007– Let Freedom Ring

Listen:

‘By Juno’s c**t!’  For much of history, rhetoric was studied as one of the most important elements of education.  These days we ignore the subject; but with politicians as shameless as ever, do we thereby leave ourselves open to manipulation? 

Breakfast of Champions gets up early to take a look at some of the greatest rhetorical speakers in history.  And Jess Phillips.    

Battle of the Books - Round 7

• Demosthenes – The Philippics

• Cicero – The Catilinarian; The Philippics

Shortcuts

Robert Harris’s Cicero trilogy of novels - Imperium, Lustrum, and Dictator - is a great introduction to Cicero (there’s also a theatrical version). 

Francis Ford Coppola’s sadly flawed Megalopolis was partly inspired by the Cataline conspiracy.

Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar is famous for Anthony’s rousing rhetoric after Ceasar’s assassination.  See, for example, Marlon Brando’s performance remains perhaps the greatest.

For a couple of good films about the importance of modern rhetoric, see The King’s Speech, and The Darkest Hour.  The real speeches themselves are all easy to find online.  As is the soaring rhetoric of Martin Luther King, most famously his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech to hundreds of thousands of civil rights protestors at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963: Bing Videos

Battle of the Booze

Breakfast wine: Nettuno red from the hills of Rome – perfect with a cold Chinese and fried egg.  Auchenstoshan Single Malt Whisky soda chaser to turn it into a true, Imperial Breakfast of Champions!

Poll of Champions

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Poll:  Which great speakers from History have we not mentioned?