King George VI

With her English “roots”, Elaine had been anxious to see “The King's Speech” since it was first released and especially since the Academy Award presentations. There were no baseball games to watch last night and we needed to take things to the recycle center, so we picked up the DVD from the local Movie Place video store on the same trip. It's a great story but I wonder if his speech problems may have been slightly exaggerated for the movie. I don't remember hearing him speak over the radio but I do remember the day of his Coronation. The spring of 1937 was a busy time at our home with the arrival of twins in January. I had been moved up to 7^th grade and had difficulty competing for good grades with my sister. Students in Country Schools were required to take 7^th & 8^th grade “County Examinations” in those days with tests given in each of the subject areas in the curriculum. The tests were given twice each spring at the nearby High Schools. You could take a tests the 2^nd time to improve your grade if you chose. I didn't know that at the time and missed an opportunity by staying home the morning of the final day of the tests. My morning wasn't wasted however, since I listened to the Coronation of King George VI on the radio and was very much impressed with the formality. King George VI served his country well during the dark days of WWII and the difficult years of reconstruction that followed.