Most speeches follow an entirely conventional pattern. They are often self‑congratulatory, bombastic, and, let’s face it, boring. However, it pays to listen closely because there are times when even an ordinary speech can take a sudden turn and leave the audience wondering whether they heard correctly. Some speakers, given an opportunity to have their say, make the most of it and decide to use their time at the podium to “put the boot in,” which, if you’re unfamiliar with the expression, essentially means to cruelly, mercilessly attack someone.
10 Charles Spencer At Princess Diana’s Funeral
When Earl Spencer rose to address his sister’s funeral, he managed a calm demeanor— as calm as anyone could be with half the world watching. He opened by reflecting on the shock of Princess Diana’s death and the sorrow felt by those who knew her, a seemingly conventional and uncontroversial start. He praised her compassion, sense of duty, and “natural nobility,” a subtle hint that something more was coming, especially since Diana’s in‑laws—who many presumed possessed an “unnatural” nobility—were seated in the front row, and millions of eyes were fixed on their reactions.
For the next five minutes, the family had to nod solemnly while he delivered a genteel yet cutting rebuke. He warned, “Genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum,” without specifying who those opponents were, leaving the audience to fill in the blanks. He pledged to protect her sons, declaring, “We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.”
He wrapped up with, “I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men, so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.” Ouch.
9 David Trimble’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
In 1998, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to John Hume and David Trimble for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland. Hume represented the Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party, while Trimble led the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party; both worked tirelessly on the Good Friday Agreement.
One might expect a Nobel laureate to speak in soothing tones about unity, acceptance, and tolerance. Instead, Trimble’s acceptance was surprisingly grumpy. He opened with, “It is a truth universally understood that there is no such thing as a free lunch. That being so, John and I are obliged to sing for our supper. In short some expect us to speak …”—a rather churlish remark considering he’d just shared a million‑dollar prize.
The speech concluded on a bleak note: “But common sense dictates that I cannot forever convince society that real peace is at hand if there is not a beginning to the decommissioning of weapons … Any further delay will reinforce dark doubts about whether Sinn Féin are drinking from the clear stream of democracy, or is still drinking from the dark stream of fascism. It cannot forever face both ways.” Trimble’s remarks sparked anger at home, especially after he later labeled Southern Ireland a “pathetic, sectarian State.”
8 Frederick Douglass On The Fourth Of July
Frederick Douglass, a former slave turned political activist and public speaker, played a pivotal role in the abolitionist movement during the Civil War and continued championing civil rights until his death in 1895.
On July 5, 1852, he famously asked, “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” and delivered a searing answer: “[It is] a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass‑fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings… are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”
That raw, unflinching critique still resonates. After the abolition of slavery, Douglass kept campaigning for civil rights, dying of a heart attack on his way home from a women’s suffragist meeting. His Fourth of July address received a rousing reception, was repeated often, and remains his most celebrated speech.
7 Noel Botham On The Death Of Hughie Green
Noel Botham, a journalist and biographer with a knack for sensationalism, was asked to speak at the 1997 funeral of popular TV presenter Hughie Green. He seized the moment as a publicity opportunity.
Standing before Green’s family—including his children and grandchildren—Botham aired Green’s four mistresses and numerous love children, claiming the deceased had approved of the incendiary speech. Though he didn’t name the most famous love child at the funeral, he later accepted £100,000 from a newspaper to reveal that it was Paula Yates, former wife of Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof.
The revelation devastated Yates, who never recovered from the emotional blow, and many believe the scandal contributed to her tragic death from a heroin overdose in 2000.
6 Nikita Khrushchev On Josef Stalin
When newly appointed Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev addressed the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in 1956, the audience was understandably nervous. The Congress was the first since Joseph Stalin’s death, and no one knew what to expect.
Defying expectations, Khrushchev delivered a closed‑session “Secret Speech” denouncing Stalin’s crimes, imprisonment, torture, and execution of party members. He declared, “Stalin acted not through persuasion, explanation, and patient cooperation with people, but by imposing his concepts and demanding absolute submission to his opinion. Whoever opposed this concept… was doomed to removal from the leading collective and to subsequent moral and physical annihilation.”
Khrushchev also warned about the perils of a “cult of the individual,” noting that Stalin had conflated loyalty to the party with loyalty to the leader, punishing anyone who dared disagree. He added, “Stalin originated the concept ‘enemy of the people.’ This term automatically rendered it unnecessary to prove ideological errors; it enabled the most cruel repression against anyone suspected of hostile intent….”
The audience sat stunned, too frightened to move or applaud. Though delivered behind closed doors, the speech eventually leaked, marking the official end of Stalinism.
5 Ann Widdecombe On Michael Howard
In 1997, British political circles were well aware of the strained relationship between prisons minister Ann Widdecombe and her boss, Michael Howard. Known for her blunt, plain‑spoken style, Widdecombe clashed with Howard over the sacking of the head of the prison service, drawing a packed House of Commons eager for drama.
Widdecombe described the sacking as “unjustly conceived, brutally executed, and dubiously defended,” a relatively mild parliamentary phrasing. Howard retaliated with a smear campaign, insinuating an affair between Widdecombe and the dismissed prison chief. Widdecombe, who famously proclaimed herself a spinster and virgin, was incensed.
The two appeared on a news program where Howard was challenged 14 times about the sacking, yet he refused to answer. The following week, another Commons showdown saw Widdecombe allege at least three instances of Howard deliberately misleading Parliament. She spoke for 45 minutes, famously ending with the line that there was “something of the night” about Michael Howard—a phrase that haunted his brief political career. Howard later attempted a Conservative Party leadership bid, finishing last in the vote.
4 Nellie McClung On Universal Suffrage
Nellie McClung, a Canadian suffragist, began her political activism with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, campaigning against alcohol abuse. In 1912, she co‑founded the Political Equality League.
McClung and fellow activists staged a mock parliament to satirize arguments against women’s voting rights. She mocked a speech by Manitoba’s premier Rodmond Roblin, who claimed “Man has a higher destiny than politics,” insisting his duty was to care for his family and that he couldn’t earn money if he bothered with public affairs.
The performance sparked uproarious laughter among women who recognized the absurdity of the anti‑suffrage arguments. Despite appeals, Roblin refused to support women’s voting. In 1915, after Roblin’s government collapsed, McClung agreed to speak in support of Tobias Norris in exchange for his backing on women’s suffrage. She declared, “I am not here to beg a favour but to obtain simple justice. Have we not brains to think? Hands to work? Hearts to feel? And lives to live? Do we not bear our part in citizenship? Do we not help to build the empire? Give us our due!” Norris’s party won, and women secured full suffrage.
3 Alexander The Great To His Army
Alexander the Great, an extraordinary military commander, had led his army undefeated for a decade. On the eve of the Battle of the Hydaspes in India, he learned his troops were uneasy about the daunting odds.
True to his leadership style, Alexander confronted the issue directly. He began with a conciliatory tone: “I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?” Silence followed.
He then recounted their ten‑year achievements, highlighting conquered lands, before probing their courage: “Are you afraid that a few natives who may still be left will offer opposition? Come, come! These natives either surrender without a blow or are caught on the run—or leave their country undefended for your taking.” More uncomfortable silence.
Finally, Alexander concluded, “I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labor and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you … whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go, either with me or without me. I will make those who stay the envy of those who return.” The army stayed, and they won—Alexander’s final great conquest.
2 Geoffrey Howe’s Resignation Speech
Geoffrey Howe, once a loyal finance minister under Margaret Thatcher, found himself increasingly sidelined after several disagreements with the Prime Minister.
Known for his mild‑mannered demeanor—one opponent likened his political attacks to “being savaged by a dead sheep”—Howe’s 1990 resignation speech shocked colleagues. He began conventionally, summarising his long parliamentary and cabinet career, then shifted to a pointed critique of Thatcher’s approach to the European Union and her tyrannical meeting style.
He likened her leadership to sending opening batsmen to the crease only to discover their bats were broken before the first ball—a vivid metaphor for her disregard of cabinet counsel. This speech ignited a fracture within the Conservative Party; aware that a leadership challenge loomed, Thatcher resigned shortly thereafter.
1 Ferenc Gyurcsany And The Oszod Speech
Ferenc Gyurcsany’s mother likely taught him that honesty is the best policy—most of the time. Yet, when the Hungarian prime minister addressed his party in a closed session in 2006, he perhaps forgot the adage about discretion and valor.
Gyurcsany began conventionally but soon veered into dangerous honesty. He admitted, “We have f—ed it up. Not a little but a lot. No European country has done something as bone‑headed as we have. It can be explained. We have obviously lied throughout the past one and a half to two years. It was perfectly clear that what we were saying was not true.” He continued, “We did not do anything for four years. Nothing. You cannot mention any significant government measures that we can be proud of …”
He concluded prophetically: “Divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy, and hundreds of tricks, which you do not have to be aware of publicly, have helped us to survive this. This cannot go on. Cannot.” A leaked tape sparked street riots among citizens feeling betrayed, leading to a landslide electoral defeat for his party. Nonetheless, Gyurcsany survived politically, even weathering a no‑confidence vote on his leadership. Perhaps, after all, honesty does pay.