My love of speechwriting is very much connected to my love of learning languages. I studied French, German, Latin and Russian at school. An indispensable tool for anyone learning a language is a vocabulary book.
I had narrow green exercise books in which I collected words with their definitions, with some trite quotations copied in the back.
Then in 2007 I realised that relying on creative inspiration was not a sensible way to write speeches. By categorising my best one-liners, jokes and quotations under headings, I could mechanise the process. By noting down good lines whenever I came across them, and then drawing on them for reference and creative stimulation, I could provide a more reliable and professional service.
I knew about John Julius Norwich’s annual Christmas Crackers from when I heard him on the radio. I bought a couple of anthologies and found them funny. He was also a linguist, so I could enjoy his French poems and other foreign extracts.
Earlier this year I was casting around for a way to create my own, when I discovered that Viscount Norwich had died. I bought a copy of his last annual collection and I calculated that his format had probably been optimised over the 49 years he had produced them, so I was unlikely to be able to improve on it.
Of course, JJN was an aristocrat, TV personality and literary lion. His Christmas list probably had several hundred people on it, I have a couple of dozen. Still, I had the depth of material to produce somemething and, as the founder of the European Speechwriter Network, I have 600 subscribers I can share the joy of commonplacing with.
Commonplacing is an essential discipline for someone who wants to be at the top of the speechwriting trade.
I have published 100 copies of A Christmas Stocking. They’re slim volumes with 24 extracts. The cover is an attractive, designed by Briony Hartley from Goldust.
It makes an unusual present for a speechwriter, or anyone who has political or literary tastes.
You can buy them on Amazon, but the order will still come to me.
Better to contact me and I will send you one copy for £8.50 inc p&p, or as a special deal, so you can give them to multiple friends, three copies for £20 inc p&p. Payment can be made by PayPal or invoice.
European prices are €12 inc p&p, or as a special deal, three copies for €25. Payment can be made by invoice.
Reviews
A lovely piece of work, beautifully presented and nicely judged. Guy Browning
Here’s a sample
A Christmas Stocking (Sample) by Brian Jenner on Scribd
Send me an email and I’ll sort it out.
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