Talkative Toby emulating Gough’s gift of the gab

Power of the spoken word is one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments.

King Hal’s rousing “band of brothers” speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V; Abraham Lincoln’s moving Gettysburg address; Winston Churchill’s combative “we shall never surrender” oration in World War II — all attest to the power of language to stir and inspire us.

Young Kinross Wolaroi student, Toby Gough, could one day also be mentioned in the same light.

Toby has a list of speaking accomplishments that it would take an article in itself to list (see attached), but his most amazing achievement is to understand the central value of language to our culture and society.

At a time when the importance and value of language is being daily-eroded by social media hacks, the semi-literate rhymes of popular music, Gogglebox, and grunting CGI-ied heroes in our popular movies, Toby loves language, and particularly the spoken word.

“I really do enjoy everything about it, especially being on-stage… the power to move, to sway people, with how one speaks,” he explained.

“I love how, when you’re speaking to other people, you are able to convey your thoughts and people will listen, and you can even move and convince them,” he said.

With most people listing “public speaking” as one of their greatest fears, Toby does admit to the odd flutters in the stomach before a major speaking event.

“I do suffer a little from nervousness to be honest. No matter how long I’ve been doing this, you still get nervous.

“But I enjoy it thoroughly, speaking in public is a power that people become addicted to… the ability to convince people with your eloquence and ideas,” he added.

With an appreciation of the power of language, Toby wonders at how new media and technologies will impact our abilities to corral and express complex ideas in a world of instant texting, emojis, and 120-word tweets

“I’d say so, most people commonly get their information from online texts, from posts and the like, which are not as well-considered as they could be. Lots of people are communicating through technology, not communicating through speaking and conversation.” he said.

“But it’s a great skill to have, even in day-to-day life,” he said. “A lot of people take for granted the importance of speech the way I can never ever understand.”

His fascination with the spoken word extends even to his homelife where he admits to being a bit of a chatterbox: “Around the home, anywhere, I don’t stop talking.”

His mother Michelle agreed, saying that words, came easily to her son from the earliest age.

“He has always been a bit of a wordsmith, from when he was a tiny kid, from when he was five, he would dress-up and do play-acting,” she said, with Toby revealing ironically that Batman, no great talker himself, was his favourite super-hero.

Taking the opportunity offered in kindergarten to get-involved in the Encore Speech and Drama group, Toby has never looked-back, hoping eventually to be a television reporter and commentator.

“I’m interested in broadcast journalism, TV and radio. Something where I have the power to help change something in the world… just to make someone laugh would also be a great thing.”

Coincidentally when considering his surname, Toby lists iconic 1970s Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam (pictured), as a speaker that he admires most.

“He’s one of my very favourite speakers, he was a fantastic orator, even though some of his speeches were written for him, he was still able to so-effectively understand and convey the message he wanted to deliver,” Toby said.

Enjoying language in all its forms, his winning Orange Eisteddfod speech involved a poem he wrote about an orphan who finds that, the old lady living who recently-died in his apartment block was actually his birth-mother.

“His name was Jim and there were two ladies, Jeanette in 9C and Donna in 9B, and in the end, this little old lady was his Mum,” Toby explained.

In our high-technology world, he believes that the ability to communicate one’s thoughts effectively, is now our greatest attribute as humans.

“Maybe not always. Not when we were learning to build and create our world, using our hands and our minds, but it is the most vital human resource today, that’s true,” Toby concluded.