Birmingham Science Fiction Circle

The Birmingham Science Fiction Circle was a club in Birmingham, UK in the mid-1950s. Dennis Egan wrote to the Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine about it in March 1954, saying it had been formed two years earlier and met every Friday night at the Board Vaults on Worcester Street.

Most of our information about the Circle comes from Scottishe #1 (December 1954) where Ethel Lindsay described her visit to 'The Brums' as she called them. Egan and several other members were out of town, but Lindsay was met by and stayed with Paul Hammett, one of her correspondents, as well as meeting group members Joy Barlow, Arthur Berwick and 'Keith Johnston' who is possibly the fan described elsewhere as K. Johnstone or maybe not as Lindsay described him as a 'neo-fan' whereas K. Johnstone had been active since at least 1951. During Lindsay's visit, Cyril and Frances Evans also visited from Manchester.

There was also an contemporary overlapping group called the Birmingham Science Fiction Club, seemingly in existence from 1949. It's not out of the question that this was the same group under a different name, but it could simply be the Birmingham had two science fiction fan groups at the same time, each in ignorance of the other. Unfortunately, there is little documentary evidence for either group.

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Club

1952—????

This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc. When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can!