By John Caputo, Jo Palosaari and Ken Pickering

Dramatic Lines Handbooks pound;15.99 plus pound;1.50 pamp;p from PO Box 201, Twickenham TW3 5RQ

Professor Ken Pickering is chief examiner for drama and speech at Trinity College, London, and this book is intended primarily as a text for the courses he examines. It has a much more general relevance, though, as a well crafted and usable guide to communicating with others. Any teachers whose pupils have to do oral or written presentations would find it useful.

Perhaps for teachers and lecturers looking at how well they themselves communicate, the best bits are to do with making speeches. The authors know, for example, that too often we just don’t know how to stop.

“If you memorise just one line of your speech, make it the concluding sentence. Some speakers hover like a plane trying to find a landing strip before they conclude their speech.”

And on that note...