Ronald Kingsley Read

Ronald Kingsley Read (19 February 1887 – February 1975) was one of four contestants chosen in 1959 to share the prize money for the design of the Shavian alphabet, a completely new alphabet intended for the writing of English.

[1] In the early 1960s, Read produced the quarterly journal Shaw-script, which was printed using the Shavian alphabet.

[2] In 1966, after extensive testing of Shavian with English speakers from around the world, Read introduced Quikscript, a revised form of his Shavian alphabet.

Quikscript, also known as the "Read alphabet", has more ligatures than Shavian, which makes it easier to write by hand.

[1] A few days before his death, he completed a new alphabet called Soundspell (now Readspel), based, probably for increased chances of popular acceptance, on the Latin script.