The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government in July 1963 to review signage on all British roads. This was in response to two articles published in 1961 by graphic designer Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer (graphic designer)

Herbert Spencer was a British designer, editor, writer, photographer and teacher, born in London on June 22, 1924, and died March 11, 2002 ....

, illustrating the shortcomings of non-motorway British road signs.

The committee was chaired by Sir Walter Worboys

Walter Worboys

Sir Walter John Worboys Kt , was an Australian-born British businessman.He was born in Perth, WA on 22 February 1900 and educated at Scotch College and the University of Western Australia. A Rhodes Scholar, he gained his D.Phil. after a further period of study at Lincoln College, Oxford...

 of ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

. T. G. Usborne, of the Ministry of Transport

Department for Transport

In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

 had charge of proceedings, and Jock Kinneir

Jock Kinneir

Richard 'Jock' Kinneir was a typographer and graphic designer who, with colleague Margaret Calvert, designed many of the road signs used throughout the United Kingdom. Their system has become a model for modern road signage....

 and his assistant (and later business partner) Margaret Calvert

Margaret Calvert

Margaret Calvert is a typographer and graphic designer who, with colleague Jock Kinneir, designed many of the road signs used throughout Great Britain, as well as the Transport font used on road signs and the Rail Alphabet font used on the British railway system and an early version of the signs...

 were commissioned as designers.

The result was a document that defined traffic signing in Britain: Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD). It was first introduced on 1 January 1965 but has been updated many times since. It is comparable with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration of the United States Department of Transportation to specify the standards by which traffic signs, road surface markings, and signals are designed, installed, and used...

in the United States.