Culture: John Wyndham's Centenary
July 10th 2003 was the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Wyndham, one of the formative figures in Golden Age British SF.

To commemorate this, there was a small event at the closest pub to the White Horse, where London fandom used to meet in the 1930s - as plugged in Ansible:

10 Jul [] JOHN WYNDHAM CENTENARY (he was born 10 July 1903), Walkers of
Holburn, Norwich St, London, EC4 -- site of the 1946-1953 White Horse sf
pub meetings. From 7pm. With WH regulars John Christopher (Sam Youd) and
-- on screen, if all goes well -- Arthur C.Clarke.

Wyndham died in 1969, the same year as the first moon landings, but several of his old drinking buddies were there to raise a glass to him. Arguably the Grand Old Man of British SF writers today, Brian Aldiss, was there, as was another of the great disaster novelists, Sam Youd, who wrote (amongst many other names) as John Christopher, amongst other White Horse veterans.

Arthur C. Clarke was one of these - he commemorated those meetings in his splendid, fictionalised account, Tales from the White Hart. Arthur can't travel now, but he sent a video message.

And from a younger generation of writers, Chris Priest.

At a toddler-like 35, I think I was the youngest person there, closely followed by swisstone and long-haired fishlifter - but Wyndham is not forgotten. His books are still in print, thanks to Penguin, and the NFT is doing a short SF season soon, to include the BBC's version of The Day of the Triffids.