Why have we had to wait so long to learn the true story of King George VI's stutter and the man who helped him overcome it? Blame it on the hardiness of his wife, Queen Elizabeth II's mother. As Colin Firth explained on 'The Daily Show' (weeknights, 11PM ET on COM), "Our writer [of 'The King's Speech'], he himself suffered from a very severe stutter, and those broadcasts kind of gave him hope."

He later wrote to the Queen Mother, "asking for her permission to tell this story." He was instructed to wait till after her death, as "the memories of these events [were] still too painful. And so he waited... and waited," joked Firth. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 101.