The owner of a South African mining company was recently asked to be the guest speaker at a big international charity dinner in Johannesburg. He decided to get some help with his speech so he asked a good friend in London if she would write it for him. She was flattered to be asked but didn't think she was up to it so she contacted me and I wrote the speech for her. I knew she was going to pass it on but I didn't know she was going to pretend it was all her own work! She hadn't anticipated the embarrassment that followed when the delighted speaker contacted the local newspaper and told them about his wonderful speechwriter. The paper wanted to contact my client for an interview, but of course by then she felt it was too late to tell the truth!
