Education: G.B.S. v ABC

In his 94 years. George Bernard Shaw took up every sort of cause from Fabianism to vegetarianism to antivivisection. But he had one obsession that puzzled even his closest friends. "They think it a huge joke," he once complained. "It's the most serious proposal of my life." His will proved that he meant what he said: aside from some personal bequests, the bulk of his estate was to go into a charitable trust to finance the design of a new phonetic alphabet for the English-speaking people. But just in case the courts might throw out such a trust, Shaw named...

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