The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

Here is an updated list of conventions I have attended in the past twenty one years. It honestly does not feel that long.

Science Fiction Conventions 1986 – 2007

1986
Novacon 16 : De Vere Hotel, Coventry
Santacon IV : Viking Hotel, York (Multimedia)

1987
Galactacon IV : Shepperton Moat House, Shepperton, Surrey. (Multimedia)
Novacon 17 : Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham.
Leisure Hive : Wiltshire Hotel, Swindon. (”Doctor Who“)
Necroninecon (Shoestringcon 9) : Hatfield Polytechnic, Hatfield.

1988
Honeycomb : Wiltshire Hotel, Swindon. (“Doctor Who”)
Falcon : Hilton National Hotel, Bath. (”Doctor Who”)
Concert : Stakis Regency Hotel, Edinburgh. (Multimedia)

1989
Elydore III : Shepperton Moat House, Shepperton. (Multimedia)
Carousel I : Holiday Inn, Cardiff. (”Doctor Who“)
Shang-ri-la : Reading. (“Doctor Who”)

1990
Carousel II : Holiday Inn, Cardiff. (“Doctor Who”)
Confiction (48^th World Science Fiction Convention) : Het Nationaal Congresgebouw, ’sGravenhagen, Nederland.
Concussion : Central Hotel, Cardiff. (Multimedia)

1991
Reconnaissance: Park Hotel, Cardiff.
Speculation (42nd National Science Fiction Convention) : Hospitality Inn, Glasgow.
Touchwood : Shepperton Moat House, Shepperton. (Multimedia)

1992
Lucon IV : Leeds University Students Union, Leeds.
Inconsequential : Aston Court Hotel, Derby. (Humorous S.F.)
Magicon (50^th World Science Fiction Convention) : Orange County Conference Centre, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

1993
Helicon (44th National Science Fiction Convention) : Hotel de France, St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands
SmofCon 10 : Hotel de France, St. Helier, Jersey, C.I. (Conrunning)
Panopticon ‘93 : Novotel Hammersmith, Hammersmith, London. (”Doctor Who“)
Con-Yak (Beneluxcon #19) : Hotel Mercure aan de Amstel, Amsterdam, Nederland.

1994
Inconceivable (Inconsequential II) : Tudor Court Hotel, Drayton, nr Long Eaton, Derbyshire. (Humorous SF)
Wincon III : King Alfred’s College, Winchester.
Armardacon : Astor Hotel, Plymouth. (Predominantly “Star Trek”)

1995
Confabulation (46th National Science Fiction Convention) : Britannia International Hotel, London.
Intersection (53rd World Science Fiction Society) : Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre, Glasgow, Scotland.

1996
Evolution (49th National Science Fiction Convention) : Raddison Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London
Inconsistent (Inconsequential III) : Quality Scotch Corner Hotel, Outside Darlington. (Humorous SF)
Novacon 26 : Ibis Hotel, Birmingham.

1998
Intuition (49th National Science Fiction Convention)

2000
2Con (51^st National Science Fiction Convention) : Central Hotel. Glasgow
ArmadaCon : Copthorne Hotel, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2001
Nocturnal 3K : Raddison Edwardian, Heathrow, London (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Armadacon : Copthorne Hotel, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2002
South : Raddison Edwardian, Heathrow, London (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Armadacon : Copthorne Hotel, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2003
The Harvest : Paragon Hotel, Earls Court, London (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Construction : Hanover International, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff (World Con Planning)
Armadacon 15 : Copthorne Hotel, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2004
Concourse (55^th British National Science Fiction Convention) : The Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
Armadacon 16 : Copthorne Hotel, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2005
Interaction (63^rd World Science Fiction Convention) : Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre, Glasgow, Scotland.
2006
Regenerations 2006 : Swansea Marriot, Swansea Marina, Swansea (Doctor Who)
Armadacon 18 : Plymouth Novotel Hotel, Marshmills, Plymouth (Multimedia)

2007
Regenerations 2007 : Swansea Marriot, Swansea Marina, Swansea (Doctor Who)

Written by: Gareth Roberts
Directed by: Charles Martin
Starring: Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmine Paige, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Joseph Milson, Juliet Cowan, voice of Alexander Armstrong.
Guest Starring: Jay Simpson, Holly Atkins, Ryan Watson, Floella Benjamin, Paul Kasey, Jimmy Vee, Ruari Mears, the voice of John Leeson

(more…)

Back in the early 1960’s, it was virtually unheard of for a woman to be a Drama Producer at the BBC or ITV.  Thanks to Verity Lambert, who at the time was working as a secretary, all that changed. Her former boss, the Canadian executive Sidney Newman had been brought into the BBC in 1962 to give the Drama Department a bit of a shake up. He spotted her talent and in 1963 recruited her to produce Doctor Who, becoming both the youngest and only female Producer at the BBC. Following the runaway success of Doctor Who, a door had opened in the entertainment industry that has never closed. Lambert continued working for the Corporation until 1978.

Her move in 1979 to Euston Films, a division of Thames Television saw the birth of another television great, the drama series Minderthat starred George Cole and Denis Waterman. In 1985 she founded the company Cinema Verity which made a string of successful programmes for both the BBC and ITV including Jonathan Creek.

She maintained her links with Doctor Who and appeared on many of the documentary extras on the DVD releases of stories form her tenure as Producer. In the story Human Nature, the Doctor, who is disguised as the human teacher John Smith claims that his father was called Sidney and his mother was called Verity, a small in-joke that delighted the fans and paid tribute to the woman who did so much to create that series.

Today is the forty fourth anniversary of the broadcast of the first episode of Doctor Who. However, it is an anniversary tinged with sadness, following the announcement this morning of the death of Verity Lambert, a woman who has touched so many lives.

Verity Lambert 1935 -2007

Because I suffer from Asthma, every year I get the annual inoculation against Influenza.  Unfortunately, with so many variations of the virus out there, and only so much room in the vaccine, there is a chance that you will still get the ’flu’ during the winter.  It looks like I drew the short straw this year.  At the end of last week, I had a sore throat and a headache, the unmistakable first symptoms of the ‘flu’ that would soon spread to the nasal passages and beyond (a Cold is the reverse of the ‘Flu’, it starts in the nasal passages and spreads to the throat and beyond). I have no doubt that the ‘flu’ jab has pepped up my immune system, and I have not had the lurgies that badly and have not missed any day of work.  I think that the infection is now starting to subside.  However, I still feel as though I am producing my own body-weight in snot each day and going through a small rain-forest of paper tissues.

Last night saw another trip down to Cardiff for a TIMELESS Meeting in the Gatekeeper and a chance to see remastered Star Trek on the big screen.  I finished work as today was my half day at 1pm and changed and was all set to catch the 2.47pm train to Cardiff.  As it was pulling into Treherbert Station, I realised that I had been a Grade “A” dimbleberry and left my wallet in my bedroom as I was changing. Fortunately for me, my sister was able to get the wallet to me before the train left and I was still on schedule. 

I decided to get off the train at Cathays Station, pop into Lidl’s to get some ground coffee for work and then have a pleasant walk through Cathays Park into the city centre.  I must have been walking though what constitutes the campus of Cardiff University just as one lot of lectures finished and another was about to begin, because students appeared from nowhere filling every available inch of the pavement.

Things are definitely winding up for Christmas.  In the Park outside the National Museum of Wales, the annual “Winter Wonderland” ice rink and funfair was being set up.  It opens when the Christmas Lights are switched on and stays open until the beginning of January.  The lights go on this Thursday, so everything was behind temporary security fences.  It seems to me that they have got a new Ferris Wheel outside the Museum this year.  I am sure that last year they still had the old red and yellow wheel that was there when Billie Piper and David Tennant switched the lights on in 2005.  This now one is all white and space-age, but fits in better with the “Winter Wonderland” theme than the old one with its bright flowers on each gondola.

The Christmas theme continued on Queen Street.  Outside the Capitol Centre a thirty foot tall conical structure covered in pine branches has been constructed.  It is supposed to be a giant conifer, that contains Santa’s Grotto.  At the time, it looked more grotty than grotto, but as it was a work in progress I assume it will look better when it is open to the public.

The Gatekeeper, being a J. D. Wetherspoons pub had a promotion on whereby for £1·63 I could but three different real ales in third of a pint tumblers to see which one I liked.  It is an interesting marketing ploy, and certainly increases the amount of new ales a person can sample in an evening.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it does the beer any favours.  There is no depth in the tiny little glasses for any real flavour to develop.  Anyway, I had a nice steak with a jacket potato and salad at the pub, followed by apple pie and ice-cream, so I left the pub replete.  I didn’t stay long at the meeting, as I had other things planned, namely the screening of the Star Trek story The Menagerie  at the Odeon in Cardiff Bay. 

The screening was a glorified promotion for the newly released remastered HD-DVD release of Season One of the classic series, as the so-called making-off feature was a pure info-mercial for the discs.  It was great fun watching the whole thing on big screen and they have done a remarkable job in tidying the whole thing up.

Not so pleasant was the hours wait at Queen Street for my train up the valley.  The weather was bitterly cold. Somebody in the very expensive flats next to Queen Street Station must really love Christmas, as they were busy putting up fairy lights around their windows, and I noticed a Christmas tree as well.

Written by Gareth Roberts
Directed by Graeme Harper
Starring: Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmine Paige, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Joseph Milson, Juliet Cowan, voice of Alexander Armstrong.
Guest Stars:Jane Asher, Jimmy Vee, Paul Marc Davies, Jessica Ashworth, Francesca Miller.

(more…)

A friend was getting rid of her old kitchen furniture, a table, five dining room chairs and a sideboard.  Too good to waste, so she gave them to me to replace and enhance my kitchen/dinning room furniture.  The only problem is that I have to find a replacement set of nuts to hold the legs of the table in place.  There lies the route of my troubles, the screws are not a modern metric screws, they are old fashioned screws witha 3/16th Whitworth thread.  Finding nuts for them is proving to be a headache. It looks as if it will be easier to have to have the screws on the legs replaced than finding the right sized nuts for the existing screws.

I bought myself a new vacuum cleaner today. An Electrolux Vitese Stairmaster upright. Vacuuming is one of the jobs around the house I enjoy doing, I find it strangely relaxing. I needed a new vcuum cleaner because the old one has taken a tanking, being used to clean up after so much building work and decorating in the house.

What I was not expecting once I got the thing home from the Co-op in Treorchy was for it to be in bits that needed to be assembled. The picture to the left shows all the components that came in the box, laid out to match the picture in the manual, as I checked that I had everything. The Picture to the right shows the finished article. in all its glory. It is a very sturdy peice of Swedish engineering and I hope that nothing goes wrong with it. Although I did notice that there was a note in the box informing me that if I did have any problems, not to return it to the shop I bought it, but to phone Electrolux for them to come and take it away. This does not surprise me, having put it together I know for a fact than nobody would ever be able to take it back to peices and fit it back into its original box.