James Capstick-Dale (7) delivered a keynote address at the prestigious University of Cape Town’s Student Leadership Awards evening late last week. His speech was an introduction to the awarding of the two Kerry Capstick-Dale Student Leadership Awards and the Ackerman Foundation Award at the University’s awards evening. He received a standing ovation from the large audience, which included the Vice-Chancellor.

The subject of his speech was the difference between knowledge and wisdom. He delivered his speech flawlessly, in four languages. After the event, he was unsurprisingly the talk of the evening amongst all who attended!

James loves to speak in public, and practices very hard for each speech. His first major public speech was at age 6, which he gave on “sacrifice and liberty”, and the role of Winston Churchill in World War Two. He lives in Cape Town with his mum and two-year-old brother, Alexandre, and attends the French School in Cape Town. When not speaking in public, he plays rugby and cricket, does karate and swimming, takes extramural French and Spanish classes, and does Kumon Maths and English. When he grows up, he wants to be an astrophysicist. He also volunteers at a Children’s Home with his mum, who says he’s a “good kid”.