As speechwriters, we are often given seemingly impossible tasks.
While researching for my second book – which, I can now announce, will be called The Language of Evil – I came across what is quite possibly the most ludicrous speech I have ever encountered. Sadly, the words to the speech are lost, but the story behind them remains…
Around the turn of the 17th century, the king of Madagascar, King Andriamasinavalona, was terribly sick. In an attempt to save him, the people of Madagascar turned to the sikidy – a supernatural form of divination which grants information into the future (a bit like an oracle). The sikidy said that a willing human sacrifice was needed to help the king recover.
How does an ailing monarch find a suitable volunteer for sacrifice? A speech of course!
A speech was given to the people asking for a volunteer to step forward for the ritual sacrifice.
How did the audience respond? According to the historical accounts of William Ellis’ The History of Madagascar, ‘The people shuddered at the idea, and ran away in different directions’.
I have been given many ridiculous speechwriting tasks in the past, but nothing quite as bad as that. I have yet to write a speech that gets the audience running away in different directions – but who knows what the future holds!
I stumbled across this anecdote whilst researching Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar who features in The Language of Evil which, like How to Apologise for Killing a Cat, will also be published by Canbury Press.
Cambridge Speechwriter 