Leslie Croutch
Leslie A. Croutch was a fanzine editor from Parry Sound, Ontario Canada.
Leslie Croutch was a self employed radio and television repairman, working from home, who also published the Science Fiction fanzine Light. Leslie Croutch began publishing in the late 1930s under the name Croutch Magazine Market News, which was then shortened to Croutch News, and finally changed altogether to Light. First released in 1941, it continued to be released for three decades. Leslie Croutch was active in the National Fantasy Fan Federation. Light was also a regular zine for the FAPA.
Leslie Croutch was an active contributor to other fanzines around the world, writing for publications in the UK and the U.S.A. and in Canada. For a time, during World War II, he had a regular column in the UK based fanzine Futurian War Digest. It was in his column for Futurian War Digest, in Vol 1 No. 6, that Leslie Croutch is credited for the first use of the phrase "fanzine" in a UK publication. He regularly attended Science Fiction fandom meetings in Toronto, Ontario and contributed to their fanzine Canadian Fandom.
Leslie Croutch also wrote for pulp magazines. His stories "The Phantom Train" and "Tim's Tree" were published in Uncanny Tales in January of 1941. "Dancing Partner" appeared in Uncanny Tales of June 1941, "A Dictator Dies" to Eerie Tales, July 1941, and "Salvage Job" to Future Fiction in December 1941.
