Checkpoint

Checkpoint was a UK newszine founded and for most of its run edited by Peter Roberts. It saw over a hundred issues between 1971 and 1979. Issues 47 to 62 (Aprils 1974 to 1975) were edited by Darroll Pardoe and and issues 63 to 73 (Dec 1975 to Aug 1976) by Ian Maule. Roberts resumed editorship from 74 to 100, the final issue.

In its role as a UK newssheet of record, if not focal point, Checkpoint was a successor to Skyrack (which "folded (more or less) in 1966") and was in turn succeeded by Ansible (immediately and orderly in August 1979).

To complicate the bibliography, the newszine proper was only Checkpoint’s second series began in April 1971 with two trial issues numbered 00 and 0. In 1968-9 (or -70, see below) Roberts had produced a reviewzine of the same title devoted entirely to fanzine reviews rather than general news.

Due to its import for fanhistory, all issues were transcribed to the Ansible / Dave Langford's website in 2005–6 (with the first series added in 2007) and the archive was repackaged as the ebook The Complete Checkpoint (Ansible Editions, November 2018). There are also independent later Fanac.org scans.

There were two versions of 41 (October 1973) and two slightly conflicting narratives to explain this. One account says that an early version of 41 dated July 1973 was sent only to Don Allen and was later abandoned as out-of-date. In the British Fanzine Bibliography Roberts said of 41 that "a very few copies of an earlier edition (Jul/73 m Q 4) were sent out – most were destroyed". It seems likely that the first version is entirely lost.

Checkpoint (specifically Roberts even when he was not the editor) ran the Checkpoint Fan Poll.

Issue	Date	Pages	Notes
First series – fanzine review
0	December 23, 1968	8	Titled "A Sample Copy of… Lostwithiel Check-Point". L-l is a town in deepest Cornwall, though Roberts lived in Bristol; no explanation given, perhaps the point was shortening to "the LOST C-P". "Restormel Press Publication: 6 / Also intended for 19th APA-45 mlg"
1	April 20, 1969	14	Title simplified Checkpoint (hyphen-less, again no explanation). "Issue Number One. 20/4/69. Restormel Press Pub.: 10."
2	July 1969
3	July 1969
4-5	August 29, 1969	8	double issue
6-7	September 28, 1969	8	double issue
8–9	October 5, 1969	6	"Issue number 8 & 9. 5/10/69. Restormel Press Publication: 20. […] With 10th issue (in December), I shall return to the original 'in depth' reviewing -- sixteen fanzines in a dozen quarto pages -- with perhaps some other contents besides fnz rvws… Checkpoint 10 will also be a special international edition with magazines from at least nine countries." This did not happen; per British Fanzine Bibliography, issue 10 was combined with Roberts's new Egg 2 (April 1970) and 11 with Egg 3 (July).
Begin second series, newszine proper
00	April 6, 1971	2	First trial issue
0	April 14, 1971	4	Second trial issue
1	April 1971	6
2	May 1971	6
3	May 1971	4
4	June 1971	6
5	June 1971	6
6	July 1971	4
7	August 1971	6
8	September 6, 1971	6
9	September 14, 1971	2
10	October 9, 1971	4
11	November 6, 1971	4
12	November 15, 1971	4
13	December 1971	6
14	January 1972	6
15	March 1972	4
16	March 1972	6
17	June 1972	6
18	June 1972	6
19	July 1972	6
20	July 1972	6
21	August 1972	14
22	September 9, 1972	6
23	September 1972	6
24	October 7, 1972	6
25	October 1972	6
26	November 1972	4
27	November 1972	6
28	December 1972	4
29	January 1973	6
30	January 2, 1973	4
31	January 27, 1973	6
32	February 1973	2
33	March 10, 1973	4
34	March 1973	4
35	April 1973	6
36	April 1973	14
37	May 1973	6
38	May 19, 1973	6
39	June 1973	4
40	June 17, 1973	4
41	October 1973	8	two versions although the first likely lost; see above
42	October 27, 1973	10
43	November 1973	8
44	December 30, 1973	8
45	January 1974	4	Included Eric Bentcliffe's AmiZine Stories
46	March 1974	12
47	April 19, 1974	4	Darroll Pardoe takes over as editor
48	May 6, 1974	4
49	May 29, 1974	4
50	June 28, 1974	4
51	August 1974	4
52	September 9, 1974	4
53	September 25, 1974	4
54	October 10, 1974	4
55	October 19, 1974	4
56	November 6, 1974	4
57	November 21, 1974	4
58	January 8, 1975	4
59	February 18, 1975	4
60	March 12, 1975	4
61	April 2, 1975	4
62	April 25, 1975	4
63	December 1975	6	Ian Maule takes over as editor
64	February 1976	4
65	March 1976	8
66	March 1976	2
67	1976	4
68	April 1976	4
69	May 1976	4
70	July 1976	4
71	August 1976	4
72	August 25, 1976	6	Only Checkpoint Fan Poll results; "is edited by Peter Roberts and will be beautifully and expertly duplicated by Ian Maule. The selfsame Ian Maule is Checkpoint's usual editor in these latter days […] Restormel Production: 102"
73	(August 1976)	2	"Edited and produced by Ian Maule […] This issue rides with the special 72nd edition produced by Peter Roberts." No date as such given within the issue
74	September 1976	6	"Edited and produced by Peter Roberts […] Restormel Press Publication: 104." The first item "CHECKPOINT RECAPTURED – MAULE FLEES IN PANIC" only jokes about "Maule's miserable scheme to turn Checkpoint into an annual one-page listing of recent Perry Rhodan reprints" but no real reason is clear beside a CoA; in #100 Roberts also hinted at burnout.
75	October 1976	6
76	November 1976	6
77	December 1976	6
78	January 1977	4
79	February 1977	6
80	March 1977	6
81	April 1977	6
82	June 1977	6
83	July 1977	6
84	August 1977	4
85	Winter 1977	4
86	February 1978	6
87	March 1978	6
88	April 1978	6
89	May 1978	6
90	July 1978	6
91	September 1978	8
92	December 1978	6
93	February 1979	8
94	February 1979	6
95	April 1979	6
96	May 1979	6
97	June 1979	6
98	July 1979	6
99	August 1979	6
100	September 1979	6	Farewell issue. "Restormel Press Pub: 147. What'll I do in the evenings now that I don't have colophons to type?" Brief memoir and the Checkpoint Index "without guarantees of any kind, though it may be of some use to anyone wanting to dig up a reference or report"

• https://checkpoint.ansible.uk – transcripts archive
• Checkpoint online at fanac.org (some issues missing; mostly individual page images as of 2025, a few in PDF)
• The Complete Checkpoint ebook

---

Publication

1968—1979

This is a publication page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was published, how many issues it has had, (including adding a partial or complete checklist), its contents (including perhaps a ToC listing), its size and repro method, regular columnists, its impact on fandom, or by adding scans or links to scans. See Standards for Publications.