numerous telephone calls concerning where and how to pick up John W. Campbell, how the press meeting should be run, and so on. There is no doubt that Ted, as Convention Chairman, devoted a great deal of thought, time and energy to his position. After leaving Ted's office, Ken suggested that, even though I was a fan, maybe a little sightseeing would be in order. So we went uptown to St. Paul's Cathedral, a roust for any American touring England. It would have shaken the very foundations of American traditions if I had returned to the States and informed various and sundry that I had not bothered to visit St. Paul's. In reality, the cathedral is very impressive: incred- ibly large, very soul-stirring and, I thought, it is no wonder that the peasants of the medieval ages were so completely under the domination of the Church. Those who attended mass in some of the larger churches that existed then must have thought they were actually in the presence of the Almighty himself. The ethereal illusion is spoiled somewhat, however, at St. Paul's by the commercialism that abounds unrestricted within. Leaving St. Paul's, we boarded one of the famous London buses, took our seats on the second level, and rode through various historical areas such as Fleet Street, Regent Street, past the American Embassy, and so on. It is interesting to note that as one approaches the area of the American Embassy, the cars appear to grow larger. Not more numerous, but larger. The Yankees stationed in London apparently prefer the monstrous tail-finned horrors to the small, utilitarian cars driven by the average Londoner. By this time it was late afternoon, so we decided to drop over to the King's Court to see what was going on, if anything. There were a few fans wandering about, one of whom was Ron Hennett, editor of PLOY. Ron is a rather young (early 20's) chap, full of enthusiasm, quite friendly, and mustached. Pete Taylor and Reiner Eisfeld were also wandering around and, I was informed, Will Jenkins had been about but had left to attend the local burlesque show. Ken and I departed for the Bulmer residence to meet Pamela, following which my gracious hosts took me to a local (Catford) eating establishment where we indulged in a delightful and filling repast. Deciding to rest up for the next day, we returned to 204 Wellmeadow Road, where such subjects as Sam Moskowitz, old fandom, TAFF, et cetera were discussed. Ken startled me by tossing the March 1938 issue of FANTASCIENCE DIGEST to mc - a publication which I read with enthusiasm. (Even though I edited it, I hadn't seen it for almost 20 years, so everything contained therein was practically brand new.) Ken compared the cover of that issue of FD (drawn by John Giunta) with the cover of issue #33 of FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION (painted by Freas) to prove that science fiction has changed very little in 20 years. Both covers showed men in space suits shooting (rifles) at gigantic monsters and, in Fact, the similarity of the scenes is rather reroarkable. Like Wednesday, Thursday dawned bright and early, too. At breakfast, Ken inforsmed me that we were going to rent a car. We needed a car so John W. Campbell could be picked up in style. So off we went to rent a car - a very simple project, thought I. Hah: Little did I realize that rented cars were in great demand in Dondon and were, in fact, at a premium. At any rate, after much walking and talking, we finally gave up. I'm not quite sure what happened when Campbell arrived at the airport. There was a story going around that he was met at the airport and brought to the hotel in the HBC car. This I can't verify, although roy source of information is almost beyond reproach. Quite disgusted with his inability to rent a csr, Ken decided to walk ozf his wrath. So we did a little more sightseeing, visiting such historical sites as Big Ben, Bucking- ham Palace, and 10 Downing Street, which was barred by a guard so we couldn't get in to tell MacMillan that his conservatism was not in keeping with the conservatism of those who had recently occupied the house, Eden and Churchill. Note: Following the original publicabion of the above, the following paragraphs, which tell how Campbell was met at the airport, were received from Ted Carnell: |