Saturday 5th AprilETHEL LINDSAY:There was a panel on International Fandom chaired by Jean Muggoch, with panellists Dave Kyle, Italian fan Mario Bosnyak - who is now living in Germany - and myself. Subject: Worldcons. Audience very interested in Dave's history of the Worldcon. He explained that each year a new set of people take over and that there is no continuity. Lots of folks hadn't understood this bit. He also explained about the business meetings. Naturally all in favour of more communication between fandoms...Jean Muggoch finished with an eloquent plea to European fans to try to put out more zines in English.
[Next] Professor Clarke gave a talk, 'The Literature of Science and Society'.
In the afternoon Dr. Evans spoke about dreaming. The theory of which he spoke related the human need to dream to the need for 'clearing' a computer before putting in a new programme.
MARY REED: An account of how we went to Oxford via Stevenage, Berkhampstead, Stevenage, Berkhampstead, Banbury, Oxford, Banbury, and backwards .... taking nearly 20 hours to get from Stevenage to Banbury, continued.... We got a new inner tyre next day at Stevenage, got a lift out to Berkhampstead, and changed it, and carried on without incident to Banbury. It turned out later that Brian Hampton's machine broke down in the same area - Hertsfen would do well to avoid the area! When we arrived at Banbury, we were told we had just missed Keith and Jill plus two unknown fen (who turned out to be Anne Gill, Brian Hampton and a bearded Illya McGuinness) who had called to ask the way to Julia's. Keith was dyed purple, for the Fancy Dress, but luckily Mum had met him before, so wasn't likely to pass out on opening the door to such a vision! She gave them detailed directions on how to get to Julia's, and they left just before we rolled up. (Keith said they had followed Mum's directions, and found themselves variously in the vicarage, the registry office and a couple of other people's houses ... Mum: "But I didn't know where Julia's was.")
ETHEL LINDSAY: Later that day there was a chance for the two TAFF candidates, Eddie Jones and Bob Shaw, to be seen on a TAFF panel. This was chaired by Tom Schlück and also had Ken Bulmer and Ethel Lindsay speaking for their respective candidates.
BERYL MERCER: 'Aunt Sally' - this was whore I took the chair, and invited the audience to fire questions at my panel of authors - Ted Carnell, James White, Don Wollheim, Bob Shaw, and TV script-writer Kit Pedler. Bob Shaw got asked about 'slow glass' (he asserts it is now being investigated in - I think - the States); and Ted was asked about his methods of selection for 'New Writings"; Don about anthologies, and Kit Pedler about the scientific research necessary for writing a script like "Doctor Who and the Cybermen.
Although I hadn't planted any pre-arranged questions in the audience, it went quite well - possibly because just as things were beginning to slow down Ted Tubb gestured at me frantically from the back of the hall. It turned out that Brian Aldiss, freshly back from the big SF symposium in Rio, had arrived to talk about his South American experiences and couldn't stay long. (In fact I greeted him briefly as he was on his way towards the platform: and I was on mine from it, "Hello Beryl, dear" - "hello Brian, lovely to see you" - "And you - drink later ?" "Yes, of course, love to" and I never saw him again!) ROY KETTLE: Brian Aldiss gave a superb talk about the sf writer's conference in Rio de Janeiro - much more interesting than his story readings at later cons. John Brunner also spoke on the same subject but ((he was not the great speaker I'd been led to believe. He was glib but uninteresting - embarrassing at times.))
((Aldiss' descriptions were brilliant. Particularly good also was the list of quotes he read out e.g: Heinlein - "I died five years ago"; Unknown - "If God had meant us to fly he'd have given us tickets"; Sheckley (to an old woman who comes up and thrusts her stump of arm in his face) - "On you, dear, it looks good"; Unknown - "Doesn't Mrs Heinlein look a bit like George III.")) Interestingly, neither are mentioned in the news item about this below, which appeared the previous month.
Alas, next issue - the final one - did not cover the Rio festival, though it did carry the sad news of the death of John Wyndham on March 11th, four months before Man would set foot on the moon.
WALTER GILLINGS: Ron E. Graham, 60 year-old Australian fan, and up-and-coming editor Phil Harbottle outlined their plans for 'Vision of Tomorrow', which would offer British writers a market for stories relying solely on entertainment value. ROY KETTLE: Phil Harbottle - who I was still unsuccessfully trying to come across when I was feeling in the right mood - gave a talk about Vision of Tomorrow ((about which Brunner was very rude.)) I don't recall how he was rude. Phil Harbottle judged the mood and tastes of his audience completely incorrectly when he began with a bitter attack on 'New Worlds' and then, eventually, when audience reaction was obvious, became quite chummy towards the magazine. He wasn't his own best advertisement.
ETHEL LINDSAY: That evening there was a Cosmic Carnival. There was an exceedingly good turnout of costumes although they were mostly medieval.
Guest of Honour Judith Merrill presided whilst a tournament was held.
All this mock pageantry was the ultimate expression of the trend that had
started with the Knights of St. Fantony, who despite not holding a ceremony
this year were out in force in St. Fantony livery. Which may explain why
Judith Merrill was carried into the main hall on the shoulders of an honour
guard. Unfortunately, what they carried her in on was a large butcher's tray
and - according to what Ted Tubb told this writer - someone in the audience
gave voice to the image that had occurred to more than a few others when he
yelled out:
"Where's the apple that should be in her mouth then, eh?"
Merrill was apparently not at all amused.
ROY KETTLE: In the evening there was The Cosmic Carnival. (I've always suspected Gerry Webb of having a hand in these titles.) This was the fancy dress. ((A bored and sleazy-looking Judith Merril was carried in by 82 Charles Atlases)). She was the GoH but, apart from the above and allowing Graham Hall to sit on her lap, she made little impression on me, but no doubt a great one on Graham Hall. Her entry was followed by the ridiculous Knights of St Fantony holding a 'tourney' which involved them dressing up and hitting each other with sticks until someone got hurt sufficiently badly to put an end to things.
PETER WESTON: Somehow, the carnival turned into a St Fantony ceremony, and the mock-pageantry led into a tournament of medieval-style jousting, with the "Knights" entering the square and kneeling to their "Ladies" before fighting for their favours. They wore helmets and full armour, with wooden swords and shields (apart from Derek "Bram" Stokes, who leapt around with long blonde hair and very white body, in loincloth and medallion and very little else). The "Black Knight" was particularly lethal, cutting down his opponents with a mighty clatter of sword on shield, and the majestic figure of Brian Burgess was equally impressive in "Ned Kelly" helmet and olive-green armour studded with rivets.
BERYL MERCER: Diane Rosenblum's boyfriend, Peter Barrow, got injured in the lists. A chance blow from Alan Day's wooden sword knocked Peter's helmet back and grooved deeply along his scalp. Peter was knocked out and later had several stitches inserted in the wound in an Oxford hospital. As some compensation for this, he and Alan were awarded the two bags of 'gold' (mint threepenny pieces). Fortunately it wasn't too serious; Peter turned up cheerfully for breakfast the following morning, sporting his head-bandage and having, washed, dressed and shaved without assistance. ETHEL LINDSAY: As Ken Bulmer said, "I told the hotel manager there might be blood on the carpet, but I only meant to be joking!" Once again the committee provided punch for a party.
ROY KETTLE: Before all this Greg, Alan and myself had experienced some difficulty in getting into the fancy dress party in the first place. The committee had decided that to make a success of the Cosmic Carnival only convention members wearing costumes would be allowed in. This was reasonable if, when the time came, everyone was allowed in and the order had only been a ploy to get more costumed people. However, Ted Tubb took it all very much to heart and felt that even though we were fully paid up members of the convention we couldn't get into this particular item merely because we weren't quite so unconcernedly extrovert as others and we were not prepared to wear costumes. Greg and I cowered away from this huge, berserk figure, dressed and acting not unlike some fantastic Barbarian brandishing a wooden sword the size of a Howitzer and shouting: "You can't come in!" Minutes later we returned, having exchanged name badges, each going as the other. We were under the impression that Ted Tubb couldn't be entirely serious in his attitude. He was. Undeterred (well, quite deterred really, but stupid) we returned again having turned over our badges and written on the backs Dean R. Koontz and Piers Anthony (for the observant among you, the origin of FOULER's Anthony Dean). We were ejected once more and decided against swopping the Koontz and Anthony badges in a final desperate attempt. Alan found the manager and borrowed the garb of a hotel porter. He got in. I was offered the costume of a maid and refused. Greg went off to sulk. At great expense I bought a piece of cardboard head-gear from someone and managed to get in. Eventually Greg slipped past the guards as well, not having compromised himself.
BERYL MERCER: Costume was mandatory, and members of the Concom stood at the door of the hall to sell paper hats, comic masks, and lengths of crepe paper and aluminium foil to those who had not brought costumes. Archie and I went in our St. Fantony uniforms; this was allowed, since we were required to act as part of the escort into the hall of the Queen of the Tourney, otherwise known as guest of honour Judy Merril. For me this was the first time of wearing; Wendy Freeman had made my cloak and tunic, and I felt, downright dashing in my outfit, complete with jewelled dagger on my hip. ROY KETTLE: Howard Rosenblum, later to arouse my everlasting ire by refusing to give me a copy of SON OF NEW FUTURIAN when I was broke, was sweating in a frogman's suit. Keith Bridges had painted himself purple (in a bath) and walked around topless looking like a huge grape. He had already terrorized half of Oxford by unconcernedly walking round the town in his indelible colouring. Some unknown German came in cellophane and flesh-pink tights and a disguising mask. Brian Hampton, always one to wear something bizarre, had an eight foot folding sword. I forget who won what because John Hall arrived and decided to sponsor a room party.
GREG PICKERSGILL (27 Sept 2024): That convention I met both Leroy Kettle and John Hall for the first time. Kettle I thought at first was Leroy Tanner, book reviewer for AMAZING, and I was slightly in awe of him as he was a *student*, and John Hall's expected arrival was somehow anticipated as if the advent of minor royalty. Hall we knew through letters and the plans for the absurdly over-ambitious ZINE. When he eventually showed up he wanted a room party, so we organised a room party, in which he lay on the bed all the time, not really talking to anyone, and turning away to face the wall. They were very small rooms. Then he wanted food, so Leroy Kettle and I went down the road to a mobile hotdog stall and bought as many as we could get for the two pounds he gave us, I'm amazed the smell of onions didn't get us stopped on the way back in. People ate them, any rubbish was acceptable food at cons in those days; I remember at Buxton eating still semi-frozen cooked prawns from a nearby fishmonger for a late breakfast. I cannot describe now - even to myself - how utterly unsocialised I really was. Another room party:
ROY KETTLE: [Hall] had been wandering around the hotel earlier leaving copies of ZINE, his fanzine with an editorial board of Greg, Jack Marsh and Bryn, which he had expected anyone interested to pick up. I had followed closely behind him collecting them all and presented him with fifty copies at the end of his trek round the hotel. I hadn't even known him then (except through WADEZINE). The WADEZINEs I had brought with me I had been unable to even try and sell and had left them in a pile on a table somewhere. Thus the idea of an introduction into fandom via the impact of Audrey's fanzine had died. But back to John's party. He knew Greg and gave him a five pound note (a lot of money then I'll have you know). "Buy drink," he said. "Whatever you want, but make sure you get me some coke." Greg and I rushed out and sneaked back in bearing one small bottle of coke for John and much gin and rum for us. It was a good party - even if we did have to spend a lot of time listening to John Hall expounding on the virtues of Christopher Anvil ... his natural charisma was extended by his surplus of money. Little did I know I would one day live but a sock-smell away from him. He was just one more bizarre, but more than usually extrovert, figure there. BERYL MERCER: Later in the evening we (Archie and I) were corralled, by a young Welsh fan named Greg Pickersgill and commanded to attend a room party where we could meet another young fan with some go-ahead ideas, named John Hall. Archie and I having had some rather astonishing correspondence with said J. Hall, we went. John turned out to be a tall, dark-haired, well-proportioned young man with a surprisingly deep voice. It was loud, too - which led to my nodding solemnly at Archie and announcing: "Yes, I've got him categorised. All is explained. He's an exhibitionist - but he just might grow out of it." John was genuinely flabbergasted and hotly repudiated the label - but a few weeks after the Con we had another letter from him in which he said someone else had tagged him with exactly the same label, and he was utterly non-plussed. We also heard - from another source - that Greg later suffered the weird misfortune of having a bottle of rum explode in his pocket! He was sharing a room with Bristolian Alan Chorley (and hasn't that lad blossomed since we first knew him as a shy say-nothing-all- night member of the BaD Group); apparently Alan frequently twitted Greg about his youth, since when Greg has been signing his letters "Childe Gregory", and referring darkly to Alan as "Young Master Chorley". At about midnight we left this party, and I went to change out of my costume. Archie already had, so he drifted off somewhere else.
ROY KETTLE: Yet again we left room parties for a film----Destination Moon---which ((drew hoots of derision from a pickled Pickersgill who himself drew hoots of derision. Can't blame a seventeen year old film for seeming to be seventeen years old.)) Brian Burgess came in wearing bells and someone stole a crate of lemonade. Fun, huh?
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