Doctor Who Conventions these days are
held in vast arenas and gain national publiclity but it all started in somewhat
more modest circumstances. On August 6 1977 the first ever UK Doctor Who convention was held at Broomwood Church Hall in Battersea. It was organised by Keith Barnfather
on behalf of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (aka DWAS) itself less than 18
months old. The event was simply titled Convention 77; the distinctive
PanoptiCon moniker wasn't used until the following year. On the day it was
pouring with rain; a convention tradition that became as familiar as long
autograph queues and colour coded badges in subsequent years. Eager attendees
can't have known quite what to expect and were greeted with a hall covered in
photos from the show as well as entries for an art competition. At Star Trek cons these sort of
participation events are part and parcel of proceedings but somehow they never
really caught on in Who fandom despite this early enthusiasm.
The stage was dominated by the Tardis prop
from the two 1960s films and a couple of Daleks as well. One of the traditions
of early cons was to have a slide show which may seem a quaint practice today
but don't forget that in the Seventies few had access to a video recorder and
even if they had there were no old episodes available to the public to play.
These presentations were nostalgic and, often, a particular slide would draw
applause notably any of the older Doctors or of Roger Delgado which indicates
that 70s fans enjoyed the show in a simpler and more open way. The pictures
were accompanied by a soundtrack mixing extracts from the episodes with
suitable music. There was also a props display featuring such creatures as an
Exxilon and Aggedor.
