British filk

British filk music goes back nearly as far as filk in the United States. Indeed, some argue that the first filk book was published in the UK. The book was Songs from Space, distributed at Loncon 1 in 1957.

The real start of British filk as organized activity, though, came in the 1980s, largely through the efforts of Gytha North. Her Filk Hall of Fame citation refers to her as "the matriarch of filk at British conventions." She edited the "first three UK filk books" (Songs from Space apparently having been forgotten). Filk singing was prominent at Follycon, the 1988 Eastercon, and at Intersection, the 1995 Worldcon.

The first British Filk Convention was held in 1989 and was called Contabile. Mike Whitaker chaired it and has been a prominent feature in British filk since then. In between conventions, there have been social gatherings of filkers at pubs, called WiGGLes and SWiGGLes (singing Wiggles) for reasons too obscure to explain.

A number of British filkers and groups have become internationally known in the filk community, and some have been Interfilk guests.