diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index de666fad1..520d3cc5b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2021-07-15  Alex Richardson  <Alexander.Richardson@cl.cam.ac.uk>
+
+	* tests/issue-1063/main.c (main): Fix uninitialized variable.
+
+	I tried running `meson test` but the test just crashed and gdb
+	reported that the face argument to `FT_Get_Char_Index` was nonsense. 
+	With this change the test prints 'Could not open file: ' as it
+	should.
+
 2021-07-16  Werner Lemberg  <wl@gnu.org>
 
 	[smooth] Minor fixes.
diff --git a/tests/issue-1063/main.c b/tests/issue-1063/main.c
index eac02642a..1bce0feb2 100644
--- a/tests/issue-1063/main.c
+++ b/tests/issue-1063/main.c
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@ int
 main( void )
 {
   FT_Library library;
-  FT_Face    face;
+  FT_Face    face = NULL;
 
   /* Assumes this is run from out/ build directory though 'meson test -C out' */
   const char* filepath = "../tests/data/As.I.Lay.Dying.ttf";
 
   FT_Init_FreeType( &library );
-  FT_New_Face( library, filepath, 0, &face );
-  if ( !face )
+  if ( FT_New_Face( library, filepath, 0, &face ) != 0 )
   {
     fprintf( stderr, "Could not open file: %s\n", filepath );
     return 1;