necessary to put on a big convention was stressed. To the Convention Committee thanks
was expressed for all the time, effort and money which had gone into creating the
London World Science Fiction Convention, To those stalwarts who worked fan into the
nigbt - night after night - without the profit motive in mind - without, in fact, any
hope of profit - I again toast you. I toast John Wyndham and John "Ted" Carnell who
administered the affair; Roberta Wild, wbo handled all the secretarial work; Charles
Duncombe and Sandy Sanderson, who were the financial wizards; Joy and Vin Clarke, who
handled the publicity for Britain, and Pamela and Ken Bulrmer, the overseas publicity
agents; the hardworking programme Committee, headed up by Dave Newman and Norman
Shorrock; and Walter Willis, Eric Jones, John Brunner, John Roles, Ken Slater, and
all the others who helped.

     Forrest J Ackerman brought the round of toasts to a conclusion with one to
Absent Friends, Forry mentioned, and eulogized, those who could no longer be with
us, such as H. G. Wells, Bob Olsen and Ray Cummings. (All those mentioned by Ackerman
were quite elderly when they died. It is ironic to mention the group of young men who
have passed away since the Loncon - Henry Kuttner, Cyril Kornbluth, Vernon McCain and
Francis T. Laney.)

     There were several others who spoke. Sam Moskowitz asked for the floor and Ted
Carnell reluctantly released it to him. Sam had observed tho 200-odd people present
and had come up with the startling statement that present at the Loncon were eight
fans who had also been present at the First World S-F Conventfon in New York, July,
1939. Tbis group included Dave Kyle, John Victor Petersen (who, by the way, was
taking notes galore and transmitting them daily to NYC to James V. Taurasi and Ray
Van Houten for SCIENCE FICTION TIMES), Oswald Train, Forrest J Ackerman, Harry
Harrison, John W. Campbell, Bob Madle and, of course, Sam. He went on to contrast
the first convention with more recent ones. In reality, the banquet at the first one
cost $l - this banquet, at the Loneon, cost about twice that, but was, even at that,
the most inexpensive since the 1939 convention. 
     
     Several foreign science fiction fans were present at the Loncon. Lars Helander,
of Sweden, said a few words anent Swedish fandom and Reiner Eisfeld, of Germany, spoke
quite forcefully on fandom in Germany and emphasized that Gerfans wanted to be friends
with the rest of fandom. He mentioned the German S-F Convention which was being held
the following weekend and invited all to attend.

     So ended the Inaugural Luncheon. No further program was planned until Saturday
evening, so it was obvious that there would be a large amount of intellectual discus-
sion and beer-drinking in the lounge for the next four or five hours.

     On the way out of the banquet hall I was hailed by Dave Jenrette, who was replete
with all sorts of expensive camera equipment. Dave and I were buddies from way back.
He had been a member of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society from about 1949 to
1953, at which time he enlisted in the Air Force as a cadet. Now a First Lieutenant,
he had been stationed in England, not too far from London, since September 1956.
Dave, as some may recall, was originally known in fandom as "Dave Hammond", but upon
embarking on his service career had to change hls name to "Jenrette", inasmuch as
that happens to be his correct name. (The U. S. Government frowns upon people enter-
ing the service under a pseudonym.)

     Dave is well-known in fandom, and has been at many conventions, so it would be
superfluous to devote space to a description of this tall, handsome, dashing crew-
cropped lad. I must mention, however, that his many assets attracted science fiction
reader Rusty Silverxaan, and they were married in 1955. Rusty was not at the Loncon,
as she was expecting momentarily, and Dave was ready to leave the Loncon at a moment's
notice. Everything developed fine, however, and Dave was able to stay both Saturday
and Sunday without receiving a telephone call that he was about to become a father.
The little lad arrived a week or two after the Loncon.