Bob Fischer – Wiffle Lever to Full! Event in Birmingham celebrates all things SciFi

By John Freeman on September 22, 2022

In early 1980s Middlesbrough, Daleks were on every street corner. And so were Klingons, Vogons and crack Imperial Stormtroopers. At least, that’s how it seemed to Bob Fischer, a grubby, wide-eyed eight-year-old growing up in front of the telly.

Three decades later, now a author, playwright and BBC radio presenter, Bob decided to rekindle his love affair with all things sci-fi by taking off on a freewheeling tour of the UK’s cult TV and film conventions.

From Doctor Who to Discworld, from Star Wars to Star Trek and Robin of Sherwood to Red Dwarf, Bob is celebrating his childhood love of sci-fi and fantasy and the tour of British conventions that rekindled it.

In a special show at the Kitchen Garden Café in Birmingham next month, Bob will be showing slides from his travels, reading from his acclaimed book Wiffle Lever To Full! – and telling hilarious stories about the Cyberman invasion of Stockton-on-Tees.

“Anyone who agrees that Star Wars was a defining moment of our collective childhoods will love this book” The Times review said of his book.

Bob Fischer is a writer and broadcaster with a lifelong passion for cult television and film, esoteric music, and folklore. His book Wiffle Lever to Full!, a travelogue of British science fiction conventions, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2008, and reissued as a revised edition in 2018.

In recent years, he has written about North Yorkshire folklore and the unsettling, ‘haunted’ nature of British popular culture for the Fortean Times magazine; as well as travelling the UK to present lively lectures on related topics.

As a radio presenter, he hosts regular shows for his local station BBC Tees, and has also worked as a presenter for BBC 6 Music, Five Live and Radio 4 Extra. In 2018, he was one half of the Summer Winos stage show at the Edinburgh Festival, detailing changes in British social history through the plotlines of Last of the Summer Wine.

• Bob Fischer – Wiffle Lever to Full 7.30pm (Doors 7.00pm) Thursday 6th October 2022, The Kitchen Garden Café, 17 York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7SA | Tickets: £10 advance/ £12 on the door

• Follow Bob Fischer on Twitter

• Buy Wiffle Lever To Full!, the book…

In 1981, the eight-year-old Bob Fischer was entranced by Daleks, Vogons and crack Imperial Stormtroopers.

Almost three decades later, Bob decides to rekindle the affair with a tour of the UK’s sci-fi and cult TV conventions. Freewheeling from Doctor Who to Discworld, Star Wars to Star Trek and Robin of Sherwood to Red Dwarf, he combines misty-eyed memories with a terrifying travelogue of terrible, torturous . . . terror. Or something.

In space, no one can hear you scream. And don’t expect much sympathy in Peterborough, either.

With thanks to Paul H. Birch

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.