Meme-Free Zone

Some histories of science fiction claim that the first SF convention was held in Philadelphia in autumn 1936. That was actually an impromptu gathering of fans, not an organized convention, and the first real convention was held in the UK a few months later, in Leeds in January 1937.

But it turns out that there's another event that can make a reasonable claim to have priority over both - in 1891! The Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete was basically a media con way ahead of its time, held in London's Royal Albert Hall in March 1891. The media in question was Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Vril: The Power of The Coming Race, first published in 1871. The Bazaar was a charity event set up to raise money for a hospital, and lasted several days. The fete included cosplay, jugglers, magic acts, and much more. It wasn't a huge success, and didn't really pave the way for later fandom, but it could be an interesting event to throw into a game set in this period.

An overview of the earliest SF conventions

The Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete

Video about the event

The programme for the event (PDF)
Courtesy of Royal Albert Hall Archive. Ref. RAHE/1/1891/5

Many thanks to Rob Hanson for bringing this to my attention.

Pointed out by Brian WINOLJ - the original drawings for a set of illustrations that were in a 1906 printing of The War of the Worlds by artist Henrique Alvim Corrêa, which are in some cases better than the Warwick Goble illustrations of 1897 - Wells liked them anyway. Lots of pictures, scroll down the page. Yours for an initial bid of £350,000, more likely a million or two.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3066374/Original-drawings-depicting-iconic-Martians-HG-Wells-s-sci-fi-masterpiece-War-Worlds-sale-350-000.html

Today's walk took me first to Little Venice where I disposed of a few slices of slightly stale bread in the traditional way, by feeding them to the assembled ducks, coots, swans etc. Along the way I managed to fumble one bit of bread so that it was still between my fingers when a swan grabbed it, and I can now truthfully say that I have been bitten by all of the main vertebrate groups including birds, reptiles (lizards, tortoises and snakes), fish, amphibia, and mammals (including primates).

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this, for fairly obvious reasons, but I did get a couple of nice pictures of some coots that are nesting on the rudder of an old sailing barge at Little Venice:
( Coot nest )

It's noticeable that their main nesting material seems to be old plastic bags and other rubbish.

I took a slight diversion because I wanted to visit a shop in Church Street market, and found my way back to the canal at the weird upside-down house - photos tell the story:

( Upside-Down House )

After a nice lunch in Camden Town I went on to a pub in Great Portland Street, where the Britain in 2014 Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) committee made an announcement of epic importance; they'd won the bid (to nobody's great surprise, since there were no other contenders), and Loncon 3 will be held on 14th-18th August 2014, but more importantly the guests of honour will be:

Iain M. Banks
John Clute
Malcolm Edwards
Chris Foss
Jeanne Gomoll
Robin Hobb
Bryan Talbot

Much rejoicing on this from me, and from the assembled gathering.

For much more on this see

www.loncon3.org


After that I went home, stopping to get a few more pictures of the Crossrail works at Royal Oak Station - suddenly realised that you can see them from the bridge by the station where there is a temporary structure over water pipes, raising the ground level by a couple of feet.

( Crossrail conveyors )

And so to the computer, and this update.

Tomorrow - the school term begins...

PS - have a small bonus convoy of baby ducks, a photo I took a few days ago.

( We have a convoy... )

Later: Forgot to say that there is a livejournal for the Worldcon, loncon3