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With Stars In My Eyes:
My Adventures in British Fandom
The Supplement

by Peter Weston

THE BOOK


The Book

Cover by Harry Bell; cover design by Alice N. S. Lewis. Interior illos by: Jim Barker, Harry Bell, Dick Bergeron, Jim Cawthorn, Vincent Di Fate, Jack Gaughan, Steve Green, Jim Groves, Mike Higgs, Dicky Howett, Eddie Jones, Ivor Latto, Riccardo Leveghi, Brian McCabe, Ken McIntyre, Bob Rickard, Andrew Stephenson, Arthur Thomson (ATom), Pam Yates, and Joseph Zajackowski.

Editor's note: In the USA, Peter's book is available from NESFA Press. In the UK, contact Rog Peyton at Replay Books or Andy Richards at Cold Tonnage Books for signed copies.

Read a review of the book by Victor Gonzalez and join in the discussion on trufen.net.

If you've read the book and enjoyed it, please consider voting it for a 2005 Hugo in the Best Related Book category. Here's a link to the Hugos final ballot on the Interaction website.

THE SUPPLEMENT

DEPT. OF THINGS I WISH I'D KNOWN AT THE TIME

Now The Book has been out for a month or so, various people have kindly contributed suggestions (polite way of saying 'have nit-picked') as to places where I might have got it slightly wrong. And a couple of good stories have already emerged that I would have liked to have included, if I'd only heard about them before. So here goes, with Additions and Corrections as received so far:

GOOD STORIES THAT I MISSED OUT!

1. Chapter 3 'Recruiting Station' - Cliff Teague in Action

Rog Peyton writes, "Not quite true when you say that 'the only person Cliff had ever taken along on one of his scavenging trips was Mike Beard', and I’m amazed that you've forgotten my trips to London with Cliff, my first meeting with fans and our near-arrest...

Shortly after meeting Cliff in the autumn of 1960, we hitch-hiked down to London and did a tour of Les Flood’s bookshop, then Plus Books (where we grabbed every Ace double we could find) and several other market stalls, one of which had several pulp mags we couldn’t afford. Cliff somehow got the stall-holder to keep them for him and he returned to London for the next few Saturdays buying as many as he could afford each week.

On my second trip with Cliff we did the same tour of shops and visited Jim Groves in the afternoon. In the evening we ended up at a London fan party, but I have no recollection of whose flat it was. I do remember meeting George Locke and Pat Kearney, and maybe Jim Linwood and Alan Burns - or was that at Ken Cheslin's Bonfire Party?

The third trip nearly didn’t happen thanks to our watchful police... O ne Saturday morning, Cliff and I made a very early start (5am) and our first lift said he could take us as far as the M1. He dropped us at the end of what was going to be the Birmingham link to the M1, about to be opened very shortly. So you can imagine the scene, high security area, all fenced off with barriers. We didn’t know which way to go, so tried to make our way through the barriers, not seeing, until the last moment, two armed policemen who didn’t like the look of two youngsters walking through a security area, one carrying a heavy-looking hold-all.

“So what are you doing here and what’s in the bag?” one of them asked.

He opened it, and they stared in disbelief at the great wad of comics inside. 'What's all this? Aren't you a bit old for kiddies’ comics?'

'We’re taking them down to London to sell, so we can buy science fiction books,' Cliff informed them.

The officers looked at each other, while Cliff went into one of his enthusiastic explanations. 'Look, this one's a classic!” he exclaimed. “Here, this one's got some of Steve Ditko best artwork. Now this is the first installment of a new serial, and this is the rare Marvel issue in which the hero gets carried off into the jungle and....”

Satisfied that we weren’t saboteurs, they directed us where to get another lift, and wandered off, muttering 'Bloody nutters!' ”
2. Chapter 8 'Brumcon Blues' - More fun with Charles Platt

Terry Pratchett writes, "My famously unreliable memory believes that we were on the fourth floor of the Midland Hotel. Platt was rowing with somebody unknown to us -- we were neos, remember -- and suddenly several guys grabbed him, opened the window and pushed him out. Presumably they'd ascertained that outside was a wide ledge with a dinky little railing, but you never know. The window was shut and the curtains drawn on his screams of 'You bastards', and then the glass was shattered as he tried to break back in. At this point, recalling that the hotel security was a man like a wall in a suit, we surmised that this would be a good time to go and buy a Brian Burgess pork pie. I've checked this with Dave Busby, who was also there as an innocent bystander, and I'd be surprised if Ed James wasn't also. It was mentioned in at least one fanzine afterwards, because I was credited with saying 'I moved so fast you could see where I had been, outlined in vacuum." 3. Chapter 8; Brumcon Blues

Bill Burns writes, "Why were there so many troublemakers at such a small con? Take the case of Pat Picton, for instance.
I'm not sure what started it, but on the Saturday night Pat Picton was making a nuisance of himself and was annoying a lot of people at the con. Now in those days the Delta Group had a remedy for everything, which we carried with us wherever we went. This was before Duct Tape (Gaffer's Tape in the UK) was the cure-all, but Tony Edwards worked for a company which took rolls of Irish linen about 30 inches wide, dyed them in bright colours, applied pressure-sensitive adhesive to one side, and slit them into rolls of various widths. The edges of the roll (about 2" in width) were thrown away, and Tony was able to take them home.

"Delta used this tape to make sets, costumes, and props, including the Frankenstein monster's head I'm wearing in the Brumcon photo below. Since we were filming scenes for 'Breathworld' at Brumcon, naturally Tony had brought a good supply of tape with him. Getting back to Pat Picton, when we just couldn't take it any more, we rolled him in a piano cover, taped it up with Tony-tape, and left him in the Gents. I never saw him again after that!"To which I can add a postscript; Pat was a long-haired fan from Malvern who hung around with Graham Hall and Dick Richardson, and I can't say I cared for him very much, although unfortunately I didn't see that particular incident. However, somebody must have released him because he was in Lang Jones' room the following night with Mary Reed & Co, playing various musical instruments. He surfaced again at the following year's Yarcon, when he absconded from the hotel on the Monday morning without paying his bill. Chairman Dave Barber was not happy about this and despatched Phil Rogers and other strong men to likely hiding places in search of the miscreant. Pat Picton was found skulking around the railway station and was dragged back to the hotel, where I remember sitting quietly in a corner in the lounge and listening in awe to Dave's Righteous Anger, as he demanded an apology to the landlord and a solemn promise to make good on the debt. I don't know if it frightened Pat Picton, but it certainly impressed me! Whether or not he ever paid up is conjectural (I doubt it), but this incident, among others, depressed Dave and it was one of the factors that caused him to gafiate soon afterwards. 4. Chapters 18 & 20, 'It all seems so long ago'

Simon Green writes, "It was great fun to relive the '79 Seacon; my very first Worldcon. I was staying in one of the overflow hotels. My roon was a fire exit. On the outside of my door was a big sign saying FIRE EXIT, and a hammer attached to the door by a length of steel chain. The idea being, that in the case of a fire, you ran to my door, smashed the lock in with the hammer, and ran across my room to the fire exit... The things we go through, for a Worldcon... I also remember Fritz Leiber saying he'd been watching the tide coming in and out, and that at his age, that was exciting.....

"And a very belated apology. I was one of those amateur writers who sent appalling stories to you, trying to get into the 'Andromeda' book. And pestered you when I didn't hear soon enough. All I can say was that I was very young. (I do recall getting a very understanding letter from you, explaining the facts of life in publishing. Other editors weren't nearly as friendly, helping make me into the hard-hearted professional I am today.) Having just sent my thirtieth book off to my agent, it all seems so very long ago... and I can't say I miss the rejections one bit."

THAT INDEX!

This was compiled after a great deal of work by my editor at NESFA Press, Tony Lewis. It's something I should have done myself, because unfortunately a few subtleties slipped through, as you'll notice below.

1. How many 'John Berrys?' Only two, actually. The references on Page 198 & 203 both refer to the American John D. Berry. I should have made that clear.

2. How many 'Malcolm Edwards?' Two, actually. The real Malcolm commented dryly at Noreascon that many of the Index credits were not actually to him but to the pseudonym of the same name. So, for clarity, the REAL Malcolm is referred to from pages 190 onwards.

3. How many 'Dave Woods?' Two actually, though neither are listed. I could usefully have mentioned Dave Wood the Younger on Page 49, because he was ringleader of a small group of Nottingham schoolboys who produced a fanzine called 'Icarus' that appeared briefly at the time of 'Tensor' and 'Chaos', and with whom Charles Platt and I corresponded. He finked-out of attending RePetercon at the last minute and was never heard from again. Meanwhile Dave Wood the Elder is actually mentioned on Page 29, with his website on the BRE Astounding, but is unaccountably absent from the Index. Sorry, Dave!

4. And of course, only one 'Mal Ashworth', appearing briefly in the Epilogue on Page 283, but not in the Index.

MISTAKEN NAMES

Apologies to Jim Young, mentioned on Page 198, and who tells me that what I describe is a serious criminal offence, but (to his great relief), it couldn't have been him anyway since he was still at college in 1971. And Andy Porter, who set up the whole nefarious deal, claims to have no memory of the real perpetrator. Probably just as well!

Apologies also to Mike Resnick, who I described on Page 233 as the prospective chairman of the 'Chicago in 1979' bid-that-never-was, only to be disabused of this notion in Boston. On reflection I think I might have meant Larry Propp. Anyone know for sure?

Finally, Rog Peyton is curious about the identity of the mysterious 'Phil Otterill' on Page 213 (and in the Index). "Any relation to my old pal Phil COTTERILL?" he enquires.

TOTAL BLUNDERSTed White writes to correct an important detail on Page 131, correcting a misapprehension I've had for many years, right up to Noreascon, when I congratulated Steve Stiles once again on those superb covers he did for the later Voids:-

"Bhob Stewart was indeed a regular contributor to VOID -- as an artist. As, in fact, the creator of those "multi-page covers" which you have for some reason attributed to Steve Stiles. Bhob created the concept, he created Que Wertyuiop (who hosted the covers), and he drew all of them except the final one, which he was unable to finish."That one was for VOID 28, the *five*-page cover about The Void Boys at Towner Hall. Bhob wrote it completely, sketched out all five pages, pencilled the first three, and inked the first page and part of the second. Steve Stiles pencilled the remainder, and I did all the remaining inking.
I also did the 'production' -- which I presented at a Worldcon artshow -- which involved negative photostats which received additional zip-a-tone overlays and inking (having a 'white-out' effect), positive stats which were further overlaid, electrostencilling and the final mimeod version.
(All previous multi-page covers were directly stencilled by Bhob and me, working together.)"One significant difference between the original multi-page covers on VOID and Ross Chamberlain's later multi-page covers for QUIP -- aside from the difference in artists and approach -- was that VOID's were always of an odd number, three or five. QUIP's were always an even number, four. VOID's used the first two pages as a sort of 'pre-cover' which introduced the actual cover on the 3rd or 5th page.

"As often as not, that 3rd-page cover was by someone else. At least once it was an ATom illo (which Sylvia had stencilled for her aborted FANZINE and given to me). The cover which welcomed Terry Carr to New York, and introduced him as VOID's fourth coeditor, ended on a J. Wesley Trufan cover, conceived by Terry, based on a drawing George Willick had commissioned for a fan-award statuette which I redrew as a perverted Statue of Liberty, with Bhob drawing J. Wesley Trufan over a Terry Carr pencilling. Very collaborative, a product of Towner Hall. QUIP's covers were just comic-strips."

Dave Wood (The Elder) hastens to point out that I was wrong in saying (on Page 307) that Walt Willis never attended another British convention, since he attended Conspiracy, the British worldcon in 1987. Dave Langford also reminded me that Walt and Madeleine were at the 1985 Leeds Eastercon, where they met TAFF delegates Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden -- who later visited the Willises in Ireland, and made it clear in their TAFF report segment in Hyphen 37 that they talked to Walt at that Eastercon. To which Greg Pickersgill adds sentiments similar to my own, "Good grief, I don't remember that! Was I there?"

Meanwhile, Edward James notes that "only in a totally alternate universe is the Randolph Hotel in Oxford opposite the Bodleian Library. You go out of the hotel, turn right, turn left at the lights, and carry on for maybe 250 yards, and THEN you are at the Bodleian. I think you probably meant that the Randolph was opposite the Ashmolean Museum...!" Brian Aldiss spotted the same mistake on the same day - that will teach me to try and give some local colour, when I don't really know my way around Oxford very well!

THINGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE

Greg Pickersgill and I have a minor disagreement concerning his reaction after I sold him my set of the American issues of 'Galaxy' magazine in 1968 (Page 172). Greg thinks it unlikely he would have complained at my price of £15.0.0d, while I can only comment that I have a faint but clear memory of Mr P giving me a dirty look at the convention immediately following, with a mutter to the effect that 'he'd been robbed.' Greg did tell me this wasn't so, back last Xmas, but I deliberately left in the reference because, well, that's the way I remember it as having happened. This may well be False Memory Syndrome, (who can tell at this late date?) but anyway, it made a better story that way! Certainly Greg was right that I bought back some of those issues, and jolly glad to get them, too.MOST ASKED QUESTIONSDarroll Pardoe asked, (and was echoed by Rob Jackson): 'Tynecon (74) is conspicuous by its almost complete absence from the book. It was such a good convention that this seems odd, and I wonder what the reason for this might be?'

The answer is that up to the end of 1971 (chapter 15) my account is deliberately linear, blow-by-blow, month by month. The five remaining chapters are instead about individual SUBJECTS, arranged in rough chronological order but with some tracking backwards and forwards along the timeline. So there's a chapter about the end of Speculation, then one about TAFF, and so on. I did this consciously, because it seemed to work better that way, and this structure didn't really allow me to write about the remaining cons of the 1970s, except in passing.There was a natural break in the continuity, too; in 1973 Eileen and I brought our baby (Alison) to the Bristol OMPAcon, when she was almost exactly a year old. She was taken ill on the first day, was awake the whole night, and we had to go home early the next morning. So I missed most of the con (another reason, if one were needed, for the end of Speculation soon afterward).At one stage I did contemplate writing a sort of catch-all chapter on the mid-seventies eastercons, contrasting the high point of Tynecon with the all-time low of Owens Park, and mentioning the two DeVere events along with Skycon and Leeds in 1979. But there already were EIGHT eastercon reports in 'Stars', (eight-and-a-half, if you count my partial coverage of Chessmancon) and I started to feel this was probably enough. Also, by then I was a month late and 50,000 words over-long, so in the end I left it at 20 chapters - a nice round number, I thought.

OTHER QUIBBLES

1. Rog Peyton comments on Ken Bulmer's entry in 'Where Are They Now?', and says, "The Dray Prescot series ran to 38 books in the USA and continued up to about #65 (I think) in France or Germany or someplace that doesn't read real books...." Well, I did say there were 'at least fifteen titles published.'

2. Darroll Pardoe writes with a lot of extra detail on all sorts of events, but adds, "The most interesting thing, from my own personal point of view, is how I seemed to disappear from your radar in the 1970s. The last mention of me in the book is at the 1971 convention, and though you say (p. 295) that I 'to some extent dropped out of active fandom' it ain't so. You and I met numerous times during the 70s, I published quite a lot of fanzines and went to a lot of conventions, and even had a few trips back to the States.

"However, around this time fantasy (as distinct from sf) fandom started to take off and Rosemary and I became heavily involved with it. We were the first editors of the Tolkien Society's magazine; Rosemary started the British Fantasy Society; and we became regular attendees at the Fantasycons right from the start. This was all stuff that I suspect was passing you by at the time.

"But I was still active in the more traditional strands of fandom - I was Treasurer of OMPA for some years. So I am still a bit puzzled. (Especially as Rosemary and I became regular attendees at the BSFG meetings for several years at the back end of the 70s)."

In reply, Darroll, I can only agree - you were 'off my radar'. This was the time when British fandom started to fragment, so people could be active in different sections and never come into contact. I remember you at some of those BSFG meetings, although you only came occasionally and didn't take a committee role. But Darroll, you're certainly a survivor, and I'm glad you were there for our meeting with the speaker from the Aetherius Society!3. Chapter 10 - Back on Track - NOW the full story comes out!On Page 127 I describe the visit Rog and I made to Archie Mercer, back in September 1967. For months last year Rog and I struggled to recall exactly WHY we'd gone down to Bristol; I thought maybe we'd gone to print Vector, but Rog pointed out he'd long since ceased to edit it by then. So in the end I flimped, and said it was 'primarily a social call'. Not so! For the all-knowing Sandra Bond recently unearthed a 3-part article of mine in Mike Meara's fanzine 'Lurk', and with the help of Greg, Sandra, and Rob Hansen I've managed to get hold of all three installments. It appears to be the transcript of a talk I gave at the very first Novacon, and deals with the economics of publishing Speculation. Some snippets could usefully have gone into the book, if I'd known about this last year, such as the fact that I was apparently producing 400 copies back in 1971, and they cost me nearly £50.00 per issue. Those were the days!But it explains why we went to see Archie; simple really, we were going to duplicate my fanzine. Of COURSE we were! Here's the full story:-"Archie Mercer was going to print Zenith 10 on his machine. I'd agreed to take some ink along, and being less familiar with the technicalities than I am now, we took along an assortment of mismatched tubes of Emgee ink, none of which would fit onto a Gestetner machine (apparently you need to ask for the special 'Gestetner Express Inking' tubes). As the local suppliers had closed for the day, we ended up opening the bottoms of old Gestetner tubes, filling them with Emgee ink, and then trying to bash them shut again. It was a very messy, soul-searing experience, which I don't recommend to anyone!"That accounts for the remarkable greyness of that particular issue, a fact noted by Charles Platt. Archie must have run-off the pages at full automatic, while we frantically squirted ink into the rollers by hand. How COULD we have forgotten all that, Rog!4. Chapter 20: Worldcons - The Confrontation!Darroll Pardoe writes "Ro and I were there on the spot to witness your famous Friday-night confrontation with the Metropole security at Seacon '79. We were hanging out with a group of people down by the reception area, some time in the early hours, just standing around and talking, when the hotel security detail began to make their presence felt. They insisted that people couldn't sit on the floor or (horrors) have bare feet - I don't think they had seen anything quite like an SF convention before! Somebody went to rouse you from your bed, and the atmosphere was quite tense by the time you appeared on the scene. Quite a sustained shouting-match ensued, but I remember you definitely had the best of the argument. No doubt you were fired-up with rage and adrenaline inside, but to me you seemed very together and in control of the situation - afterwards there was a spontaneous burst of applause! You certainly achieved something, because the security hassles for the rest of the convention were as nothing, compared to that night!"To which I can only add, "gosh, wow, Darroll, that's not the way it felt to me! I was totally consumed by rage and thought I would probably have looked more like some sort of raving madman. Any other witnesses out there?"Arnold Akien adds his comments on these events: "Now, then - I suddenly remembered that I had been present at this August Occasion and that ... I had a photograph of the event in the corridor ! .... in an old album, in a  cardboard box ... somewhere .... and after much searching here it is.

"The camera that I used at YOUR Worldcon was a Tiny  Technical Toy of a thing intended for another purpose, stuck in my pocket at the last moment, and not really up to the conditions that it was exposed to so don't expect too much as compared to modern digital cameras.The Pics are rather low resolution and a bit blurred ...but then so are the accounts of your confrontation with hotel Management - I was there too ! -  which I recall as being, on your part, controlled, determined to take no nonsense, adamant and backed by a contract that you were prepared to enforce in Law if need be but were sure that no such thing would be necessary since the Hotel was Bound to see reason .... and there would be no reason for you to disturb people higher-up the hotel's hierarchy... and so on, and so forth.

"Ah, well, it was long ago, as was Seacon ' 79. I've scanned all of my pics of Your Worldcon - The Con Everyone Has Pleasant Memories Of  -  Seacon ' 79 into my computer, and have created a website which everyone can view."5. Tony Keen notes, "On page 183, Brian Aldiss regrets that a Martian War Machine was never built. Well, there isn't one on Primrose Hill, but there is one, albeit not full-scale, in Woking, where, of course, Wells wrote the novel. (Simon Bradshaw has more on his website: www.cix.co.uk/~sjbradshaw/martian/.) So George Hay's vision has been partly fulfilled." 6. Bruce Gillespie reminded me that I didn't finish the story of my Australian rivals in 'Move Over, Mate' (Page 154 onwards). Bruce said:-"Something slightly jarred in your coverage of ASFR, for you remember George Turner as being already one of the ASFR critics when you first saw a copy (#7). He wasn't. He came in halfway through, which is why he had such an impact on Australian fandom. We all believed John Foyster was the meanest varmint critic alive, then suddenly George Turner appeared out of the mesquite, all guns blazing, in ASFR 10. But from the current perspective, yes, George would have seemed to have been a major critic in Australian fanzines from the beginning. After all, he became the most visible Australian critic as soon as he appeared, and stayed that way for at least 20 years."My only disappointment *sigh* was the complete lack of mention of SF Commentary, and its role of continuing the ASFR tradition after ASFR went kerphutt at the end of 1968. (But then, you seem to be one of the few international fans who remembers Leigh and Valma). The first issue of SFC was officially dated January 1969, although it didn't get posted until early March of that year. The official schedule and the real schedule began to match after I gained my own duplicator in the middle of 69 -- (as you describe about your own circumstances) with some financial difficulty."SF Commentary #1 was without doubt the worst-produced ambitious fanzine ever to be posted to anyone. Basically, I had no access to cover art, and I typed 66 stencils on a little Olivetti portable that only half-cut the stencils. So it looked bloody awful, but got letters of comment from a vast number of people, including Philip K Dick. The next few issues were typed on my father's grand old Underwood -- great fun to type the stencils, but one didn't get much on a page, because it was a 10 pitch typewriter. Ron Graham donated enough money for me to buy the little portable on which I typed every issue until No. 19 (end of 1970). I had my first real money at the beginning of 1970, so I bought from John Foyster what had been the ASFR typewriter. It was a portable, but typed a beautiful stencil. I still have it."The important thing was the influence that Speculation had on SF Commentary. As my early issues showed, I had no idea of layout or artwork when I started, despite the example set by John Bangsund. Your covers gave me some idea of what I should be trying to do, but I could rarely find artists who were willing to send me material. And, like ASFR, Speculation mainly influenced SFC by showing how tightly a sercon-based fanzine could be edited."

Bruce is right, I really should have mentioned SFC in the book. I remember that first issue of his, precisely because it was such a mess, but I could see the seeds of greatness there and gave a small groan at the realisation that those damn Australians hadn't gone away after all! However, I never regarded Bruce as being the same sort of implacable rival I sensed John Bangsund to be; for one thing, I was much further along with Speculation by this time, was attracting a whole raft of new writers of my own, and didn't feel so disadvantaged. And Bruce obviously wanted to be friends, he wrote me letters (something Bangsund never did) and wanted to trade, a much more normal response. My only other memory of the early years of SF Commentary is a mild sense of guilt that I didn't reciprocate fully by responding much to Bruce's fanzine; but then, by that time I was pretty fully committed elsewhere and wasn't writing LoCs to anyone!


Keep picking, fans. I'm sure there are more errors to be found yet!

Editor's note: Please send corrections, additions, offers of photographs, etc. directly to Peter at pr.weston@btinternet.com

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

All the pictures that didn't fit in the book

Click on each picture for a larger image
(photographer or picture source credits in parentheses)

1963

The backdrop at Bullcon, first Peterborough Eastercon
(Bruce Burn)

Peter Mabey, Ella Parker, Ted Tubb
(Bruce Burn)

Mike Moorcock at work
(Bruce Burn)

Phil Rogers, Langdon Jones, Archie Mercer
(Bruce Burn)

Ethel Lindsay, Ted Tubb, Ina Shorrock, background, Keith & Wendy
Freeman
(Bruce Burn)

Tony & Simone Walsh
(Simone Walsh)

Brian Burgess
(Jim Linwood)

1964

The Repetercon backdrop.
Dick Howett eating crisps at left
(Peter Mabey)

Jim & Marion Linwood, at their wedding, two days before Repetercon
(Jim Linwood)

Irish fandom visits Peterborough - Walt Willis, (Ethel), James
White, Ian MacAuley
(Ethel Lindsay)

Chris Priest in foreground, Charles Platt, Ed James, Terry Pratchett at Repetercon
(from Dave Barber's 8mm film)

Ron Bennett playing brag, Repetercon
(Dave Barber)

Jim Groves, Michael Rosenblum, Ken Cheslin, Repetercon
(Dave Barber)

Arthur Thomson & Ella Parker at
Ella Parker Party, 18th December 1964
(Dick Howett)

Ella Parker & Charles Platt,
Ella Parker Party
(Dick Howett)

Rog Peyton with Mike 'The Beard' Turner in background (Party at Rog Peyton's parents' house 19th December 1964)
(Dick Howett)

Beryl Henley's first fan-gathering, Peyton Party
(Dick Howett)

"'Didn't Doreen (Rogers, née Parker)
have fun!" Peyton Party.
(Dick Howett)

Graham Hall (in hat) at Peyton Party, with Dick Richardson, stealer of stencils!
(Dick Howett)

Charlie Winstone & Ken Cheslin playing chess. Peyton Party
(Dick Howett)

1965

Brumcon backdrop - Cliff Teague in centre,
with young Bill Burns (glasses) right of center,
Rog Peyton at far right
(Darroll Pardoe)

The Mancunian Candidates at Brumcon - Bill Burns, Peter Day, Charles Partington
(Jim Groves)

Charlie Winstone's house (modern view - much improved since the dark days!)
(PW)

Eddie Jones, at the Artshow, Loncon 65 (PW bought the painting at
top centre, half-cut-off)
(Norman Shorrock)

Harry Bell, Richard Gordon, Mary Reed, Xmas 1965
(Harry Bell)

1966

Harry Nadler & Peter Day,
Delta Group Halloween Party
(Tony Edwards)

Ethel Lindsay as 'Queen of Zamba', Yarcon
(Ethel Lindsay)

Tom Boardman, Ken & Pamela Bulmer, Yarcon
(Tony Edwards)

1967

St Fantony ceremony, Bristol 1967
(Harry Bell)

1968

Darroll Pardoe in Ohio
(Norman E. Masters)

Chris Priest, John Brunner, Ken Bulmer, on their pro-panel at Thirdmancon, Buxton
(Chris Priest picture - he thinks this was actually Bristol in 1967, though so far as I know the Bristol con didn't have a backdrop since the main hall was used by mundanes on the Saturday night).

1970

Scicon line-up, Bill Burns (C), George Hay (C),
Mike Rosenblum, Beryl Mercer, Bram Stokes (C), Bram's GF ???
(C)=committee
(Bill Burns)

Tony Walsh as 'The Real 1984' at Sci-con-70 ("I have seen the
future and it is rubbish!" (Norman Shorrock)

John Brunner & girl-friend, Scicon 70 (Robert Hepworth)

Leroy Kettle at Scicon (Norman Shorrock)

1971

Worcester: PW at opening, with Ethel Lindsay (Fan GoH), Phil Rogers, Anne McCaffrey, Vernon Brown
(Robert Hepworth)

Worcester: Dr Death meets Nomad (Gerry Webb in wedding outfit & PW as compere at Fancy Dress
(PW)

Worcester: Eileen Weston (as Olivia Presteign, winner of "Best Lady's Costume" at Fancy Dress) meets Anne Keylock
(PW)

Vernon & Pauline
(Robert Hepworth)

How 'the fly' drinks beer;
Carol Bradbury on left
(Greg Pickersgill)

Jack Cohen introduces Mesklinite at Fancy Dress (on stage are PW & Eileen, Rog Peyton, Anne McCaffrey's daughter Gigi (tall hat) and assorted Alans from the Aston Group)
(PW)

Boat trip leaves dock - Eileen Weston, Malcolm Edwards, Jack Cohen,
Norman Shorrock
(PW)

Midstream, Eileen, Gigi,
Pauline, Bob Rickard
(PW)

Midstream, Eileen Weston & Gerry Webb
(PW)

1972

Novacon: John Brosnan, Greg Pickersgill, Leroy Kettle
(PW)

1973

Ompacon, Bristol: Peter Roberts in colourful outfit, Greg Pickersgill, Merv Barrett (standing),
John Brosnan.
(Greg Pickersgill)

Ompacon: Rog Peyton,
Ken Bulmer, Ray Bradbury
(Greg Pickersgill)

Ompacon: Greg Pickersgill, Peter Roberts,
Darroll & Rosemary Pardoe
(Greg Pickersgill)

1974

Peter Weston's TAFF trip: At Discon banquet with Ron Bounds - "the closest I'll ever get to a Hugo"
(PW)

TAFF trip: PW, Valma Brown, Leigh Edmonds, on steps of the Lincoln Memorial
(PW)

TAFF trip: Waiting for the rocket launch, Patrick Air-Force Base
(PW)

1975

Seacon 75 at the DeVere, Coventry, PW still wearing TAFF outfit, Rog Peyton looking cheerful!
(PW)

1976

Suncon panel - Ted White, Terry Carr, Lee Hoffman - note the baroque decorations in background!
(Peter Roberts)

Suncon - Linda Krawecke
& R.A. Lafferty
(Rob Jackson)

Suncon - Mike Lampe,
Linda Krawecke, PW
(Rob Jackson)

1979

Brighton Belles at opening ceremony
(PW)

Seacon committee - Rob Jackson, John Steward, Roy Kettle, Sue Williams,
Coral Jackson (née Clarke).
The uncommitteed fan on the left is Phil Foglio.
(Kevin Williams)

Kev Williams, Harry Bell, Sue Williams,
Kev Smith, in bar
(Kevin Williams)

Jim Barker
(from BBC video tape)

Banquet - with Arthur C Clarke,
Eileen Weston, Tim Stannard
(PW)

Christopher Reeve giving thanks
for Superman Hugo
(Kevin Williams)

Kate Solomon
(from BBC video tape)

Kate Solomon - full costume
(Debbie King)

Cathy Sanders entertains at Gopher party
(Kevin Williams)

Peter Roberts and Caz Skelton
(from BBC video tape)

The infamous corridor party
(Arnold Akien)

1982

BSFG Float, 1982, with
Alison, Lucy & Susan
(PW)

2003

Seacon: Gerry Webb
& Eileen Weston
(PW)

Seacon 2003: Alison Weston (grown up!) with Bill Burns
(PW)

Ancient Brummies - PW, Rog Peyton, Mike Higgs
(PW)

Greg & Catherine Pickersgill, Christmas 2003
(PW)

Geoff Winterman, PW, David Redd, visiting
the Pickersgills, Christmas 2003
(PW)

Cliff Teague & Rog Peyton
(PW)

Last revised: 19 April, 2007

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