Chrissie Maher (born 1938) co-founded

Plain English Campaign The Plain English Campaign (PEC) is a commercial editing and training firm based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 by Chrissie Maher, the company is a world leader in plain-language advocacy, working to persuade organisations in the UK and ...

, a company that promotes the clear use of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, particularly by businesses and official bodies. Chrissie was inspired both by the need for democratic language (information that could be understood by adults of all educational levels) and plain language champions such as

Sir Ernest Gowers Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers (2 June 1880 – 16 April 1966) is best remembered for his book ''Plain Words,'' first published in 1948, and his revision of Fowler's classic '' Modern English Usage''. Before making his name as an author, he had a long ...

and

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

Early campaigns

In 1971 Maher founded the UK's first community newspaper, the ''Tuebrook Bugle'', which gave her the chance to write articles demanding that organisations start using

plain English Plain English (or layman's terms) are groups of words that are to be clear and easy to know. It usually avoids the use of rare words and uncommon euphemisms to explain the subject. Plain English wording is intended to be suitable for almost anyone, ...

. In 1974 Maher started ''The Liverpool News'', the UK's first newspaper for adults with reading difficulties. Many of the plain English principles that would eventually inspire the Plain English Campaign were put into early action with both The Tuebrook Bugle and The Liverpool News. Chrissie was also a member of the UK's

National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Plain English Campaign

Maher officially launched Plain English Campaign at a demonstration in London in 1979. In 1994, as an example of the linguistic issues she found objectionable, Maher pointed out that Britain's

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

published a definition of the term ''bed'' that used 229 words. Tom McArthur, editor of the Oxford Companion to the English Language said, "In all the history of the language, there has never been such a powerful grassroots movement to influence it as the Plain English Campaign."

Awards & honours

* 1993 Order of the British Empire. * 1995

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

honorary MA degree. * 1997

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

. * 2000 Maher, disability rights campaigner Lord Alfred Morris of Manchester, and World Wide Web creator

Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...

were named "Information Pioneers of the Century" by the UK's National Information Forum. * 2010

Liverpool John Moores University , mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold , established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University , type = Public , endowment = , coor ...

Honorary Fellowship for services to communication. * 2010 ''Public Affairs Achiever of the Year'' and ''Outstanding Achiever of the Year'' from the 'Women in Public Life' awards.

References

External links

Plain English Campaign Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Chrissie 1938 births Officers of the Order of the British Empire Plain English Living people People from Tuebrook

Early campaigns

Plain English Campaign

Awards & honours

See also

References

External links