J. E. Rennison
(September 20, 1924 – January 1972)
John Edward Rennison (sometimes called Renny but apparently preferring to give initialise his names just as J. E.), was a teenaged British fan from Blackburn (Lancashire, north of Manchester) in the early 1940s. He pubbed the fanzine Cosmos and then Trivia, distributed with Futurian War Digest. He was a founding member #2 of the British Fantasy Society, and the first to quit angrily within months. He had also tried to stir controversy under the pseudonym David Radcliffe, especially in Dennis Tucker's Delirium Tremens.
In J. Michael Rosenblum's Futurian War Digest #5 (February 1941), the department "Introducing" said:
About 6ft tall, wears glasses, high forehead, brown (medium coloured) hair, sarcastic, argumentative, somewhat cynical, good sense of humour. Born 20th september 1924. Read s.f. for many years, entered fan field in 1940, now editing our companion magazine COSMOS. Hobbies;[1] keen on cycling and swimming, sf reading, likes pictures & variety etc. Ambitions; to wander aimlessly about the world, and to be in the first spaceship to leave the Earth.
Another profile appeared belatedly in Rogue's Gallery (1943, skipping those parts that are repeated):
lanky and long-legged, fair to dark hair, weight unknown, rather big headed, […] has big hands and big feet, and long fingers. […] Entered British Fandom in 1940 but had read off and on for many years. Keen cyclist, miniature train enthuisiast [sic]. Is heading for a steady office job as a solicitor. Ambitions - […] to roam about the world at his leisure, working his passage and spending money. Is an Atheist, pro-Communist, and pro-Pacifist. Has always advocated a world stabte, and has deep (and censorable) feelings as to the present positions of the world! Is a bit emotional, & hurts [? partly unreadable] easily. Has long suffered from a bad inferiority complex, which he is just beginning to overcome. Smokes, drinks moderately, and also swears. (Heavens!) ”So I'll see you all in Hell some day”!
In a letter to Voice of the Imagi-Nation #17 (August 1941) of 12 June, Rennison wrote:
Introduction: […] the age 16 1/2 (still a juvenile), the occupation, solicitor's clerk (and I am going in for that profession), the description, about 5ft. 11ins. tall, […] light brown hair, fairly slim (a nice way of stating the fact that I am thin), have a flair for wearing all blue clothes, blue suit, shirt, coat etc. The hobbies, cycling and reading sfn., corresponding with the British twerps who are as mad as I am about it, the ambitions, to wander over the face of the earth and do no work. Fandom over here is carrying on much better than was anticipated when war broke out - most of the 'old guard’ have been called up, but into their shoes have stepped new fans like myself who have yet some time to go before call up. Actually after the war I think fandom in this country will be pretty well 100% better than it was before war broke out. The war has really drawn us all more together, as we are for a great part dependent more on one another now than what we were in peacetime.
However, he didn't get to see it. Rennison stopped publishing his zine after holiday 1942; still, he was among the 22 founding members of the British Fantasy Society in mid-1942,[2] in fact 'Member No 2, being the first to join when the Society was formed by JMR'.[3] He even proposed five others to its advisory board. By November, eight fans including Rennison were nominated for the five-member board, to be voted by December 15.[4] He sent in resignation from BFS on 23 November,[3] possibly spurred by the previous announcement. However, in the election "he was alone in scoring 100 per cent full votes" of 6 voters, "it being decided by the Executive Committee not to allow the votes of the candidates themselves."[3]
This at least caused him to announce gafiating loudly and angrily in January 1943 under the heading "Dear Friends (and Others!)", distributed with FIDO 26.
In Rosenblum's 1945 Directory of Anglo-Fandom Rennison is one of two fans marked with an X, indicating 'his connection with fandom is known to be finally severed'.
David Radcliffe[edit]
Rennison used the pseudonym David Radcliffe, described in Dear Friends (And Others) a his alter-ego. This was also confirmed by Dennis Tucker in Delirium Tremens #8 (February 1943), after 'Radcliffe' had 'caused quite a furor in this sheet some little while ago'.
- Cosmos [1941–2]
- Dear Friends (and Others!) [January 1943 one-off]
- Trivia [1942]
____
- ↑ It appears that Rosenblum used, at least in that issue, semicolons even for colons, perhaps not having those at his typewriter; see for example "’Renny’ comments as follows;" in the column immediately to the left or '"Weird Shorts" now out … Main stories are;" at p. 1. He also left out some spaces, either to fit the words on a line (he went so far as to divide "h- / air" although not strictly necessary), or just as a typo; these are not preserved here, although small-s "september" is. However JMR's punctuation was flawless, even when not always quite obvious on faded copies, so some transcriptions lack a comma or two.
- ↑ See BFS Bulletin 1, June 1942, with FIDO 21 in July.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 BFS Bulletin 5, December 1942
- ↑ BFS Bulletin 4, https://efanzines.com/FWD/FWD24.htm#6.NAM
| Person | 1924—1972 |
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