Brian Reynold Bishop

Who is Brian Reynold Bishop?

Brian Reynold Bishop was the seventh Cifal of the Volapük-speakers' community and President of the Volapük Academy.

Brian Bishop has been interested in languages since childhood. After having studied French, Spanish and Latin, he came into contact with constructed auxiliary languages such as Esperanto and Volapük. He started a long correspondence with Arie de Jong, the reformer of the Volapük language, and with the previous cifals Johann Schmidt and F. J. Krüger. He learned Volapük, and became a subscriber and contributor to the Volapükagased: Zänagased pro Volapükanef, where he published several of his translations. In 1979, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the creation of Volapük, Brian Bishop wrote to a number of newspapers and radio stations to mention the fact, which led to some attention being given to it. Encouraged by the ensuing interest, he created the Zänabür Volapüka, where he collected many Volapük memorabilia. In 1981, he became vice-Cifal, and two years later he became Cifal.