Cytricon I

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Cytricon was the 1955 Eastercon, held April 8-10, 1955 (Easter weekend) at the George Hotel in Kettering, UK. There was no guest of honour. The committee was Bill Panter (chair), Denny Cowen (secretary), Joe Ayres (treasurer), and Al Lee (publicity).

It is regarded as the sixth convention in the Eastercon sequence although most of its predecessors had been held at Whitsun. From this point onward, Easter became the traditional date for the Eastercon. The 1955 convention was also the first of four consecutive Cytricons.

The traditional fan view has been that the name was derived from an earlier Roman settlement and that may be what fans believed at at the time. However, it now seems more likely that it comes from a later Anglo-Saxon settlement variously spelled Cytringan, Kyteringas and Keteiringan. This in turn implies that the name should more properly be pronounced with a hard C, Kitricon, rather than the soft C, Sitricon, that's invariably used.

Preparations[edit]

While six members of the Kettering Astronautics Society had been members of the Supermancon in 1954 only Denny Cowen is known to have attended. During the business session, Ted Tubb called for nominations for the 1955 site and hearing none unilaterally decided it would be in London, However, at some later point Cowen and the Kettering group volunteered to run the convention.

Two progress reports were issued but copies have not been traced. Vin¢ Clarke, writing as 'Inquisitor' in Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine #10 (February 1955), reported the Cytricon as 'news' and said that Cowen: 

... openly revolted against the constant siting of the Convention in the big cities — London, Manchester, etc[1]. Why, asked Denny, shouldn't one of the smaller towns have a go? Kettering was mid-way between the largest English centres of fan-activity, and its choice would resolve the problem of jealousy which occasionally arises amongst those who have never had the doubtful pleasure of holding a Convention.

There was a sort of concerted sigh of relief from London, and Kettering was handed the baby with a speed that surprised them. But two active London fans are acting in an advisory capacity on the Kettering Con Committee, and no doubt the newcomers will be relying heavily on the experiences gained in other cities too.

Clarke also credited the convention with two firsts, 'the first time a whole hotel has been booked for a British s-f Con, and the first time arrangements have been made to accommodate guests for three whole days.' Membership of the Society was 2/6 with an additional 6/- for the daily sessions on Saturday and Sunday. 'Wives' were offered a reduced rate of 4/-. Rooms were 20/6d per day.

Venue[edit]

The George Hotel in Kettering was an old coaching inn dating back to 1639. It would host all four Cytricon Eastercons from 1955 to 1958 and the Kettering Minicon of 1960, as well as Cytricon V, a fiftieth anniversary gathering in 2008. It was later renamed the Naseby Hotel but sadly it closed permanently in 2016 and has been turned into flats.

Attendees[edit]

There are 112 people listed as registered members in the combozine. Some of these didn't attend and in a few cases presumably never had any intention of doing so. There are about 70 known attendees based on mentions in convention reports or appearances in photos.

The Northamptonshire Advertiser newspaper (April 15) said attendance was about 160.

In the table below names marked (A) are known attendees, names marked (AN) are known attendees who are not on the membership list, and names marked (N) are members who are known to have not been present. The remainder may have attended. In a few cases that's the limit of our knowledge about them and where this is the case there won't be a page for them until and unless we find out some more. Names to which this applies are in italics. Additionally names marked * are family members of attendees who likely weren't fans per se.

  1. Don Allen (A)
  2. John Ashcroft (A)
  3. Mal Ashworth (A)
  4. Joe Ayres
  5. M. Beardsley
  6. Ron Bennett (A)
  7. Eric Bentcliffe (A)
  8. Irene Boothroyd (A)
  9. Syd Bounds (A)
  10. Nevil Brock
  11. John Brunner (A)
  12. Daphne Buckmaster (A)
  13. Ron Buckmaster (A)
  14. Ken Bulmer (A)
  15. Pam Bulmer (AN)
  16. Brian Burgess (A)
  17. Alan Burns (A)
  18. Joan Burns[2]
  19. Bert Campbell (AN)
  20. J. W. Campbell
  21. Peter Campbell
  22. Ted Carnell
  23. Joan Carr (N)
  24. W. Carr (AN)
  25. Jim Cawthorn
  26. Meredith Chatterton (A)
  27. Harry Clements (AN)
  28. Vin¢ Clarke (A)
  29. Gerry Clarke
  30. Dave Cohen (A)
  31. Tony Cooper (A)
  32. J. Coozens
  33. Denny Cowen (A)
  34. Kathryn M. Cowen *
  35. Alfred Dean
  36. Charles Duncombe
  37. Peter Emery (A)
  38. Cyril Evans (AN)
  39. Frances Evans (A)
  40. Pat Everest[3] (A)
  41. John Russell Fearn
  42. Reg Fieldhouse
  43. Pete Fox
  44. George Gibson
  45. Tony Glynn
  46. Joy Goodwin (A)
  47. John B. Hall (A)
  48. Peter Hamilton (A)
  49. Paul Hammett (A)
  50. Chuck Harris (A)
  51. Bill Harrison (A)
  52. B. Hill
  53. Arthur F. Hillman
  54. E. R. James
  55. Jan Jansen
  56. Terry Jeeves (A)
  57. Eric Jones (AN)
  58. Tony Klein (AN)
  59. Al Lee
  60. Brian Lewis
  61. Ethel Lindsay (A)
  62. Nigel Lindsay
  63. George Lye
  64. Don MacKay
  65. Lil MacKay
  66. Renee MacKay
  67. Connie Mackenzie
  68. Stuart Mackenzie
  69. Michael Mansfield (A)
  70. Shirley Marriott (A)
  71. Jim Marshall
  72. Jim McArthur
  73. Ken McIntyre
  74. Archie Mercer (A)
  75. Frank Milnes (A)
  76. Jim Mooney
  77. Peter Moor
  78. Dan Morgan
  79. Orville W. Mosher[4].
  80. Eric Needham (A)
  81. Dave Newman (A)
  82. Stan Nuttall (A)
  83. Sheila O'Donnell (A)
  84. Nic Oosterbaan (AN)
  85. R. Ogier
  86. John Owen (A)
  87. David Page (AN)
  88. Bill Panter (A)
  89. Derek Pickles
  90. Brian Poole
  91. Ken Potter (A)
  92. Dorothy Ratigan (AN)
  93. Jim Ratigan (AN)
  94. Peter Reaney (A)
  95. Peter Rigby (A)
  96. John Roles (A)
  97. Pete Royle (AN)
  98. Sandy Sanderson (A)
  99. Ina Shorrock (A)
  100. Norman Shorrock (A)
  101. Frank Simpson (A)
  102. Ken Skelton
  103. Ken Slater (A)
  104. Ken Smith[5]
  105. Margo Statten[6]
  106. Pete Taylor (A)
  107. Mike Tealby
  108. Arthur Thomson (AN)
  109. Tony Thorne
  110. E. C. Tubb (A)
  111. Con Turner
  112. Harry Turner
  113. Brian Varley (A)
  114. Mike Wallace (A)
  115. Norman Wansborough (A)
  116. Norman Weedall (A)
  117. Cyril Whitaker
  118. Betty White
  119. Eddie White (AN)
  120. Tom White
  121. Taffy Williams
  122. Madeleine Willis (A)
  123. Walt Willis (A)
  124. Jack Wilson
  125. Geoff Wingrove
  126. Dave Wood (AN)
  127. Cathie Youden (A)

The membership list includes the six known or likely members of the Kettering Astronautics Society but only Denny Cowen and Bill Panter are explicitly mentioned as being in attendance. There is also a significant contingent of known or likely members of the North East Science Fiction Society. A comment from Archie Mercer[7] suggests that at least one of Jim Marshall and Hal Kennedy was present and possibly both, but it's sadly ambiguous.

Notable first-time convention attendees include Arthur Thomson.

The convention[edit]

Many fans arrived on the Friday night. The rooms in The George were all booked out and some fans such as Chuck Harris had to be found rooms in the overflow. Many fans wore propeller beanies in the bar. Willis felt that 'As with Conventions themselves, British fandom is acting out what US fandom only dreams'[8]. Fan also met 'Boris', the night porter, who became something of a hero for delivering drinks at all hours.

On Saturday the hotel attempted to serve lunch for 8/6, too much for most fans' taste who opted instead for cheap cafes. On Sunday they tried again with a 'Fans' Special' at 6/-. The convention formally started at 2pm with speeches from Ted Carnell and Bert Campbell. There were a number of presentations: to Carnell as 'The Year's Most Popular Author', Ken Slater receiving the 1953 #1 Fan Personality Hugo that was officially given to Forrest J Ackerman but which Ackerman passed on to Slater, and to Vin¢ Clarke on behalf of Eye for the Fanzine of the Year. Chuck Harris later receive the 'Fan Of The Year (1866)' from 'The Bradford Society For The Care And Feeding Of Elderly Sex-Fiends' in the form of Sheila O'Donnell[9]. Don Allen had a slightly different take on this, saying that the author and fanzine awards were presented on Sunday, with the author award going to Ted Tubb[10].

The Liverpool Group presented their tapera The March of Slime followed later by a screening of War of the Worlds. Some fans decided to fire zap-guns at the screen, upsetting the hotel manager. Vince Clarke and Walt Willis took up a collection to pay for damage, collecting more than enough so the balance went to TAFF and staff gratuities[11].

The Saturday evening parties saw many Liverpool Group fans in fancy dress, 'where costuming first truly started at British cons' according to Rob Hansen.

Sunday morning started with a jazz session. In the afternoon, Ted Carnell talked about the London in '56 bid planned for the Clevention in August. If the bid was unsuccessful then there would be another Kettering convention in 1956. There was unanimous support for the London Worldcon bid. Tedd Tubb and Ken Slater conducted the auction.

Some fans left on Sunday afternoon, while others staged an all-night party in the residents' lounge.

Nic Oosterbaan said: 

It seems as if the Supermancon has set a pattern or rather a lack of pattern from which all subsequent cons will be unable to escape. Now, this Cytricon for instance did indeed have some sort of an official programme, but that was only good for laughs. So was the convention itself, but it had nothing in common with the programme[12].

Publications[edit]

The Cytricon Combozine was produced for the convention. It lists 113 members and includes special issues of Alpha, Brennschluss, Fission, Femizine, Hyphen and Satellite as well as trail for the forthcoming Nadir which seemingly never happened.

Future conventions[edit]

As noted, it seems that Cytricon attendees were focused first on the London in '56 Worldcon bid with the idea of a second Kettering convention in 1956 very much a fallback position. However, at the Cleveland Worldcon, and in the face of overwhelming support for New York in 1956, the London bid was withdrawn without a vote. The bid would return as London in 1957 and at some point Cytricon II was arranged although this time in the hands of the London fans. Vince Clarke wrote: 

London fans have stepped into the breach again and are booking the George Hotel, Kettering, Northants, scene of 1955's extraordinarily successful 'do', for the '56 Convention. It will be attempted to run it as an International Convention, for many visiting fans are expected from other countries, and the experience gained is going to be very, very useful for the 1957 Convention, which will call for a concerted effort from fan groups all over the country[13].

Of the Kettering group, only Denny Cowen would attend Cytricon II and then only briefly 'passing through'.

Links

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  1. ↑ Only two years earlier, Manchester fans were openly revolting against the constant siting of the Convention in London.
  2. ↑ Joan Burns is listed separately in Ron Bennett's directory for 1955 at the same address as Alan Burns. She also contributed to Femizine. However Don Allen said in a letter to Relapse #17 (Spring 2010) 'Joan Burns was Alan Burns, doing a Sandy Sanderson (making up a female persona).
  3. ↑ The membership list includes 'R. P. Everett' and there was a known attendee called 'Pat Everest'. Both were from Leicester so the assumption is that the former is a typo for the latter.
  4. ↑ Mosher was the founder of Project Fan Club and Denny Cowen of the Kettering group was its UK representative so Mosher's membership was likely an act of solidarity.
  5. ↑ This could be K. E. Smith. He was from Liverpool and Ken Smith is from Manchester and they're relatively close. However, Smith is a very common name.
  6. ↑ The assumption here is that this is a joke allusion to Vargo Statten. Archie Mercer also quotes 'Margo' in Archive #13 (Autumn 1957), presumably in a similar vein. The address was given as Huddersfield. The only person with a Huddersfield address in Ron Bennett's Directory of Science Fiction Fandom for 1955 is Irene Boothroyd who is listed here separately.
  7. ↑ 'Into the Land of Canaan', Ploy #6 (June 1956).
  8. ↑ Hyphen #14 (June 1955).
  9. ↑ Ibid Hyphen.
  10. ↑ Satellite #6 (Summer 1955).
  11. ↑ Strikingly similar to the St. Louiscon Movie Screen Affair of 1969.
  12. ↑ Alpha #10 (June 1955).
  13. ↑ Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine v2 #7 (February 1956)
Supermancon Eastercon Cytricon II
first Cytricon Cytricon II
1955
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