Kingdon Road Slan Shack

The Kingdon Road Slan Shack was, at the risk of stating the obvious, a Slan Shack at 5 Kingdon Road, West Hampstead in London. Jim Linwood, as quoted in Then, described it as a large terraced Edwardian house comprised of four bedsits "that accommodated, and played host to, some of the less conservative elements in Anglofandom in the early sixties."

Residents included (in chronological order) Bruce Burn, Alan Rispin, Diane Goulding (later Diane Ellingsworth), Dick Ellingsworth, Jim Linwood, and Marion Lansdale (later Marion Linwood). Frequent visitors and short-term residents included Brian Jordan, Ivor Mayne, Chris Miller, Mike Moorcock, George Locke, Barrington Bayley, Pete Taylor, Ethel Lindsay, Bette Woodhead, Dave Hale, Pat Kearney, Peter Mansfield, Rog Peyton, Ken Potter, Tony and Simone Walsh, and Don Geldart.

Linwood late wrote in the programme book for Tynecon II: The Mexicon:

The most significant event – although we did not realise it at the time – occurred one evening when a breathless Mike Moorcock crashed into the communal kitchen announcing: "I've got New Worlds!" The card school paused for a moment and then resumed play, not knowing then how those four words would change forever both the fannish world we knew and SF almost beyond recognition.

The Kingdon Road group broke up in Spring 1964 when the Linwoods returned to Nottingham.

---

Venue

1962—1964

This is a venue page, covering buildings from 4-star hotels to slan shacks. Please include only structures of major fannish significance. See Standards for Venues.

If applicable, please include category Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Ireland, NZ, UK, US, ROW or World.