A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEHIND THE SOFA
by Mark Iles
In the beginning was Sci Fi Soc or, if you prefer, the Bristol University
Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. This had been running for several
years with varying degrees of success. In 1991 one of the society's
members, Ross Parish, a Dagenham-born first-year Biology student who had
up until now been providing the society with obscure Doctor Who videos,
decided that there was a slight gap in the market, and took it upon
himself to create a breakaway society completely devoted to Doctor Who.
In early 1992, armed with a list of about forty people who were interested
in joining the society (the required number to form an affiliated society
under Students' Union rules), he approached the Union. They gave him the
go-ahead, and in the Summer term of 1992, the society began showing videos
on Tuesday and Thursday nights to anyone who wanted to turn up. The first
stories to be aired were the surviving Cybermen stories ('Tomb' was not
yet available at this point) - BEHIND THE SOFA had been born.
The original committee at this point (and for the next year) were:
- President - Ross 'Yeti' Parrish
- Vice-President - Leo 'Quality' Martin
- Treasurer - Andy MacLeod
- Secretary - Nick 'Not Norman' Caulfield
- Editor - Becky 'Bex' Allen
Interesting facts about the original committee:
- Two of the committee members, Andy and Bex, never actually turned
up to any meetings. This was because Ross had just draughted in his
friends to fill vacant positions on the society's committee.
- Bex, although supposedly the Editor, had nothing to do with the
production of the first issue of the society's magazine, 'Nestene
Intelligence' (or Inteligence, as it said on the cover!). It was, in
fact, produced by Andy and Ross, working solidly over one weekend on Andy's
PC, with Sprint Pizza breaks every few hours. Leo tried to help with some
photocopying, but the copier 'gave him hassle'.
- Leo's father is none other than Dave Martin of 'Claws of Axos' (and
many others) fame - one of Doctor Who's most prolific writers.
- Nick was co-founder of the fondly-remembered, if short-lived,
Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things. Their activities
included a meal out in full dinner jacket regalia at Flipper, a local
greasy spoon cafe; a trip to a famous tree in the middle of nowhere (they
stood around for a few minutes, then trekked back home); and a tour of the
local carpet shops.
- Ross eventually ran for Union President, but unfortunately for the
society's annual grant, didn't get elected.
The next year carried on swimmingly and the first issue of Nestene
Intelligence was produced, including a Tom Baker Retrospective, 1001
Things to do with your Dalek, Shada - the Unfinished Story, Doctor Who
Visits Bristol, and Kevin Anorak Says 'Did You Know...'. Lots of new first
years joined, among them the future committee for 1993-94. They were:
- President - Mark Iles (me)
- Vice-President - Gareth Pugh
- Treasurer - David Herrick
- Editor - Jon Tickner
- Welsh Secretary - Mike Smith (no, really!)
When they (we) took over, the society was looking a bit shabby. No
magazine had been produced since the first one, and none of the committee
bothered turning up anymore. Fresh blood brought new impetus, however.
The committee vowed to produce a twice-termly magazine (four were issued
that year) and they got in contact with publishers Titan and Virgin, who
agreed to send review copies of new Doctor Who books whenever possible.
The Union grant given to the society increased, and membership went up by
thirty percent. Nestene Intelligence even garnered a favourable
review in DWB (now known as DreamWatch) issue 130:
"Nestene Intelligence, a Bristol University fanzine with a few
too many in-references for external consumption, but a nice line in French
covers", followed by a photo of our Edition Francaise, L'Intelligence
de Nestene, le magazine de Derriere le Divan, le societe de Medecin Qui.
Some interesting and little known facts about this committee:
- Gareth has, in fact, met Peter Davison, Mark Strickson and Terrance
Dicks, when he won a Target Books competition to visit the set of Doctor
Who, and saw them filming 'Warriors From the Deep'. Terrance Dicks gave
him a couple of signed Target books over lunch.
- Mark used to live down the road from Patrick Troughton, and would
often see him in the post office, picking up his pension. He looked
pretty scruffy and lived above a petrol station, overlooking a park, fact
fiends.
- Mike is Welsh.
- Dave owns all but three of the Target novelisations.
The reigns of the society were handed over the next Easter to the
exciting, and slightly smaller, new committee:
- President - Dan Salter
- Editor - Ian Wheeler
- Treasurer - James 'Wiggy' Holtom/ David Herrick
Riveting facts about the committee for 1994-95:
- Ian managed to produce only one issue of Nestene
Intelligence before getting bored, and not bothering to do any more.
- Wiggy left after being insulted in the magazine by Ian. He was
replaced by Dave, who thus became the first person to have been on the
committee two years running.
- Dan Salter can fly planes, and his dad was almost in a Bon Jovi video.
- Dan's middle names are Gwynne and St.Clair! He apparently goes weak
at the knees if the words 'Zoe Heriot' are whispered softly in his
ear..!
A pretty successful year followed (despite the lack of magazines), including
a meal out (at the society's expense) at the Spaghetti Tree. At the end
of the year, Mark Iles and Dan Salter also set up a page for the society
on the World Wide Web (that's this, folks!). Dan had the bright idea of
transcribing scripts of missing episodes from the audio copies and
putting on the web page, and within months the society's page had become
a major site on the Internet for the missing Doctor Who scripts.
At the end of the year, the society was handed over to a new, and even more
exciting than ever before, committee:
- President - Richard Tinsley
- Vice-President - Leon Quinn
- Treasurer - Colin Homes
- Secretary - Amy Walton
- Editor - Huw Llewellyn Davies
Facts about them...
- Amy almost appeared on Channel 4's "The Crystal Maze",
and her grandad once played cricket with W.G.Grace.
- Huw is Welsh, and isn't actually a student at Bristol University
(shhhh!) His beard once went white overnight and he had to shave it all off.
- Richard was also almost on "The Crystal Maze", and can recite
every episode title of Red Dwarf. He became "famous" with an
appearance on Turnabout last year, and will soon be a contestant on Chain
Letters.
- Colin promised himself never again, not in a million years.
Unfortunately, we nobbled the voting so that he couldn't escape quite
that easily.
Membership of the society increased by 20% for this year - mainly thanks to
Amy and Leon persuading all their flatmates to join! The video
evenings and web page also continued to go from strength to strength, and
at the AGM on March 7th, 1996, the committee for the next year were
elected. These then are the lucky souls who are now running the
society:
- President - Amy Walton
- Vice-President - Simon Watkins
- Treasurer - Colin Homes
- Secretary - John Horton
Ever more fascinating facts about this lot...
- Amy thus becomes the first female President in the society's 5 year
history. She apparently is the first President to wear a skirt, although we
do wonder about some of her predecessors...
- Simon is also a closet Welshman, thus keeping up a worrying trend
on the committee. He also claims 'Jo Grant is a top babe', 'McCoy was
underrated', and 'Dudley Moore would have been a brilliant Doctor.' That Welsh
ancestry coming out again...
- Colin, however, is just a Welsh closet. His spare time is spent up
the rear end of horses. (Pantomime variety!)
- John has floppy hair, but we don't hold it against him.
The future of the society is in their hands. Feels different this time...