Speakers’ Corner

Information

Facts and information

Address:: Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park,
London
England
Opening times:: Speeches can take place at any time. The best time to go is Sunday morning/lunchtime; Note: Opening times can change at short notice. Opening times may not apply on public holidays.
Buses:: 2 10 16 30 36 73 74 82 137 148 159414436
Trains:: Marble Arch CNNote: We can help plan your journey to Speaker’s Corner from Waterloo, King’s Cross and many other stations
: Hotels near Speaker’s Corner
: Restaurants near Speaker’s Corner

^{Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park}

Share: |More

Speakers’ Corner is situated in the north-eastern corner of the Hyde Park. Whilst it is nothing much to look at, it is London’s most famous place for public debate.

History of Speakers’ Corner

Speakers’ Corner dates back to the 1700s when Tyburn (the modern-day Marble Arch) was still a site of public execution. Condemned men were allowed one last speech before they met their maker, and this memory has stuck throughout the centuries.

Its legitimacy gained a huge boost in 1855, when a large crowd gathered to rail against the Sunday Trading Bill. When the police arrived to arrest the ringleader, they were met by a mob 150,000 strong.

By 1872 the place had gained a nationwide fame for oratory, and a legal licence was granted to allow sizeable meetings.

The only provisos were a bar to blasphemy, obscenity, and an incitement to cause a breach of the peace. But anyone who regularly listens to the speakers on Sunday morning will concur that the first two are rarely followed these days – most speakers seem to have a religious bent. Either that or they will be nuts.

Part of the fun though is listening to the hecklers. The best speakers are the ones which have a ready wit and counter down the shouts with jokes.

Famous speakers

George Orwell, Karl Marx and the Russian revolutionary Lenin have all plied their trade at Speakers’ Corner, and other famous names to shout their stuff include Frederick Engels, Jesse Jackson, and the Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst.

Discuss Speaker’s Corner in the forum

Exceptional

Interesting

Okay

Poor

Terrible

Write your own review…
exile – “the only people who are good at public speaking these days are the nutjobs because they put their all into it when you look at the people who are supposed to be good at it, like the politicians, its all soundbites and office speak…”
Guest – “maybe I chose the wrong day to go, but the place was completely empty when i went it was Tuesday afternoon, which admittedly is not the recommended time i think you're supposed to go on sunday but it was so empty i wondered whethe…”

Drummerboy’s blog – Speakers’ Corner

Drummerboy – “I’ve been meaning to go to Speakers’ Corner for ages now, but it only runs on Sunday lunchtime so that means you have to drag yourself out of bed, and it’s taken me a whole year to dredge up enough willpower. I was probably there for about an hour in total and saw a grand total of two speakers. One of them was a muslim cleric, who was a real barrel of laughs (not), and the other one was an old white guy talking about the United Nations. He was standing on his little ladder and had a big booming voice, and was trying to reform the UN right there and then, in Hyde Park, in the drizzling rain… continued.”