Kettering, UK

Kettering is a town in Northamptonshire, UK about 75 miles north of London. It is the birthplace of the writer Keith Roberts and comics artist Frank Bellamy.

In fannish terms it is notable for hosting four Eastercons in the 1950s:

• Cytricon I
• Cytricon II
• Cytricon III
• Cytricon IV

A local group originally called the Kettering (Northants) SF Society and later the Kettering Astronautics Society existed from 1952. Six Kettering fans were listed as members of the 1954 Supermancon where the 1955 convention had been unilaterally allocated to the London Circle by Ted Tubb. Denny Cowen of the Kettering group later volunteered to stage it in his home town and he chaired the resulting Cytricon in 1955.

However, seemingly none of the local fans attended any of the Cytricons after the first. Cytricon III was omitted from the canonical Eastercon list produced in 1971 where Cytricon IV was renumbered as III. Cytricon III was only restored thanks to the researches of Rob Hansen in 1989.

In 2008 Peter Weston staged the largely invitational Cytricon V to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Cytricon IV. In the best traditions, nobody from Kettering attended that either.

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