In 1872, an act of parliament set aside the northeast edge of Hyde Park for public speaking. Even today, on a Sunday morning, it’s not unusual to find crowds gathering at Speakers’ Corner to listen to enthusiasts expounding their views. Anyone can turn up unannounced to speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful. Nearly 250 years ago, people were still being hanged at the Tyburn Gallows. Everyone condemned to die at Tyburn could make a final speech. Some confessed, others protested their innocence, and still others criticized the authorities. For onlookers, executions at Tyburn were big social events. Londoners could by a ticket to watch executions from seats on huge wooden platforms. Eventually, the authorities decided the hangings were too rowdy and transferred them to Newgate Prison, but the tradition for protest and pleasure in Hyde Park continued. From 1906 to 1914 the suffragettes held large and small meetings in Hyde Park as part of their campaign for votes for women, but by 1913 the police had banned women from meeting in the park. By the 1930s "soapbox" orators were to be found in marketplaces, street corners and parks across the country. Of the estimated 100 speaking places found weekly in London between 1855 and 1939, Speakers' Corner is the last to survive. Today, you can still go to Hyde Park at the corner of Marble Arch and Oxford Street and speak your mind.
In the UK You Can Speak Your Mind……and You Can Do It On a Specific Corner
In 1872, an act of parliament set aside the northeast edge of Hyde Park for public speaking. Even today, on a Sunday morning, it’s not unusual to find crowds gathering at Speakers’ Corner to listen to enthusiasts expounding their views. Anyone can turn up unannounced to speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful. Nearly 250 years ago, people were still being hanged at the Tyburn Gallows. Everyone condemned to die at Tyburn could make a final speech. Some confessed, others protested their innocence, and still others criticized the authorities. For onlookers, executions at Tyburn were big social events. Londoners could by a ticket to watch executions from seats on huge wooden platforms. Eventually, the authorities decided the hangings were too rowdy and transferred them to Newgate Prison, but the tradition for protest and pleasure in Hyde Park continued. From 1906 to 1914 the suffragettes held large and small meetings in Hyde Park as part of their campaign for votes for women, but by 1913 the police had banned women from meeting in the park. By the 1930s "soapbox" orators were to be found in marketplaces, street corners and parks across the country. Of the estimated 100 speaking places found weekly in London between 1855 and 1939, Speakers' Corner is the last to survive. Today, you can still go to Hyde Park at the corner of Marble Arch and Oxford Street and speak your mind.