I Didn't Have To Wait

Guess what.

I got to see The King's Speech tonight.  I loved it.  Geoffrey Rush is now my favorite Australian...celebrity.  I think he and Jaclyn Moriarty top my list right now.

What happened is Tim emailed my parents to tell them that he saw True Grit.  They had seen it, and I think it pleases them when we see that type of film....you know award-nominated stuff (vs stuff like Harry Potter and Spiderman)  So Tim shared that news with them.  They replied by saying, okay that's good, but now you gotta see The King's Speech.  

I said okay, and they offered to babysit.

Geoffrey Rush plays an Australian in the movie.  I didn't expect that. I assumed he'd be British. 

Lord Wiki has an entry on the guy.  Lionel Logue.  I'll have to read it and see what in the movie was true.

You know.  Now that I think of it.....we DID see another award-winning type movie.  The Social Network.  I loved that movie but then learned about 75% of it was a lie.  Now I'm a bit skeptical about movies based on true stories.

Anyway.  Let's read about Lionel Logue.

He was born in Adelaide. 

Lord Wiki says his dad was a clerk.  The movie says he worked in a brewery.  Maybe he was a clerk in a brewery?  Maybe he was a clerk at some point, and a brewery person later? 

Lionel Logue worked in a gold mine at some point. Interesting.

Lord Wiki says that Logue became a spiritualist after his wife died.  I guess maybe he tried to talk to her?  Alfred Deakin was a Spiritualist.   Right? 

Wow.   I just googled Alfred Deakin and Spiritualist to confirm if I was right or not. I found this whole interview regarding his spiritual life.  Did I read this when I wrote about Deakin? I can't remember.  I'm going to have to read it (or read it again) later.  

Oh!  The Australian biography dictionary website has a page about Lionel Logue. I haven't been to that site in so long. I've missed it.  I just added it to my list of Aussie websites to stalk.   

Like Portia De Rossi, Logue lost his Aussie accent. 

Really.  What is it with Australians losing their accents?  

If I can manage to keep my damn American accent, they can manage to keep their Australian accent.  

Logue was a Christian Scientist.

I feel bad saying Logue, because in the movie he was really into calling people by their first names.   I should call him Lionel.

You know. I was going to do a quick post, but I'm mildly obsessed with now.  I'm going to go more into depth. FIRST though.....I gotta feed Mu Shu and Max.  I'll be right back.

See you soon, Lionel......

I'm back.

Let's look at the life of Lionel.

His mother's maiden name was Rankin. So if you're an Australian, and your last name is Rankin....you MIGHT be related to Logue.  Same goes for Rankin people NOT living in Australia (because family members don't always live in the same country). Logue folks might be related as well.

Lionel went to Prince Alfred College.   

Who was Prince Alfred?  Was he related to King George VI?  Probably.  

I need a royal family tree.

Oh good. Lord Wiki has one.

It's a bit too complicated for me to understand.     So...never mind.

Lionel and his lovely wife got married at St. George's Cathedral in Perth.  Why not a Christian Scientist Church?  Maybe his wife was Anglican?

Lionel did some teaching work at Scotch College with the Young Men's Christian Association.I guess that's Scotch College in Melbourne.  The guy moved around a lot.  Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, London.....

He also did some teaching at Perth Technical School.

As said in the movie, Lionel worked with shell-shocked soldiers during World War I.

He later helped King George VI with his speech problem. The movie said that too.

Lionel Logue was one of the founders of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.     The organization's website has a letter to the king from Lionel.

Logue and the King died sort of around the same time.  The king died in 1952, and Logue died in 1953. I wonder if Logue tried to talk to King George VI after he died.  I mean not when Logue died, but when the king died. Maybe Lionel applied his spiritualism beliefs to the king. AFTER Lionel died, he probably did chat with George VI/Bertie.  

This paranormal website has an article about Lionel Logue and his spirituality.  It says that Lionel consulted with a medium named Lillian Bailey.   

The paranormal website says that, as a token of his gratitude, King George VI gave Lionel Logue a fancy chair.  Then later Logue gave the chair to Bailey.

Yeah.  I know.  I'm having trouble sticking to the first name thing. Sorry, Lionel.  Do you hear me out there?  If you do, I hope you like the movie they made about you?  Are you able to watch movies where you are?

The guy on the paranormal website is unhappy with the fact that they left the spiritualism bit out of the movie.  I can sympathize.  I'm bothered that they left the Dursley scene out of The Deathly Hallows.  I'll be VERY upset if they leave the Snape stuff out of part 2. 

I feel a little bit in love right now.  I'm not sure though if it's Geoffrey Rush I'm loving or Lionel Logue. Maybe a little of both?  Oh, and then there's Helena Bonham Carter as well. She is so damn fantastic. 


I better end this.  I want to read about Alfred Deakin and his spirituality.