John Piggott
(1952 – November 19, 2012)
John Piggott was a British fan active in the 1970s. He first fanzines appeared while he was at Cambridge University, and he later lived in Oxford before joining the Civil Service and moving to London around 1974.
His The Turning Worm saw three issues in 1972 with the last topping the Checkpoint Fan Poll for Best British Fanzine Single Issue of 1972/1973 . Reviewing it in Checkpoint #24 (October 1972), Peter Roberts noted that Piggott 'has turned to outside contributors for the third issue and has become slightly less of a personal zine. ... John himself contributes some good fanzine reviews. It's devoid of artwork; but well-produced and recommended.' Ian Williams in Maya #5 (December 1972) described it as 'one of the best honest to brilliance straight faanish zines' and in the same issue Maya editor Ian Maule said Piggott had plans to turn the title 'into a Fanac style news and review zine' although nothing came of this.
In Ritblat / Grim News #1 (March 1974), Greg Pickersgill included Piggott among the Ratfandom group, at least to the extent of sharing its 'state of mind'. However, he added later that Piggott was no longer attending meetings at The Globe and 'seems to have totally vanished in favour of wargaming, something of a tragedy as he was the best new fanwriter of recent years, as well as being a Good Fellow to meet with.'
This did bring Piggott back into the fold, and in Ritblat / Grim News #2 (April 1974), he wrote saying, 'I suddenly realised again what a lot of fun fandom can be. I'd drifted away from it a lot over the past eighteen months, chiefly because there seemed to be so little happening in the fanzine world' but 'This weekend I'm writing my first locs for over six months, and I am fast coming out of postal games and back into fandom'. He lived for a time at Lothair Road, Ealing, in London, sharing a room with Ian Maule in a house rented by Pickesgill, Simone Walsh and others, and later Maule and Piggott shared a flat in the same general area.
Piggott published 61 Cygni C for ROMPA including some letters on The Turning Worm #3. This was to be his last fanzine outside of the gaming world. He was on the committee for SEACON 75, the 1975 Eastercon, albeit with no defined role.
Like several other British fans of the early 1970s, he was involved in postal Diplomacy; unlike most of the others, it became his main area of activity, and his Ethil The Frog (1972–89) was a leading zine of the day (it reprinted several articles from SF fanzines, including one by Dave Langford, who was surprised to learn that his jokes about fannish personalities had been rewritten to relate to Diplomacy fans who were strangers to him).
He married Pat Douglas on July 28, 1979, and moved to Canvey Island in Essex. He was seldom seem in SF circles after the 1970s and in a letter to Ansible #41 (December 1984), mentioning that they now had three children 'which explains some of my continuing inactivity'. He remained more or less active in Diplomacy fandom till his death.
In 1977 he co-edited The Book of Games with Richard Sharp.
- 'I Spent My Birthday at Chester and Lived' by John Piggott in Running Amok in the Fun Factory (ed: Graham Charnock) at taff.org.uk
- Ethil The Frog [1972–89] (for Diplomacy)
- The Turning Worm [1972]
- 61 Cygni C [1974] (for ROMPA)
| Person | 1952—2012 |
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