Chrissie Maher

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Chrissie Maher OBE founded the Plain English Campaign, an organisation that promotes the clear use of English, particularly by businesses and official bodies. Her campaign began in 1971 when she 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. In 1974 Chrissie went on to start The Liverpool News, the UK's first newspaper for adults with reading difficulties. She was also an original member of the UK's National Consumer Council, before officially founding the Plain English Campaign at a demonstration in London in 1979.

In recognition of her efforts Maher was awarded the OBE in 1994. In 1995 she was awarded an honorary MA degree by Manchester University and, in 1997, an honorary doctorate by the Open University.

Tom McArthur, editor of the Oxford Companion to the English Language claimed that "in all the history of the language, there has never been such a powerful grass-roots movement to influence it as the Plain English Campaign, and Chrissie is the one who got it going."