Template:Did you know nominations/Laurence Patrick Lee

Laurence Patrick Lee

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... that New Zealand mathematician Laurence Patrick Lee worked his way to England to find a cure for his stammer and was speaking normally after just 18 minutes of instruction?

Source: "N.Z. Man Cured Of Stammering By British 'Expert' ", Greymouth Evening Star, 11 Dec 1950, [N.Z.P.A. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT], "When Mr L. P. Lee [...] read in a Jersey newspaper that Mr William C. Kerr, M.A., of St Helier, had discovered a cure for stammering he decided to get a year's leave of absence from the Lands and Survey Department and to work his way to England. ¶ Lee had been stammering all his life and he felt that Mr Kerr could help him. He worked as engineer’s steward in the Trojan Star, arrived in England on November 13 and 18 minutes after seeing Mr Kerr on November 18 he was speaking normally. ¶ Recorded Proof ¶ Mr Kerr took a recording of Lee stammering the date and time before instructing him. He took a second recording 18 minutes later with Lee now stating the date and time without stammering.

Reviewed:
Comment: Alternate hooks could talk about his map projections (and could include map pictures, if a picture is needed), but this story seemed like a better human interest hook.

Created by Jacobolus (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has less than 5 past nominations.

–jacobolus (t) 00:23, 12 August 2024 (UTC).

Length, history and reference verified. Earwig looks OK even though I couldn't use Google because it said we had sent too many queries to it.
However ... the end of one graf was uncited, and so I have tagged it. It should be easy to fix. Daniel Case (talk) 19:26, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

I added some examples of other high impact books/papers which have cited and discussed Lee's paper (the claim in the article was that it was influential). –jacobolus (t) 19:51, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Daniel Case, have the issues been addressed? theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 07:45, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay. All but one of those sources are paywalled from where I am, but since the one that isn't describes the cited paper as "well-known", we'll take your word for it. Daniel Case (talk) 17:58, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

I could go either way on this, but anyone else a little uncomfortable with sourcing a medical story claim to a 1950 newspaper? It's not a MEDRS claim, but it's not an uncontroversial one, either. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 08:45, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

The article says that he continued to work with the specialist for weeks, which seems to contradict the hook? Looking around online for sources about quickly curing a stammer, I found "There is no instant cure for stuttering., contrary to popular belief, there isn't a permanent fix to overcoming a stammer, and therapies and courses are not a cure or a 'quick fix' for stammering. Open to alternative hooks or being proven wrong, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 15:33, 11 September 2024 (UTC) Forgot to ping jacobolus, Rjjⁱⁱⁱ (talk) 16:02, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Maybe you can think of a better phrasing for a hook (or we could come up with an alternate hook not having to do with the stammer). The claim from the news article is that Kerr recorded Lee saying the date and time when he first arrived, stammering, and then 18 minutes later took another recording of him saying the date and time, not stammering – i.e. just saying one simple sentence, not an ability to fluently speak without stammering. (The news article author presumably listened to this recording.) Then he stayed for another few weeks with Kerr to work on it, and by the time he left he considered himself cured with only a slight occasional stammer remaining. I don't think the claimed "cure" here was ever perfect, but Kerr really did have a stammering clinic in Jersey for decades, apparently with significant success, with people coming from all over the world to work with him. After 1955 Kerr's clinic was hosted in this funny boat-shaped building in Jersey called "Barge Aground", which can nowadays be rented by tourists. There are a couple of pictures of Kerr here, and some other patients. –jacobolus (t) 18:48, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Here's the full news article:

N.Z. Man Cured Of Stammering By British “Expert”
[N.Z.P.A. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT]
LONDON, December 10 (Rec. 9 a.m.).—When Mr L. P. Lee, of 195 The Terrace, Wellington, read in a Jersey newspaper that Mr William C. Kerr, M.A., of St Helier, had discovered a cure for stammering he decided to get a year’s leave of absence from the Lands and Survey Department and to work his way to England.

Lee had been stammering all his life and he felt that Mr Kerr could help him. He worked as engineer’s steward in the Trojan Star, arrived in England on November 13 and 18 minutes after seeing Mr Kerr on November 18 he was speaking normally.

Recorded Proof
Mr Kerr took a recording of Lee stammering the date and time before instructing him. He took a second recording 18 minutes later with Lee now stating the date and time without stammering.

Lee stayed with Mr Kerr for a fortnight and when he returned to London his brother Mr M. G. Lee, who is teaching at a college and who had been most sceptical was “astounded” at the change.

Mr L. P. Lee told the Press Association: “I am thoroughly happy about the cure. I know that whenever I want to I can speak normally and I could even make a public speech now.” Only a slight occasional stammer is noticeable -in his speech and he counted rapidly up to 20.

Discovery Made
Mr Kerr said: “When I was a student at Glasgow University 16 years ago I had. to write a thesis on philosophy. In doing so I came across a psychological discovery. From this I discovered the cause and then the cure of stammering.”

“Its taken me a long time and I’ve had to contend with a good deal of scepticism and' opposition. But I’ve had 90 per cent success with 50 cases. I’m not a doctor but I believe I have a mission and I am making this my life’s work. I charge a fee which I shall reduce as I get more patients,” stated Mr Kerr.

–jacobolus (t) 18:55, 11 September 2024 (UTC)