Former court reporter and shorthand expert Mary Sorene attained a speed of 210 words per minute at her peak. Here, she shows an example of Pitman in use - and demonstrates how it works.

Also, it’s not a lie at all, which, in my advice column, is almost unheard of. STEP THREE Maybe you should make Pitman Shorthand cool! It’s kind of perfect for teenagers when you think about it.

Over time, a growing list of abbreviations added to the speed of Pitman notation, and the standard attainment became set at 140 words a minute, allegedly the rate of “normal” speech in English.

His natural ability at shorthand led to a career as a high speed reporter in the law courts, first in Rhodesia and then Canada. In the 1970s, he was approached by Sir James Pitman to rewrite and ...