This is from page what we shall call 8 (if we treat the front cover as 1 as per our Summary) of the first Progress Report of Swancon XIII. Transcribed by Elaine Walker. All typos reproduced as faithfully as possible. Except for all the weird extra spaces. I didn’t feel the need to reproduce those.
AN INTERVIEW WITH TIM RICHARDS by Tim Richards
Q: I understand you were born in Donnybrook, of poor but honest farming folk?
A: It’s a lie! I was in fact born in Peru in 1823 as the spiritual twin of the revolutionary Simon Bolivar. A tempestuous life awaited me, if not for the fact that I was spirited away by Gypsies at the age of three.
Q: Gypsies? In South America?
A: Did I say Gypsies? They were in fact the original inhabitants of Easter Island – a strange race of extraterrestrials with the uncanny power to levitate onions.
Q: Ah… and your first contact with science fiction fandom was through your re-awakened interest in Doctor Who?
A: Either that or ‘the Magic Roundabout’…
Q: And you helped found the local Doctor Who club, The West Lodge, which is still going strong. I hear you’ve also dabbled in other areas of media S.F. – Blake’s 7, Star Trek, Hitch-Hiker’s, The Prisioner…
A: …Lost in Space…
Q: Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d want to admit that. Why do you think the SWANCON 13 Committee asked you to be a Fan Guest of Honour?
A: Insanity? Desperation? Who knows? Maybe they just liked my Dalek baseball cap at SWANCON 12.
Q: Right. Well, that’s just about all we have time for…
A: Can I just point out that I have a large collection of S.F. paperbacks (I’ve even read some of them) – I’m not only a media fan you know…
Q: So we say ‘thank you’ Tim Richards…
A: Oh yes, and I’d just like to plug WHOCON 4 (DETAILS ELSEWHERE IN THE REPORT) if you don’t mind…
Q: …and now for something completely different.
A: I want to complain about this parrot…
THE END. BUT TIM WILL RETURN IN ‘SWANCON 13’…