John Britten (1950-1995) was a New Zealander mechanical engineer who invented the fastest motorcycle in the world.

Britten-V1000-IMG_5422From a young age, he struggled with dyslexia and school was more difficulty because of that. He often had both a reader for questions and a scribe for answers.

His Britten motorcycles set various speed records in races around the world. He famously built all of his machines himself using his skills in design, metalwork, and engineering. He died at the age of 45 after a battle with skin cancer.

For more on Britten’s life, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Britten http://www.britten.co.nz/history/johnbritten.html

Sarah Forrest is a Reading Specialist for Morgan Learning Solutions, publishers of the Easyread System. Easyread is an online course for struggling readers and poor spellers. Find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com