Memories of Fortean Times
Many congratulations on your 50th anniversary. You’ve been a part of my life now for almost half of that time, through many ups and downs, and I can honestly say you’ve opened doors for me that I could never have imagined. Your influence on my thinking has been immense, a fact for which I’m eternally grateful. Here’s to the next 50 years, at which point I’ll be a sprightly 99!
Arthur Burton
Maidstone, Kent
It was at the 1979 World SF Convention (Seacon 79), in Brighton’s Metropole Hotel over the August Bank Holiday weekend. I was sitting having a drink and a natter with a few friends in one of the many bars (essentially what conventions are for), and I happened to be wearing a denim jacket with a large Grateful Dead Skull and Roses patch (actually ‘borrowed’ from an old edition of The Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam) sewn on the back. A slightly dishevelled figure in hippie/gypsy gear shuffled over and said: “If you’re into Grateful Dead, you must be into weird shit…” I allowed as to how I might be said to be into weird shit, and he said, “Have you ever seen one of these?” as he thrust a copy of Fortean Times 29 at me – he had a bag full of them, plus subscription forms. Yes, it was none other than Ion Will [see obit FT274:23-24]. I admitted I’d noticed adverts for the mag in semi-pro music mags like Zigzag and Dark Star, but had never actually seen a copy. I flicked through the pages, said, “This looks really interesting” and immediately bought a subscription – and shortly thereafter bought gift subs for a few friends. One or two said, “I’m not really interested in this sort of thing,” while others kept on reading FT for some time. I also immediately started sending in odd news clippings, but never bothered putting my name on them, so it wasn’t until I included a letter about a FOAF-tale I’d heard, very similar to one mentioned in FT, that my name started appearing in the credits. Haven’t missed an issue yet, and I still always read it cover-to-cover. So you must be doing something right!
Incidentally, the mag mentioned above was co-edited and partly written by Steve Burgess, who I’m sure had a regular column in [He contributed a column called ‘Under the Eye’ to – Ed.], and who worked in DarkThey Were And Golden-Eyed – presumably how he got to know the crowd, since they did clippingsorts in a room there. I did try to have a chat with him when he was helping mind the DTWAGE book-stall at the Con to suggest a Dead Heads room party; the party never happened, although I did meet Linda Krawecke (she went on to organise one of the late UnConventions at the Regent’s Street Polytechnic), who was wearing a T-shirt at the time. Oh what a tangled web we weave.
