ABU DHABI // When she watches the Academy Awards broadcast in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, Abu Dhabi resident Luci Churchhouse will have a personal interest.
One of the most acclaimed films of 2010, The King's Speech, tells the story of how Mrs Churchhouse's great-grandfather, Lionel Logue, helped King George VI overcome a debilitating speech impediment.
As the film shows, the help of the unorthodox Australian Logue allowed the king to inspire and calm the frightened British people before and during World War Two.
The film is up for a dozen awards including best picture, making it one of the most-nominated films ever. The Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, who played Logue, is nominated for best supporting actor.
"We are all very excited and have got our fingers crossed for the results of the Oscars and we are definitely planning to stay up and see the results as they come in," said Mrs Churchhouse, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 11 years. "Geoffrey Rush did an amazing job of portraying Lionel so well and really deserves the Oscar for best supporting actor."
Mrs Churchhouse, 45, is originally from the UK but moved to the UAE from Indonesia. She now works for a training and development company. Logue is her great-grandfather on her mother's side. Mrs Churchhouse's mother Alex Marshall (née Logue) was the daughter of Logue's eldest son, Laurie.
Although her mother and siblings attended the London premiere of the film last December in Leicester Square, work commitments kept Mrs Churchhouse in the UAE.
So she invited a group of friends to a screening - and a post-film toast to her great-grandfather - when the film opened at Khalidya Mall's Cine Royal on January 27.
"The most emotional part for me was when it showed Lionel with his sons at home and I thought 'Oh my goodness! That boy is playing the part of my grandfather'," she said. "I can still remember him well, as I was a teenager by the time he passed on."
Mrs Churchhouse, who never met her great-grandfather, said that although she was aware he had been an important person and made frequent trips to Buckingham Palace, the relationship with the king was rarely talked about.
Her mother remembers Logue as "rather kind and generous, but certainly not in a lovey-dovey way".
Whenever Logue's grandchildren visited him on Christmas Day, they had to wait until he returned from Buckingham Palace to have their Christmas dinner. Logue would have been with King George VI as he delivered each year's Christmas message to the nation and empire, said Mrs Churchhouse.
In general, the family loved the film, despite their belief that some of the more private, contentious moments between Logue and the king had been fictionalised. "My mother says that there are a few discrepancies," said Mrs Churchhouse.
"For example she certainly doesn't think all that swearing happened, and Lionel never called the king 'Bertie'. There has obviously been a certain amount of poetic licence, to spice it up to make it more appealing to a wider audience. But on the whole the main storyline is true."
And some moments that rang very true, said Mrs Churchhouse.
"My grandfather was always a keen car enthusiast and there was a particularly poignant moment in the film for my mother when Lionel's son, my grandfather, drives him up to the palace in the sports car," she said. "My mother says that she can vividly remember that car."
Logue died in 1953 at the age of 73. Although the story of how 'Grandpa Logue cured the King' was waiting to be told, for the Queen Mother it was too painful to repeat during her lifetime, said Mrs Churchhouse.
The film's screenwriter, David Seidler, suffered from a speech impediment himself, and had listened to the king's speeches as a little boy. He started the production process after the Queen Mother died in 2002 at the age of 102.
The film's researchers eventually tracked down Mark Logue, Logue's grandson via his youngest son Antony, and Mrs Churchhouse's second cousin. He provided records including Logue's diaries and letters exchanged with the king.
After visiting the film's set, and the death of his own father in 2007, Mark Logue was inspired to more closely examine the life of his influential grandfather.
Ultimately he co-wrote, with Peter Conradi, The King's Speech: The Story of How One Man Saved the British Monarchy, which was published last November. Mrs Churchhouse's husband gave her a copy of the book for Christmas, but she held off reading it until after seeing the film.
"As the film had been so hyped up I didn't want to spoil my initial reaction to it by comparing it with the more factual version in the book," she said.
Since then she has been able to read about how her great-grandfather rose from humble beginnings in Adelaide. To recognise his contributions to the king in 1937 Logue was awarded membership of the Royal Victorian Order, and in 1945 was elevated to the rank of Commander.
Even as she watched the film, said Mrs Churchhouse, the connection between the big screen and her family was hard to absorb.
"It certainly took me a while to get my head around the fact that this was the story of my family," she said.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
The Academy Awards can be seen on Fox Movies beginning at 3am.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
MANDOOB
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Ali%20Kalthami%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Mohammed%20Dokhei%2C%20Sarah%20Taibah%2C%20Hajar%20Alshammari%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
