THOMAS SCOTT is certainly never lost for words – in fact, when it comes to public speaking he's the best in the UK.
The 25-year-old from Fountainbridge has just become the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious National Speech championship in Blackpool.
Mr Scott, who graduated with a masters degree from Queen Margaret University last November, has been a member of the Denny Speaking Club, near Stirling, for the past nine years – where both his father and grandfather have been members.
But despite winning competitions for public speaking in Scotland, the national competition – run by the Association of Speakers Clubs – is the first major prize he has won for his hobby.
Mr Scott said he was "incredibly proud" to win the award on Sunday and added that the success meant he had followed in his father Tony's footsteps – who had triumphed in the same competition in 1999.
He said: "When my dad won the contest a few years back, he was 42 and was considered as a young man by the people running the competition.
"It's been going for almost 40 years and the winners have tended to be fairly old, so to be named as the youngest-ever champion is a great honour.
"The funny thing is that the speech I made for the final was all about being 'old before my time' and bemoaning the younger generation who think you're past it if you're above the age of 18.
"It seemed to go down well with the audience and the judges."
The competition judges marked Mr Scott on both the content of his speech and the way it was presented.
The only prerequisite was that it had to be between six and eight minutes long and could not mention religion, politics or sex.
Mr Scott's winning speech was inspired by a recent holiday he took with friends in the north of Scotland, where he noticed groups of surly teenagers.
He added: "They just don't give you the time of day if you're in your 20s. They just react like you're already past it and some kind of coffin-dodger, which I found fascinating.
"It all combined to create this really funny speech which I was able to present well and it went down a storm.
"I got the audience involved and had them all joining in at one point, so it was a bit different to what they usually get."
This year was the first time the Queen Margaret graduate had ever entered the competition.
In order to secure one of the eight places in the national final, he first had to win his way through three area and regional heats.
Mr Scott's father Tony, who is the vice-chairman of the Denny Speaking club, said: "We're very proud of Thomas's success, as it is a very prestigious competition."
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www.dennyspeakersclub.co.ukThe full article contains 493 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
