1955: CYTRICON
1956: CYTRICON II
1957: CYTRICON III
1958: CYTRICON IV

In 1955 CYTRICON, that year's UK national science fiction convention, took place over Easter - as they all would from this point on - in the town of Kettering. It was the first postwar UK con to be held outside a major city. Despite the 1948, 1952, 1953 and 1954 national conventions having been held at Whitsun they would all henceforth be referred to collectively as Eastercons. For those unfamiliar with it, Whitsun was a bank holiday in the UK between 1871 and 1972. Like Easter it used to move around, but it was replaced by the fixed Spring Bank Holiday.

Cytricon derives from Cytrigan, an old name for Kettering. Though it's been claimed this name was Roman - and indeed there was a settlement there in Roman times - it appears to be of more recent vintage. According to wikipedia:

Kettering means "the place (or territory) of Ketter's people (or kinsfolk)". Spelt variously Cytringan, Kyteringas and Keteiringan in the 10th century, although the origin of the name appears to have baffled place-name scholars in the 1930s, words and place-names ending with "-ing" usually derive from the Anglo-Saxon or Old English suffix -inga or -ingas, meaning "the people of the" or "tribe".

Cytrigan would've been pronounced with a hard 'C', hence it mutating into Kettering. This being so, you have to wonder if Cytricon was originally pronounced with a hard 'C' too - Kytricon rather than Sytricon - and whether or not we've been pronouncing it wrongly ever since. Those of us from the Celtic nations are familiar with the hard 'c' (only sports teams pronounce it 'Seltic', for some unknown reason) but most English people - and back then the vast majority of UK fans *were* English - are not. However those who ran the first CYTRICON were presumably raised in Kettering and so should have been familiar with the pronunciation of Cytrigan.

That first CYTRICON was held at The George Hotel, as were all the subsequent ones. Built in 1639 as a coaching inn, The George stands at a corner where several main roads enter the town and is almost certainly the oldest hotel to ever host an SF convention.

The George Hotel in 2008. (rh)

Archie Mercer and John Roles outside the George Hotel in 1958. (tj)

Stan Nuttall and Norman Shorrock outside the George Hotel in 1955. (jr)

The photos below show the convention hall as it was in 1955 and 2008. In the 53 years between the two a false ceiling has been installed but the stage itself looks pretty much the same, the twin pillars remarkably unchanged.

The con hall stage in 1955. (da)

The con hall stage in 2008. (rh)

Other facilities included the American Bar

The American Bar in 1955 (avc)

the Residents' Lounge

The Residents' Lounge in 1963 brochure (courtesy Greg Pickersgill)

and the Devil's Kitchen.

The Devil's Kitchen in 1955. L-to-R: Eric Bentcliffe, unknown, Frank Milnes, Cyril Evans, Norman Weedall, Brian Varley

"DURING ALTERATIONS IN 1925 THIS STONE WAS DISCOVERED IN GABLE END OF THIS WALL BY THE OWNERS H.G. & J. E. WESTGATE"

Fans liked the hotel, the hotel liked fans, and it had the advantage of being in 'neutral' territory being 67 miles from London and about 50 or so from Birmingham. It appeared British fandom had finally found the ideal convention venue. The first CYTRICON was organised by the local Kettering Astronomical Society in the persons of Chairman Bill Panter and Convention Secretary Denny Cowen, and thereafter by others. In 1956 it was the London Circle that put on CYTRICON II, making it the first London con to be held outside the capital!

Also, here's Ron Bennett remembering the CYTRICONs decades later. He gets some dates and details wrong, alas:

Sadly, the hotel closed its doors in 2016. After standing empty for eight years there are now plans as of 2024 to turn it into 36 flats.