Ed Stafford and Luke Collyer made it in to the pages of The times,
http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/pdfs/youngtimes090608.pdf
FHM and Nuts on line. All three publications responded to the press release sent out by Vikki Rimmer on the guys behalf.

Walking The Amazon: www.walkingtheamazon.com

The Spelling Society appeared on BBC ONE'S popular One Show on Friday June 6th 2008. Dr John Gledhill chatted to Giles Brandreth about The Spelling Society and spelling in the UK.


The One Show dedicated 8 minutes of the show to the thorny issues of spelling, and reform. Giles Brandreth argued that the current English spelling system left many confused.

The Spelling Society were placed on The One Show by Vikki Rimmer/Press Contact.

Following the publication of the Spelling Society's research on the current state of UK spelling, BBC Breakfast invited Jack Bovill - chair of the Society to come and sit on the famous sofa and chat to the Breakfast team about spelling.

Vikki Rimmer followed Jack on to the BBC Breakfast sofa and discussed the thorny issue of spelling.

Jack then went on to do a tour of regional radio stations and national TV news - appearing on BBC News 24 and Five News.

To celebrate their 100th birthday, The Spelling Society commissioned a study to look at the current state of spelling in the UK.

The results were published by Press Contact, and were sent out nationally and regionally to broadcasters and print media. The response was interesting.

The Telegraph were the first to publish the results of the study.


Does spelling leave you embarrassed?
By Tom Peterkin
Last Updated: 3:22AM BST 23/05/2008 | Comments 98 | Have Your Say
Around half of British adults are unable to spell commonly used words such as embarrassed, liaison or millennium, research has disclosed.
Pupils of Harrow public school filing past their headmaster Dr J L James on Founders Day
GETTY
Those surveyed blamed poor spelling on parents and teachers

More than a quarter of those surveyed struggled to spell definitely, accidentally and separate.

One in three Britons had trouble spelling and was not confident enough to fill in an application form without resorting to a dictionary or spell checker.

The under-35s were more likely to be uncomfortable filling in a job application form than their parents or the over-55s.
Thirty-five per cent of under-24s relied on some form of spell check compared with 13 per cent of over-55s.

For the study, 1,000 people were asked to spell 10 commonly used words.

Every word was misspelled by somebody.

The survey commissioned by the Spelling Society, an organisation campaigning for the simplification of spelling, showed that those in the North were worse at spelling than their southern counterparts.

Tim Hutt, of ICD research, which carried out the study, said: "Embarrassed is most likely to be spelt incorrectly at 54 per cent incorrect rate. However, 63 per cent in the North East spelt the word wrongly compared with 51 per cent in South East and South West."

Those surveyed blamed poor spelling on parents and teachers, with three quarters believing that spelling among children had declined over the past 10 years.

But John Gledhill, of the Spelling Society, said: "It is not the fault of the teachers, nor of the students, but of the archaic spelling system which they have to learn.

"We are, in effect, still using 16th-century spelling for a 21st-century language, and grammar and pronunciation have changed since then, with the written language lagging a couple of centuries behind."

Percentage of those who spelt the following words incorrectly:

Embarrassed - 54

Liaison - 46

Millennium - 43

Definitely - 37

Accommodation - 36

Accidentally - 26

Separate - 25

Attempted - 8

Appeared - 6

Friend - 3

What are the words you have difficulty spelling?

Press Contact has placed the Spelling Society across 19 radio stations in the UK in the last three weeks, including Radio Five Live. The Spelling Society also featured twice on BBC Breakfast and on Channel Five news. BBC TV's The One Show devoted 6 minutes to the Spelling Society and print coverage was garnered in The Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and regional newspapers.

The Wall Street Journal also covered a Spelling Society story.

The Spelling Society celebrated their 100th birthday at Coventry University with a conference entitled 'The Cost of English Spelling'. The conference ran over two days - 7-8th June 2008.

The below figures show the radio coverage in the UK:


1) Market: Northeast/Northwest [UP]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 5:00pm Aired On: BBC RADIO NEWCASTLE Show: JON AND ANNE

17:13:41.00 Jon and anne: discussion about difficult words to spell. Some of the difficult words were listed by the spelling society. Top stories. Weather and traffic (TRT=00:11)
17:37:19.00 Jon and anne: discussion about survey of the spelling society "jack bovill", chairman of the spelling society. Discussion about the problem words where people stumble. Discussion about how to remember spellings (TRT=00:11)

2) Market: Scotland [UW]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 4:00pm Aired On: BBC RADIO SCOTLAND Show: NEWSDRIVE

16:54:08.00 "Marine conservation society spokesman calum duncan." Bbc scotland-news drive: discussion about spelling embarrass. In a survey by the spelling society more than half of those question got it wrong. "Vox pop." "Jack bovill, spelling society." Logger-snsharib (TRT=06:53)

3) Market: United Kingdom [UK]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 8:00am Aired On: BBC ONE NATIONAL Show: BREAKFAST

08:18:54.00 Join the club if youre struggling. A survey of 1,000 people join the club if youre struggling. Spelling society found that many were stumped by the words. We set the good folk of west london a challenge. T m B A s e macrO d e macro F e mbA a S e m bA now i feel embarrassed (TRT=10:00)
08:20:24.00 Full marks to that young lady at the end. You just wanted to put him out of his misery. Lets speak rimmer from the spelling society and a broadcaster and writer, simon fanshawe. You write on and a broadcaster and writer, simon wrote a book on manners and behaviour. Can you spell etiquette? (TRT=10:00)
08:22:19.00 Is that a possibility? It is. The spelling society are interested in the awareness of the situation and the problem. I dont think people realise that spelling is at the root of a lot of literary problems. Root of a lot of literary problems. The way we spellers difficult. A third of people in the survey said they had a problem with spelling (TRT=10:00)

4) Market: United Kingdom [UK]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 8:00am Aired On: BBC NEWS 24 Show: BREAKFAST

08:18:51.00 Or separate? It is harder in join the club if youre struggling. A survey of 1,000 people by the spelling society found that many were stumped by the words. We set the good folk of west london a challenge. T m B a s e macrO D e macro F e mbA a s S e m bA now i feel embarrassed (TRT=10:00)
08:20:19.00 Full marks to that young lady at the end. You just wanted to put him out of his misery. Lets rimmer from the spelling society and a broadcaster and writer, simon fanshawe. You write on etiquette? I wrote a book on manners and behaviour (TRT=10:00)
08:22:19.00 Is that a possibility? It is. The spelling society are interested in the awareness of the situation and the problem. I dont think people realise that spelling is at root of a lot of literary problems. The way we spellers difficult. A third of people in the survey said they had a problem with spelling (TRT=10:00)

5) Market: UK Radio [ZR]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 8:00am Aired On: BBC RADIO 5 LIVE Show: BREAKFAST

08:24:42.00 Breakfast: discussion about burma, burmas ruling military have agreed to allow all aid workers in. Breakfast: discussion with "jack bovill, chairman spelling society" about spelling, around half of british adults are unable to spell commonly used words such as embarrassed, liaison or millennium. More than a quarter of those surveyed struggled to spell definitely, accidentally and separate. Weather (TRT=10:00)

6) Market: National London [VD]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 7:00am Aired On: LBC 97.3 FM Show: NICK FERRARI

07:37:42.00 Lbc 973-nick ferrari: discussion with john gledhill, of the spelling society about the spelling society which celebrates its 100th birthday this year, says its time for the english language to drag itself into the modern world, it help lot of people problem of spelling certain important words. In us spelling bee competition. Solution to spell words correctly and its problem (TRT=02:20)

7) Market: United Kingdom [UK]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 6:00am Aired On: BBC ONE NATIONAL Show: BREAKFAST

06:43:39.00 You cant? Well join the club, because i cant either. A survey of a thousand people by the spelling society found that many were stumped by the word. We set the good folk of west lnd a challenge. EmbA double resed (TRT=10:00)
06:45:14.00 Sometimes you can see things more quickly. Bg / 888 see things more quickly. With us now the chairman of the spelling bg / 888 now the chairman of the spelling society. Good morning to you. That is part of the problem, isnt it, that you if you see it in your head it is harder? (TRT=10:00)
06:45:39.00 Some people see things visually. I voice the cape in knife, for example. Are you chairman of the spelling society because you are good at spelling of because you were very bad at it and he decided to address the because you were very bad at it and because you were very bad at it and he decided to address the issue? I am very good at chairing meetings! How good is your spelling? (TRT=10:00)

8) Market: United Kingdom [UK]
Date: 23/05/2008 Time: 6:00am Aired On: BBC NEWS 24 Show: BREAKFAST

06:45:10.00 Its harder saying it than writing it down. Sometimes you can see things more quickly. With us now the chairman of the spelling society. Good morning to you. That is part of the problem, isnt it, that you if you see it in your head it is harder? (TRT=10:00)
06:45:34.00 Some people see things visually. I voice the cape in knife, for example. Are you chairman of the spelling society because you are good at spelling of because you were very bad at it and he decided to address the issue? I am very good at chairing meetings! How good is your spelling? (TRT=10:00)

9) Market: Northern Ireland [UZ]
Date: 22/05/2008 Time: 6:00pm Aired On: BBC RADIO ULSTER Show: EVENING EXTRA

18:21:04.00 Evening extra: discussion: crewe and nantwich bi-election. A voting is underway in the crewe and nantwich bi-election today, the contest follows the death of the long serving labour mp gwyneth dunwoody last month. Evening extra: discussion: according to new research commissioned by the spellings society shows pupil in the northern ireland society are top of the class when it comes to spelling. "Spellings society publicist vikki rimmer", talking about the problems of school pupil unable to spell the words correctly. Headlines. Weather (TRT=07:00)

10) Market: Northeast/Northwest [UP]
Date: 12/05/2008 Time: 9:00am Aired On: CITY TALK (LIVERPOOL) Show: DUNCAN BARKES

09:21:20.00 Duncan barkes: discussion with "jack bovill, chairman of the simplified spelling society" on secondary pupils struggling with spelling. Experts said it should be second nature for 11-year-old children to spell simple words and that accurate spelling and grammar were crucial for children to be able to express themselves clearly. Behind the governments hype about improving performance we can see the pupils are still struggling with basic spelling and the building blocks of literacy (TRT=08:46)

11) Market: Southwest [UM]
Date: 08/05/2008 Time: 6:30am Aired On: BBC RADIO SOLENT Show: THE JULIAN CLEGG PROGRAMME

06:46:34.00 The julian clegg programme: discussion with "john gledhill, constable with hampshire police marine unit" about solent sea dogs. Sports: cricket update. The julian clegg programme: discussion about a couple how they enjoyed there journey all the way through france into santiago with a donkey and cart (TRT=07:15)