Peter West

(???? – )

Peter A. West was a fan and photographer from London, and for a time Cardiff and Norfolk, from the 1950s. A reference in Hyphen #19 says he was a 'naturalised Czech', but in Prolapse #4 (2006) Jim Linwood is quoted saying West 'was an émigré from Nazi Germany who was famous for a day when he beat up the fascist leader, Colin Jordan, during a Trafalgar Square rally'.

He was seemingly taking photos at conventions and fan events from 1954. He was living in London in 1956 when he attended Cytricon II and some of his photos appeared in Triode #7. He was credited as 'film liaison' for Loncon I, the 1957 Worldcon, and also acted as official photographer, 'here, there and everywhere – and especially in front of your dazzled eyeballs' according to Science Fantasy News #15. His actions weren't welcome by all. In Lonconfidential, Chuck Harris wrote:

The only thing that marred the afternoon for me was the ever-present Peter West and his bloody camera. I thought it was stupid and dangerous to wait, as West did, until the hall was totally darkened, and then to stand up and let loose at the audience with a high-powered electronic flash. If this is the sort of irresponsibility we get from the 'Official Convention Photographer' then I think we'd be a bloody sight better off without him in future.

Science Fantasy News reported him moving to Cardiff in 1958 for a job in BBC television. He appeared on the first BSFA membership list in 1958 (member #14). Ron Bennett's directory has him in Norfolk in 1960, but he was definitely back in London by 1966 and possibly earlier.

West attended the 1987 and 1995 Worldcons in Brighton and Glasgow respectively. Of the latter, Vin¢ Clarke reported in Concatenation:

This questioning of self was reinforced by Greg producing with a flourish a box of snapshots which he'd found tucked away in fanzines he'd bought from Brian Burgess. They were all mid-50s photos, and in two or three I recognised myself. On the backs of some of them was a stamp of Peter West, whom I don't remember as active in other spheres but who did a lot of photography of Conventions in the 50s. I'd seen Peter wandering about – first time I'd met him since the Worldcon in '87. Later I met him again in the Fan Lounge, and told him of this discovery. He frowned and said that he vaguely remembered a batch of samples going astray, but couldn't remember where. I led him to Greg, who produced the snaps, which Peter identified as the missing ones. As they weren't very good examples of photography I suggested that Greg might as well keep them, and Greg followed this up with asking if Peter had any other photos or negatives from the relevant period. Peter said he'd find out – so there's the possibility of further additions to Fan Archives.

He married fellow fan Sandra Hall.

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