Martin Hoare

(April 18, 1952 -- July 26, 2019)

Martin Hoare was a British con-running fan (and part-time mad scientist) who was perhaps best known as the perennial Hugo Award acceptor for David Langford. (When he accepted Langford's Best Fanwriter Hugo at Chicon 2000, he promised that an sf blockbuster based on "The Collected Hugo Acceptance Speeches of Dave Langford" was already in production as a movie.) Professionally, he was a physicist turned software developer with a consuming passion for great beer.

He co-chaired Seacon '84 and Helicon 2, the 1984 and 2002 Eastercons. He worked on innumerable convention committees (probably holding the record for most Eastercon committees) including acting as Division Head at ConFiction. A keen European con-goer, his real-ale bars at Eastercons were a wonder to consume. (He also dabbled in fireworks.)

A British con-runner said of him,

It has been said that "He was happiest with plugs and sockets". This is largely true, but he was also a significant part of the social and fannish, glue that held together a multi-national con-running team where you would have expected far more conflict.

Whenever we were having a problem (translation: whenever we had screwed something up) Martin would be brutally honest in describing the problem but by the end of the meeting he would have helped steer it not only to a practical solution but one where everyone was enthusiastic and saw the original problem as a shared humourous incident rather than something to squabble about.

You've probably encountered the person who, even when proposing a sensible policy, will do it in a divisive and petty way that damages the group as a whole. Martin seemed to be a natural opposite to that.

Ansible with obituary and photo collection

Ansible with eulogy and Tardis coffin photos

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 2015 -- Doc Weir Award
• No Hugos, but kept going up to collect Dave's awards.

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