Our History

The concept of establishing The Croydon Convention™ was conceived by Marcus Hilton. Marcus Hilton is a pseudonym used by a man living in The London Borough of Croydon. Marcus enjoyed writing, but he found that presentation of his written works was hampered by the complexities of The English Language.

Marcus had the desire to establish clear guidance about how written works should be presented.

Marcus began his writing journey a few decades after word processors were invented. This was also a time when The Internet was expanding rapidly. These developments provided fantastic opportunities, but at the same time, the problems of written communication became even more troublesome. Advice was repeatedly conflicting and often irrational.

As a young man, Marcus trained in Accountancy. When Marcus turned to writing, he was quick to recognise the parallels between the problems faced by The Accountancy Profession, and the problems of writing in Formal English.

The Accountancy Profession must publish accounts that present ‘… a true and fair view,'. This is a statutory requirement. However, there is ongoing debate about what constitutes true-and-fair information. This is because different businesses may present similar situations in notably different ways.

It may not be possible to totally eliminate this problem for accountants. Nevertheless, it is possible to reduce the scope for variance by publishing guidance from an authoritative body about what is considered the right-and-proper way to present financial information. Various bodies have been created by The Accountancy Profession to provide such guidance. For example, there is an organisation known as: ‘The International Accounting Standards Board’. This organisation publishes documents to regulate accounting issues. These documents are referred to as: ‘international financial reporting standards’ or ‘IFRS’(s).

Marcus began to wonder if a similar organisation could be set-up to govern presentational standards for formal writing in English.

Thus, Marcus created The Croydon Convention Consultative Committee™ – also known as: 'The CCCC'. This organisation was soon incorporated into a company limited by guarantee, known as : ‘The Croydon Convention Consultative Committee Ltd’. It took a little while to establish contacts with others who might be appropriate members of The CCCC. During the process of creating a suitable team Marcus acted as the sole arbiter of what documents should be published by The CCCC. This included publication of PoKIE-1, together with the first on-line version of The Croydon Convention™ in its original draft form.

A pokie is a statement of the thoughts of The CCCC at the time of publication. The word: ‘Pokie’ is an acronym - ‘Proclamation of Key Issues Explained’. For example, PoKIE-1 sets out the fundamental thinking behind the idea of establishing The Croydon Convention™.

If you would like to find out more about The Croydon Convention™, please fill-out an enquiry form on the page labelled [Contact].

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