core themes of the book into a session that is useful and interactive has meant...

Stand up comedy is the bear-pit of public speaking. On the average club night, you'll typically see between three and five acts, some of them pros and some of them newbies, all trying to achieve one thing: audience laughter. If public speaking is up there on popular...

I was asked to do a speech last week, with a slightly unusual brief. The subject - an overview of the careers environment we can expect in 2025 - isn't such a surprising topic - though it involved a fair bit of interesting research which included getting information...

The British Library is a collection of books. That’s a sentence that manages to be both an under- and over-statement. The library is, of course, much more than a collection of books, and we’ll come to that in a second. For now, let’s look at the books and what books...

When bad things happen at Christmas, they chime a particular note in our consciousness. Hearing bad news for other people just as we are occupied with hanging stockings or wrapping presents, opening cards or peeling the potatoes makes us remember that the important...

This year, we’ve sat through Gone Girl, Night Crawler and Gravity, but nothing made such breathless and squirm-inducing viewing as The Apprentice winner - Mark Wright’s relentless discomfort when facing three perfectly nice-looking people who may or may not have liked...

R H Tawney: The WEA’s business '…is not to organise classes for whom, in the circumstances of today, it may for one reason or another be easiest to attract. It is to create a demand for education in individuals and bodies who at the moment may be unconscious of its...