The Legacy of Edward Moreton Palin, 1988 - ???? (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, June 10, 2013, 01:42 (4257 days ago) @ Jefff

Michael continues:

"A few years after Edward died, John Cleese, who had known him, told me he was writing a new film – A Fish Called Wanda – in which one member of a dysfunctional gang had a stammer. He asked if I could help him understand how a stammer worked and where it came from; so my character Ken Pile was born."
"Ken Pile was the most sympathetic of the gang, and though bullied by the other gang-members because of his stammer, he rose up against his tormentor and squashed him with a steamroller."

The film was released in 1988.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fish_Called_Wanda

"One of the fortunate by-products of the film’s success was something that never happened when my father was alive. People began to talk about stammering. Some stammerers thought Ken’s character was merely cruel, others were quite chuffed that a stammerer figured so prominently in such a much-loved film, and had a chance to wreak such dramatic revenge.

"I was contacted by a successful businessman and altogether lovely man who had a stammer. He asked if I would support the establishment of a centre for the particular treatment of stammering in children. My father’s silent suffering came immediately to mind. Here was just the sort of thing that might have changed his life: a therapy whose aim was to spot a stammer from the first moment it manifests itself, which can be as early as three years old. I agreed, and five years after Ken Pile was born, the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children opened in the Finsbury Health Centre in central London. We had one full-time and one part-time therapist. And there was nowhere else quite like it in the country.

"Nearly 18 years on, the centre has 10 full-time therapists, has changed the lives of many hundreds of children for the better, and in 2008 was given a £340,000 vote of confidence by the Government, to extend the expertise of the London Centre across the country. Discussions are well under way to create something similar in the north of England. At the core of their therapy was the involvement of the family. Without this the stammering child would feel isolated, and only with their participation was it possible to fully understand where and how the stammer arose and could be treated. To meet the parents who have come along to the Centre and to see hope where there was once only fear and anxiety is both moving and deeply encouraging.

"There is nothing I am more proud of in my life than the establishment and success of the Michael Palin Centre, though all the really hard work has been done by others."

http://www.stammeringcentre.org/

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My cousin has a pronounced stammer which, despite causing childhood problems and subsequently his “failing” at school, he still become a very successful businessman now enjoying a luxurious and very early retirement. If you have the drive & ambition and even a difficult stammer he proved that just one school qualification, in his case in Woodwork, can be turned into a very successful business in the building trade. However he is an exceptional character and was fortunate to be in the right place & business at the right time. If he'd had more support with his stammer as a child who-knows what he'd have achieved, but more importantly what about those many other children less fortunate or strong-willed who suffer the pain of stammering ?

On behalf of cousin Alan and many others like him I wish to express sincere thanks to the lasting legacy of Edward Moreton Palin, who has given great hope to those who stammer.