Taffy Williams
(???? – ????)
A. E. Williams was a fan from Manchester, UK, active in the early 1950s. He was usually referred to as 'Taffy' and was also nicknamed 'The Brain'. He was a member of the British Fantasy Library (BFL).
He might have become involved in fandom in the mid-40s. In his report of the 1952 Mancon (Camber #1, 1952), Sandy Sanderson wrote:
Taffy Williams (the ASF Memory Man) now entered the argument, and pointed out that when he tried to contact active fans after the war, he found that they were no longer active, and it took till 1949 to improve matters.
He joined the BFL in 1947 and early in-person contacts were with Dave Cohen and Frank Richards, where in January 1951 he attended a meeting with them and Eric Bentcliffe that led to the formation of the Nor'west Science Fantasy Club (NSFC). He attended the Festivention in May 1951 and the one-day North Eastern Science-Fiction Conference (NECON) in October 1951. He also attended the 1952 London SF Con, where he reported that the Manchester group had 50 members, and Mancon later the same year. He is listed as a member of the Supermancon in 1954.
Peter Campbell, writing in Operation Fantast #13 (Winter 1952), explained the origin of the nickname, 'The Brain': 'he reads and remembers every story that comes out, and can apparently recall almost any s-f tale published in the last twenty years'.
Williams appears to have been mostly a convention and club fan. He did contribute an article of 'Gadgets in SF' to Space Times v1#3.
He should not be confused with A. F. Williams (Arthur F. Williams), although if his first name was Arthur, it's just possible he was the Arthur Williams who attended the 1949 Eastercon.
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