Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech is voted the most inspirational of all time, followed by iconic speeches from Sir Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela
- ‘I have a dream’ voted most inspiring speech ever in new poll
They were the words that helped define an era – and still resonate today.
Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech has been crowned the most inspiring of all time. The American civil rights leader’s speech received 45 percent of the votes in a British survey.
It was released on August 28, 1963 at a march in Washington DC, calling for equal civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States.
The speech played an important role in the passage of the 1964 American Civil Rights Act.
In the list of the most powerful speeches of all time, Winston Churchill’s ‘We will fight on the beaches’ speech came in second with 42 percent.
Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech has been crowned the most inspiring of all time
The 1940 speech was intended to counter the jubilant response to the Dunkirk evacuation and remind the public that the Battle of Britain was about to begin.
His later speech to the House of Commons, which referred for the first time to our heroic RAF pilots as the ‘few’, was number four.
Also on the list, according to research from insights firm Perspectus Global, was Nelson Mandela’s 1964 speech, ‘Prepared to die’, at 20 percent.
He made it while facing the death penalty in court for sabotage, promoting communism and aiding foreign powers.
The Queen’s late ‘We will meet again’ speech in 2020, a rare broadcast to unite the nation in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, received 16 percent.
Margaret Thatcher’s 1980 speech at the Tory conference in which she declared: ‘The lady is not for change!’ was the favorite of 13 percent.
Caitlin MacLean of Perspectus Global said: ‘It’s fascinating that a 60-year-old speech by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is the speech that moves the British most.’
Winston Churchill’s “We will fight on the beaches” speech came in second with 42 percent
Also on the list, according to research from insights firm Perspectus Global, was Nelson Mandela’s 1964 speech, ‘Prepared to die’, at 20 percent.