Alan Robson - The Bearded Triffid

Triffids were invented by the science fiction novelist John Wyndham (1903-1969) in his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids. They were mobile plants equipped with a vicious sting which could kill with a single lash. They were not a threat until the population fell blind due to a comet's light, giving the triffids a serious advantage.

The novel was enormously popular in England and the word entered the language.

I remember as a child going for drives in the country with my parents. Whenever they saw a strange weed cowering in the hedgerow they would proclaim it to be a triffid.

A whole generation of British children grew up convinced that any plant they were unable to identify must be a triffid, and that given the least bit of encouragement it would chase after them and sting them to death...

I first read the book when I was about eight years old (I think - the exact details are a little hazy now), but I do remember that it made an enormous impression on me. It turned me into a rabid science fiction fan (a hobby I have pursued from that day to this).

A close friend, amused by the fanaticism with which I indulged my hobby, used to refer to me jokingly as the bearded triffid. The name stuck (I was quite proud of it) and I have used it ever since.

If you have any comments about the world of the Bearded Triffid, then please email me.

The essays on this web site won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for best fan writing in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Content Last Updated: 11th August 2008

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Incidents

Before I started this web site, I wrote quite a lot of other essays that mused about life and literature and art with occasional(!) references to science fiction. The essays were published in two books which I have now made available here:

Trimmings From The Triffid's Beard Volume 1
Trimmings From The Triffid's Beard Volume 2

I've recently started a blog. Click here to read it.

Robin had her appendix removed in January 2008. If you want to see what an appendix looks like, click here.

Except where stated otherwise, all illustrations are copyright (c) James Bryson 1993 and 1999 and are reproduced with permission. Thank you James.