Christopher Upward (14 November 1938 – 4 August 2002) was an English orthographer, notable for designing the system of

cut spelling Cut Spelling is a system of English-language spelling reform which reduces redundant letters and makes substitutions to improve correspondence with the spoken word. It was designed by Christopher Upward and was for a time being popularized by ...

, a system of English-language spelling reform which reduces redundant letters and makes substitutions to improve correspondence with the spoken word, as well as for the book ''The History of English Spelling'', which was unfinished at the time of his death, but was completed by George Davidson and published posthumously in 2011.

Biography

Upward was born in 1938 in London, to the novelist and schoolmaster

Edward Upward Edward Falaise Upward, FRSL (9 September 1903 – 13 February 2009) was a British novelist and short story writer who, prior to his death, was believed to be the UK's oldest living author. Initially gaining recognition amongst the Auden Group as ...

(1903–2009) and his wife Hilda (''née'' Percival; 1909–1995), also a schoolteacher. He was named after his father's friend

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

. He graduated from his father's old college,

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...

, in 1961, and went on to lecture at

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public university, public Research university, research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School ...

from 1970 until his retirement in 1995. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early in life and died in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

from complications of the disease in 2002, aged 63. {{DEFAULTSORT:Upward, Christopher 1938 births 2002 deaths Academics of Aston University Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge