Duncan Harrison

Duncan Harrison is a secondary school student from Horfield, Bristol, who won the BBC's The Speaker competition, winning the title of Britain's best young speaker.
Harrison first attended Helen O'Grady Drama, then Bristol School of Performing Arts, where he performed in in-house productions of Oliver as Oliver, Aladdin as Wishy Washy, Joseph and the TDC and many other productions. Harrison now attends "The Actors Workshop".
Harrison attends St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School in Bristol, and is currently in year 12.
On his Speaker profile, Harrison describes himself as "a team player... so long as he's the leader!"
He is the younger brother of actor Angus Harrison.
He is not to be confused with the British experimental musician of the same name.
The Speaker
Harrison attended the regional auditions in Cardiff, and reached the top five with his speech on global warming, titled 'Hot, fast and electrical life'. He proceeded to the next round, where he had to speak about why he should win the competition at Wembley Arena. He was one of the few competitors who managed to speak ex tempore, and was placed in the top 10, later progressing to the top 8, after impressing celebrity mentor Deborah Meaden at Speaker's corner, where he had to speak spontaneously about an alarm clock.
As the competition proceeded, Harrison's key flaw, his over-activity, become more evident, posing a serious problem when he had to speak as a tour guide at Althorp House for Mentor Earl Spencer. During the task he confused facts, although he successfully talked for two and a half minutes more than he had to.
In the next episode, Harrison had to speak to camera and gave one of his best performances, as he asked a zoo keeper questions about tarantulas and arachnophobia. This speech was far more reserved, and Harrison therefore progressed to the next round and the top six.
Harrison then went to the town of Egham, where Alastair Campbell mentored the contestants in the art of persuasion. Although his speech to the other contestants only persuaded one of them, Harrison managed to persuade the town of Egham as a whole, on the issue of improving CCTV facilities, winning the vote, and reaching the top five.
In the semi-final, the five remaining speakers had to address the nation, via key screens in major cities, on the topic of inspiration and what inspired them. Harrison spoke about Christmas, and was beaten by both Irene and Kaykay, leaving him in the bottom three for the first time in the contest. In order to reach the final he therefore had to perform another task: talking about how the competition had inspired him.
In the final round of the Speaker the three finalists, Irene, Kaykay and Harrison, were flown to Malawi to research children's rights, then return home, and give a final speech about their experiences. Each finalist was given an aspect of children's rights to talk about. Harrison was given the children's right to education. He spoke last out of the three competitors. The judges voted Harrison the winner, awarding him the title of Britain's best young Speaker.
In his exit speech, Harrison said that the competition had shown him "not only about speaking, but about life."

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