THE PENGUIN BOOK OF HISTORIC SPEECHES

(Penguin £14.99) ORATORY may be a dying art; it is hard to think of a present-day public figure who inspires admiration for their eloquence.

As Brian MacArthur writes in the introduction: ‘It is all too easy to wonder whether the speeches of any of our contemporary leaders will still be read in the year 4,000.’

The timeline extends from around 1250 BC to 1994, beginning with the account from the King James Bible of the speech on Mount Sinai in which Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, and ending with Nelson Mandela’s inaugural address as President of South Africa.

With inspiring rhetoric from Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, JFK and Martin Luther King, this is a collection to stir the blood and lift the heart.