Nigel Lindsay

(March, 1920 –)

Nigel Lindsay was a UK fan from Torquay active in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a member of the British Fantasy Society (BFS), the Science Fantasy Society (SFS), OMPA, and the Romiley Fan Veterans & Scottish Dancing Society], and co-founder of the British Fantasy Library. He was also the 'leader' and likely only true member of the Torbay Happy Fan and Lampshade Makers' Society.

Born in Croydon in south London, Lindsay moved to Torquay in 1930. He discovered Futurian War Digest and through that contacted D. R. Smith and A. Bertram Chandler. He joined the BFS in March 1945, relatively late in its existence. With the dissolution of the Society in 1946 he formed the British Fantasy Library (BFL) with Ron Holmes. The Library continued until about 1949. He also contributed a column, 'Among the Magazines', to Fantasy Review in 1947–8.

After a few years away from fandom he returned around 1954. A profile piece in The British Space Fiction Magazine (formerly Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine) said he was a member of the Torquay Happy Fan and Lampshade Makers' Society, Torquay’s only s-f club. He contributed to several fanzines including Brennschluss and Phantasmagoria, and his 'Ghod and Chlorophyll' from Satellite was reprinted in The Best of Fandom 1958.

Fancyclopedia 2 credits Lindsay and Eric Bentcliffe with the invention of the Convacation, a combined convention and vacation. The entry notes that Lindsay 'had been unable to attend any conventions on account of work schedules' and his fanzine Con-vacation July 1955 is an advertisement for such a gathering in the summer of 1956. While he was part of the committee for Loncon in 1957 there is no evidence that he attended.

In Haverings #1 in 1960 the unrelated Ethel Lindsay wrote:

There is another ex-Ompan that I would like to coax back into writing. Nigel Lindsay. He was one of the brightest stars of Ompa, and it was ochone the day when he left. Err, wull ye no' come back and all that jazz, Nigel?

• Nigel Lindsay in Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Bias Binding [1955] (for OMPA)
• Con-vacation July 1955 [1954] (for OMPA)
• My Feathered Friends [1954] (for OMPA)
• Schnerdlites [1954-56] (for OMPA)
• Schnerdlites Hole-Boring Supplement [1956] (with Archie Mercer for OMPA)

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Person

1920—

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