Sayings

[jayjay]

'Unacustomed as I am to Public Speaking ....' Origin and completion please .

[Lex's Loofah]

Sorry, only seen it in Blackadder the Third!

[jayjay]

thanks for the info i'll try and find a video of B/adder 3rd.....but it's a lot older than that .

[geofbob]

I think this is more a clich� than a saying, and there's no completion - the speaker just goes on to make their speech, presentation or whatever. The phrase clearly goes back a long way; one of its most famous usages was in one of Winston Churchill's earliest speeches in 1897, when he referred to it as a "well worn and time honoured apology".