John Roles
(September 20, 1925 – June 24, 1999)
John David Roles was a fan, a secondhand bookseller, antiquarian and collector from Liverpool active from at least 1951 and possibly earlier. He was a founder member (number 5) of the Liverpool Group (LāSFāS), a founder member and OE of OMPA, a founder member of the BSFA, and a Knight of St. Fantony. In a profile in Waldo 1, Eric Bentcliffe described Roles as "A fan of many talents." When Ansible 144 reported his death, Mal Ashworth said Roles was "A fine fellow and a wonderful eccentric". Ron Bennett described him as "A hell of a guy. Knowledgeable, unintrusive and kindly."
The inaugural meeting of LāSFāS was held on November 12, 1951 and Roles was elected the first chairman. He would later also served as vice-chair and secretary. The following year he co-edited the first issue of the group's clubzine, Space Diversions and he edited or co-edited most issues over the next eight years.
In 1952 he attended the London SF Con and thereafter was a regular attendee at Eastercon for many years, at least into the mid-1960s. Walt Willis writing in Hyphen 9 (July 1954) recalled the "wonderful" LāSFāS party at the SuperManCon in 1954, especially after "John Roles and others had run amok with soda syphons and schwepped half of the people out."
Roles was a founder member of OMPA, although only just. As Vin¢ Clarke explained in Apathy, Roles:
hadn't believed that we would reach the original 25, notified us within a week of mailing date that he wanted to join, and actually sent his 'zines in on the very morning when all the rest were spread out on the floor of my parents' house, being sorted.
He was, though, one of the few to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the apa's small print run, with a series of experimental covers and "the never-to-be-forgotten edible Christmas Card of the first year". This was Yum, the first of an annual series although Roles subsequently adopted a more conventional non-consumable format. According to Eric Bentcliffe in Waldo 1, the ink on the cover of the first issue of Morph, Roles's first OMPAzine, still hadn't dried three years after publication. In 1955, and with Norman Shorrock, he produced a Jules Verne appreciation fanzine which included a near-complete set of stamps commemorating Verne. Roles became OE of OMPA in the year commencing September 1957 and introduced a new method of numbering members.
In 1953 Roles was one of people who agreed to operate the short-lived British Amateur Science Fiction Foundation. In 1957 he became a Knight of St. Fantony at Cytricon III, and was on the committee of Loncon. In 1959 he was one of the people credited with "advice and assistance" for Fancyclopedia 2. He was regularly reported in Skyrack as an attendee and participant in Liverpool group activities.
Roles was in the British army from November 1943 to December 1948, serving in India, Burma, Singapore and Malaya. He documented his experiences across several instalments in Morph. He was a rare books dealer and was murdered at his home/shop by someone he knew from a postcard club.. A report in the Daily Post (June 25, 1999) quoted Ramsey Campbell who had known Roles for nearly 40 years, saying Roles was:
extremely well-read and extremely knowledgeable about books. He was highly regarded in this country and also in America. He served in India during the war and was well steeped in Indian culture and spoke several dialects. Although he was not a tremendously religious man, he embraced the beliefs of Hinduism. I will remember him as a wonderful conversationalist and fascinating company. He will be greatly missed.
For a brief bio by Eric Bentcliffe, see Waldo 1 (December 1959), online here.
- Jules Verne [1955] (with Norman Shorrock)
- Morph (for OMPA).
- Space Diversions (for the Liverpool Group)
- Xmas Greetings from the 'Space Divers' (for the Liverpool Group)
- Yum [1954–7 at least] (Christmas cards for OMPA)
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1957 — Knight of St. Fantony
| Person | 1925—1999 |
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