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20INT. CHILDREN’S NURSERY, YORK HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

Elizabeth, fashionably attired for an evening-out, is curled on a bearskin rug reading to a little girl - LILIBET, 10 - who claps her hands primly, and her younger sister - MARGARET ROSE, 5.

As Elizabeth closes the book (”Peter Pan”), Bertie, handsome in a tuxedo, comments:

BERTIE

Weren’t they lucky!

Within his family Bertie’s stammer is virtually absent.

MARGARET ROSE

Now Papa tell a story!

BERTIE

Could I be a penguin instead?

He drops to his knees and waddles. In his tux he looks like a penguin. Margaret Rose giggles, but is undeterred.

MARGARET ROSE

Tell me a penguin story, please.

Called upon to perform, the stammer returns slightly, but the girls listen raptly, ignoring their father’s minor impediment, and it fades.

BERTIE

There were once two princesses

whose Papa had been turned into a

penguin by the local witch. This

was inconvenient because he loved

to hold his princesses in his arms

and you can’t do that if you’re a

penguin, you have wings like

herrings.

MARGARET ROSE

Herrings don’t have wings.

BERTIE

His wings were the shape of

herrings. To make matters worse she

sent him to the South Pole which is

an awfully long walk if you can’t

fly.

LILIBET

You can’t walk from the South Pole!

ELIZABETH

Shh!

BERTIE

Exactly. When he reached the water

and dived in he found he could fly.

Fly through the depths. So fast, in