Susan (Kitt) McKenna

Susan McKenna has a background in teaching English and French, sales, marketing, business development and management. She was Sales & Marketing Director with prestigious companies supplying consumer goods to retail in the UK and abroad from 2001 to 2016, then owner of her own consulting company.

Language has always been of paramount importance and delectation to her, both personally and professionally, not only in its rigour but also in its flexibility and infinite variety.

Susan describes herself as 'a purist-iconoclast'.

Michael Gorman

After a degree in physics Michael made a career on the technical side of the computer industry. Within that career he had to write many documents, and to advise junior engineers on their documents.

Mathematics is traditionally divided into pure maths and applied maths. Michael’s writing has been a case of applied English. He is interested in language, and in the attempts by computers to handle human languages.

He assisted in the production of the Society's books Shakin' The Ketchup Bot'le and the QES Golden Jubilee Book. He has been a member of the Society since 1989.

The Society's name: The King's English Society

'The King’s English’ or ‘The Queen’s English’ is a colloquial term that, in common parlance, denotes ‘standard’ or ‘correct’ English; its use is metaphorical, not signifying any literal proprietorship by the monarch. Indeed, the English actually used by the monarch in speech has been commonly heard over our airwaves for less than a century.

Our Society was formed during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II and named The Queen’s English Society to echo its purpose in upholding the standards that the Queen’s English was held to represent.

In 2021 the possibility was put to the members of the Queen’s English Society that the Society’s name might change upon the sad event of her death, and a resolution was passed by a majority of 96% of voting members to retain the name with which the society had been formed. At the Society’s AGM in September 2022, after the Queen’s death, that decision was upheld as a mark of respect, although it was always open for reconsideration in future.

At the Annual General Meeting on 24 September 2024, a Resolution to change the name to The King's English Society was carried by 75 votes to 7.

Ray Ward

Ray Ward was born in Sheffield in 1947 and is retired after a career in libraries of many kinds in Sheffield, London, South Wales, Bristol, Leeds, Hastings, Brighton and, briefly, Saudi Arabia.

He is a Chartered Librarian and has a BA (Hons.) in Politics from the University of Hull. The English language is one of his main interests and he has been a member of the Society since 1989. He has been on the Committee since 2004.

His many other interests include space flight, astronomy, aviation, politics and quizzes. He has twice been on Mastermind and his subjects reflect his broad interests: Manned Space Flight in 1978 (though there had been a lot less of it then!), and The Life and Times of Anne Frank in 2006. He was on University Challenge (his team were finalists), and was the BBC Radio 4 Brain of Britain 2012.

Adrian Williams

Adrian Williams is an actuary and management consultant whose professional life has been focused on the application of mathematics and statistics to the improvement of strategy and operations for organizations in both the public and the private sector.

In 1992 he was elected President of the Institute of Management Consultants. He was a Founder Member of the Guild that became, in 2004, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, and served as that Livery Company's Almoner for eight years.

He has been a member of the Society for some thirty years, in which time he has contributed a number of articles to Quest. He was a judge of the Society's Prize for Excellent English from 1998 to 2022. He was elected Chairman of the Society at the Annual General Meeting in September 2022.

In the wider world, he has published many articles and papers in professional journals and magazines. For three years, he was commissioning editor for International Meccanoman.

Bernard Lamb

Dr Bernard Lamb joined the Society as a life member in 1981 and has been President since 2007.

He is the author of three of the Society's research books based on national surveys, and of "The QES Practical Guide to Punctuation". "The Queen's English and How to Use It" is his latest publication.

For 40 years he taught and conducted research in genetics at Imperial College London where he studied and tried to improve his students' use of English. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and of the Royal Society of Medicine, holds a BSc, a PhD and a DSc, and has written more than 100 scientific papers and books including "The Applied Genetics of Humans, Animals, Plants and Fungi" and "Human Diversity: Its Nature, Extent, Causes and Effects on People".

He has made more than 160 broadcasts about English on radio and TV. He has also been Chairman of the Society's London Branch since 1992.