A call has been made for users of Gregg shorthand to unite and honour the 150th anniversary of its inventor’s birth.
Cindy Lighturn is hoping to hold a celebration honouring John Robert Gregg, left, who created Gregg Shorthand and founded schools across the UK.
Born in 1867 in Ireland, he devised his own style of shorthand to achieve higher speeds than Pitman, which he learned from a journalist friend of his father after a childhood injury damaged his hearing.
It is alleged Robert’s schoolmaster had caught him whispering with a classmate on second day, and hit the two boys’ heads together as punishment – causing the injury.
While Gregg shorthand remained popular in America, the Pitman and Teeline systems of shorthand became more commonly used in the UK and Europe, with many Gregg schools closing.
Former ‘Greggites’ pupil Cindy Lighturn, who attended The Gregg School in Newcastle, is now looking for students for the celebration.
She said: “The current trend of texting only goes to prove there’ll always be a demand for speed-writing and short-forms.
“Greggites might be considered to be the forerunners of the modern-day digital-age because it’s all been done before – with a little help from John Robert Gregg of course.”
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What a legend!
I LOVE shorthand, I use it daily.
He’s brilliant to have thought up his own system of doing it – that’s true initiative!
I think shorthand will always have a place in journalism. People say that recording interviews or filming them will take over – but what if technology fails?
I’m glad I know shorthand (Teeline) and I would encourage any journalist to learn it.
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I love shorthand too (Pitman), still using it today, so pleased I learned this skill.
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I probably have the worst Teeline known to man, yet I can understand and transcribe it and that’s all that counts.
Whilst I was interviewing a group of councillors the other day, one exclaimed to her colleagues: “Look at this! When did you last see a reporter doing shorthand?”
Made me feel like a member of an endangered species, which in a way I suppose I am…
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Learnt Pitman’s shorthand 52 years ago when our chief reporter was an NCTJ examiner in the subject. Used it ever since. Drive my wife mad by writing down shopping lists/map instructions in the shorthand !! How sad is that?
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