London in 1957
London in 1957 was a bid to host the 1957 Worldcon in London in the UK. It defeated the Berkley-Oakland in 1957 bid at Nycon II and went on to run Loncon. See 1957 Worldcon Site Selection.
At the 1953 convention H. J. Campbell had made a likely impulsive and perhaps not entirely serious bid for the 1954 Worldcon to be held in London. This nevertheless attracted 61 votes. Some commentators, for instance 'Old Woodchuck' in Canadian Fandom #16 (December 1953), felt 'London could possibly swing the deal by 1956 or 57.'
The London in '56 bid was at least pre-planned. However, in the Hyphen News Supplement (November 1955), Walt Willis reported that Ken Bulmer, the TAFF delegate to Clevention, 'registered a bid for a London Worldcon in 1956 but withdrew it in the face of overwhelming odds in favour of New York'.
Vin¢ Clarke has a different spin on things, reporting in The British Space Fiction Magazine vol 2 #7 (February 1956) that Bulmer's 'attempt to secure the next year's[1] Con-site [was] narrowly out-voted in favour of New York'. It seems that the Willis version, that the 1956 London bid was withdrawn, is the accurate one[2]. Nevertheless, Clarke continued that 'the bid will be renewed for the '57 Convention and will almost certainly succeed.' An advertisement, stating simply 'London in 1957' appeared on the back cover of the first issue of the Nycon II journal.
UK fandom did seemingly have a contingency plan, to run a second international convention in the style of Festivention in April 1957, as reported by Pam Bulmer in Femizine #8 (March 1956). Eric Jones, writing in Sidereal #3.1 (1956) reported on a meeting at Cytricon II, the 1956 UK Eastercon, where it was said that the venue for the convention would be either 'London or, if not, a Holiday Camp at Yarmouth'[3].
The second Nycon II journal carried another minimalist London advertisement, 'snog in the fog in '57' before asking 'London, anyone?'. By the third this has mutated into 'Meet in London in 1957: blog in the fog' and the journal also reported that Ted Carnell would be coming over to New York to present the bid with supporting 'Londoners' Mike Wilson, Audrey Lovett, Kerry Gaulder and Arthur C. Clarke although for context Lovett was by this point resident in the US, Gaulder in Canada, and Clarke was Nycon II's guest of honor. The advertisement in the fourth journal once more ran with 'Blog in the fog.'
The Nycon program book advertisement for the London bid claimed it was 'The City with the WORLD record for conventions', a claim it demonstrated with an odd list that omitted one convention (Third British Convention), renamed several more, and included one (Bombcon) that hadn't been regarded as a convention at the time or since .
Ted Carnell reported on the site selection in New Worlds #54 (December 1956):
At 3:00 p.m. this afternoon Anthony Boucher, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, rose to make the opening bid for Oakland[4] and in a very fine speech explained their city's plans for next year should they be successful. Several prominent West Coasters then added seconding speeches, being allowed ten minutes in which to make their tributes in favour of the Oakland-Berkeley area of California. The opening bid for London then followed by myself and was seconded by Larry Shaw, editor of Infinity Science Fiction who attended our own Kettering Convention earlier this year. Short supporting speeches in favour of London were then made by authors Dr. E. E. Smith of 'Lensman' series fame and Richard Wilson who had also been at Kettering this year. Some thirty minutes later the result in favour of London was announced.
Fantasy Times #255 (September 1956) reported that the 'Final vote was 203 to 65'.
There was however an attempt to sink the London bid. A telegram was sent to Ken and Pam Bulmer in the UK from Nycon II:
NEW YORK – OCT. "SUGGEST LONDON WITHDRAW BID TO PREVENT SPLIT IN FANDOM. PUBLISHERS GUARANTEE LONDON IN '58. ARTHUR CLARKE".
The telegram was misaddressed and didn't reach the Bulmers' home for a couple of days and as they were away anyway it was actually received by Joy and Vin¢ Clarke. This led to a fast exchange of further telegrams between London and New York. In Contact #1 (October 1956), Dick Ellington reported that the culprit for the hoax was Bob Chazin of Ohio.
The London bid became Loncon, the first Worldcon outside North America.
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- ↑ This was written in 1955 but published in 1956.
- ↑ See Fantasy Times #232 (October 1955).
- ↑ Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the east coast of England.
- ↑ The Nycon II journals had carried advertisements for a Los Angeles bid but the program book carried an advertisement saying they were withdrawing in favour of London.
| 1957 Site Selection | 1957 |
| This is a page about a convention bid. Please extend it by adding information about who was bidding, officers, committee list, what they were bidding for, who their opponents were, and who won. |
