‘Lockdown has made my stammer worse’
When your speech is something you need to warm up on a daily basis, being stuck at home with minimal human contact becomes a problem
16 March 2021 • 1:40pm
William Laven has used lockdown to practise on his stammer with an exercise routine that includes reading passages of text out loud
Even before
I Can’t Say My Name, the BBC One documentary, was broadcast this week, stammering was attracting some recognition. This was, in part, due to the election of Joe Biden to the role of President of the United States: the 78-year-old has been open about the stammer he’s had since boyhood and which manifested in a number of debates.
PRU (BBC Three) | iPlayer
In the end, Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey made Princess Diana’s 1995 encounter with Martin Bashir look like a tight-lipped model of restraint. Diana herself was referenced several times (one might say there were “three of them” in this interview). At times, Meghan “Marie Antoinette-ed” herself (“Just the two of us in our own backyard, and the Archbishop of Canterbury”). Not that any of this mattered when the talk turned to suicidal thoughts and racism (“Concerns and conversations about how dark his skin may be”). This, one realised, was as serious as it gets.
Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger – documentary reveals hidden impact toddler s murder had on his brothers
Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger (C5, 9pm) It’s one of the most haunting images to appear on the British news – CCTV footage of two young boys leading a two-year-old child away from the Strand Shopping Centre in Liverpool. Now, 28 years on from James Bulger’s death, this two-part documentary explores why this terrible crime continues to send shockwaves through Britain, and takes a closer look at the investigation. Among those contributing to the programme are James’s mother Denise Fergus and his brothers, who are speaking exclusively for the first time. There are also insights from the police and those involved in the case as the progamme sets out to tell the story of how and why two 10-year-old boys snatched the toddler, leading to his death, and the devastating effect it would have on the city of Liverpool.