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The UK's X-Files: MOD Files / Condign Report / Etc.

If it's verified, again, we don't know if it was reports or sightings.
Coming back to what Clarke said, I've never heard a wave of UFOs was reported at the time. To my knowledge, no books on UFOs mentionned it in the following years. This would be strange if there was a wave.
Billy Cox comes with a different interpretation : there was no increase in new sightings, but people reported old sightings they hadn't dared to for fear of ridicule.
http://devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/1 ... ting-myth/
 
Long article

UFO sightings over Britain more than triple this year
Beware the little green men – the number of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings has more than tripled this year, Ministry of Defence documents reveal.
By Jasper Copping
Published: 9:00PM BST 19 Sep 2009

The so-called "X Files" show that there have been 394 claims reported to the MoD's UFO desk from January until the end of last month, making it by far the "busiest" year on record.

Last year, there were only 118 sightings over the same period. The previous highest number was in 1997 – the first for which figures are available – when there were 331 reports over the same period.

Experts say Britain is experiencing a "flap" – the term Ufologists use to describe a concentrated period of sightings.

Many of the reports are of UFOs spotted at night time and describe seeing strange lights in the sky. However, some are seen in daylight.

One report was from a pilot in an aircraft flying at about 4,500ft over Otmoor, in Oxfordshire, who saw a shiny, black, flying cylinder, 20-30ft long, flying about 200ft higher. According to the documents, the report was forwarded on to the UFO Desk by air traffic controllers.

Officials at the two main civilian airports in the area – Oxford and Cranfield – said the report had not come from them, raising the possibility it came from the nearby RAF base at Brize Norton.

A spokesman for the MoD was unable to confirm this, but added: "These types of report do tend to come in via Brize."

Air traffic controllers at Jersey airport also submitted a reported sighting to the UFO Desk. Paul Holley, from the airport, said they were notified of the sighting by a member of the public who had seen a bright orange object hovering over Gorey Castle, on the east of the island.

"This was reviewed against our radar recordings and there was nothing that we could attribute it to, so it technically became an unidentified flying object, which we reported," he said. "Our weather reports showed it was quite a clear night."

Gary Heseltine, a British Transport Police officer and UFO expert, said: "There has certainly been a big increase in sightings in Britain over the last 12 months.

"We are in the midst of a flap. The sightings reported to the MoD will give an indication, but the actual numbers of sightings will be much higher, because many will not contact officials, for fear of ridicule."

The "flap" comes as a new book reveals the long history of UFO sightings in Britain.

Dr David Clark studied tens of thousands of pages of official documents relating to UFOs, and kept in the National Archives, in Kew, which date back to before the First World War.

Dr Clarke, a university journalism lecturer and UFO expert, said: "The files show that officialdom does take an interest in these reports particularly during times of war or international tension.

"People seem to think that the Government knows what is going on and are hiding things, but there is nothing in the files to suggest that."

Britain's earliest "X File" relates to a UFO seen over Sheerness, in Kent, on October 13, 1912. The subsequent inquiry was presided over by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty. The aircraft was suspected at the time of being a German Zeppelin but subsequent research has ruled this out.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -year.html
 
Take me to your gizmos: MoD in bid for alien tech
Jack Grimston

THE Ministry of Defence ordered an investigation of thousands of UFO sightings in the 1990s to examine whether alien spaceship technology could be exploited to build advanced engines for the RAF, according to a new official history. :shock:

The book, based on the ministry’s “X-files” of thousands of sightings, shows that an unnamed wing commander initiated the project in 1993 because he believed it was wrong to assume extra-terrestrial craft did not exist.

Nick Pope, who has written on UFOs and was a colleague of the officer at the MoD, confirmed the book’s account: “I remember him saying he believed there was evidence of an exotic propulsion system and the bottom line was that if they had it, we sure as hell wanted it.” Pope would not disclose the man’s name.

Official documents from the wing commander are quoted in the book, written by David Clarke, senior journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.

The officer wrote that while most of the phenomena would have rational explanations, “if the sightings are of devices not of this earth then their purpose needs to be established as a matter of priority”.

He added: “There has been no apparently hostile intent and other possibilities are 1) military reconnaissance; 2) scientific; and 3) tourism.”

Alien engines, if they existed, were apparently “stealthy” and “do not use conventional reaction propulsion systems”. The wing commander wanted to explore possibilities for “technology transfer”.

The new book, The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings, is published by the National Archives in Kew, west London, and is based largely on MoD files released there. It traces the story of UFO sightings in Britain from the first decade of the 20th century.

Through much of the past 100 years, thousands of sightings by people ranging from RAF pilots to police officers and children have been collated by the MoD who believed they could yield evidence of advanced foreign aircraft of which Britain had no knowledge.

Some remain hard to explain, such as foo fighters, the name given to balls of fire that seemed to pursue RAF bombers in the second world war.

It was only in the 1990s, partly at the wing commander’s prompting, that the MoD finally did a systematic analysis of UFO sightings, called Project Condign.

Most were explained by everyday objects, such as airships, clouds or even chinese lanterns, being mistakenly identified as alien craft, or by unusual atmospheric phenomena. No evidence of aliens was found.

A retired senior official at the defence intelligence staff, where the wing commander was employed, said: “Some people had bees under their bonnet ... whenever UFOs were raised at the weekly directorate meetings it was in a fairly light-hearted and dismissive way.”

Clarke’s book shows sightings are still frequent. In 2007 the MoD opened a file on an incident over the sea near Guernsey in which pilots of two planes saw a “sparkling yellow object shaped like a long, thin cigar”.
[ http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29657 ]

Last year the MoD’s directorate of air staff logged 285 UFO sightings. The ministry runs a UFO hotline at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire which the public can telephone with details of sightings. The number is 01494 496 254.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol ... 841250.ece
 
rynner2 said:
Experts say Britain is experiencing a "flap" – the term Ufologists use to describe a concentrated period of sightings.
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Yeah, I just started a thread about this (now deleted) before finding your post.

Are we in a flap? Surely we avid FT readers would know if we were in one.
 
Newspaper article about "the flap!' from the Telegraph


Flying saucer confusion
UFO sightings have reached record levels in 2009


It would be interesting to know, in the light of our discovery that the number of UFOs reported to the Ministry of Defence reached record heights in the first eight months of this year, whether there is a correlation between economic indicators and extraterrestrial activity. Could it be that troubled times at ground level lead some of us to turn our attention to higher things? Do clouds on the horizon make for more lights in the sky?

However that may be, the figures themselves are startling. A dozen sightings a week, on average, means that at least one Briton every single day has a close encounter. Imaginary or real, the aliens have certainly landed in our consciousness.

Of course, our culture is now saturated now with the imagery of sci-fi, which has made a most incredible voyage from geeky fringe to the mainstream. The phenomena themselves, though, have been here a lot longer – ever since wandering lights were signs of the Little Folk. And one thing remains certain, from then until now: "There are more things in heaven and earth…"
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mooks out
 
I think it's more likely that the upsurge in reports is a result of the wide coverage of the National Archives releases and in particular that windfarm 'ufo crash', than the economy being in freefall.
 
There's no flap, just a change in the political atmosphere.
 
UFO 'sightings' revealed in archive files from 1990s

Thousands of UFOs have been spotted in the last 20 years around the UK, according to newly released documents.

More than 6,000 pages of reports describe people's experiences with unidentified flying objects between 1994 and 2000.

They include reported sightings over Chelsea Football Club and former home secretary Michael Howard's Kent home.

Details have been released under a three-year project between the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives.

The fifth instalment to be released consists of 24 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary questions, which are available to view online.

The reports detail how objects of various shapes and sizes have been witnessed flying over a range of locations.

Some drawings by witnesses have also been released.

One man told police he was physically sick and developed a "skin condition" after an eerie "tube of light" enveloped his car in Ebbw Vale on 27 January, 1997.

In another case, a UFO sighted by Boston and Skegness police, in Lincolnshire, was captured on film.

The police reported the sighting to the coastguard, which in turn alerted ships in the North Sea, where a crew reported seeing more UFOs.

Simultaneously, an unidentified blip was picked up on radar over Boston.

Also included in the latest release is a letter from senior MoD official Ralph Noyes, in which he describes seeing a film of UFOs captured by RAF fighter pilots in 1956.

Mr Noyes claims the footage was shown at a secret underground screening arranged for air defence staff at the MoD in 1970.

And a memo reveals how former prime minister Winston Churchill expressed curiosity in "flying saucers" and requested a briefing from his ministers.

He was told in reply that following an intelligence study conducted in 1951, the "flying saucers" could be explained by "one or other" of four causes.

These were known astronomical or meteorological phenomena, mistaken identification of conventional aircraft, optical illusions and psychological delusions, or deliberate hoaxes.

Experts believe the records highlight how shapes of reported UFOs have changed over the last few decades, possibly explained by representations of UFOs in popular culture.

Many reports in this latest file describe aircraft as big, black and triangular in shape with lights along the edges, whereas the predominant form in the 1940s to 1950s was saucer or disc-shaped.

Dr David Clarke, author of The UFO Files and senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "In the 1950s the next big leap in technology was thought to be a round craft that took off vertically and it's intriguing to note that this is the same period when people began to report seeing 'flying saucers' in the sky.

"In the period the latest file release covers, triangular-shaped US stealth bombers and Aurora spy planes featured heavily on TV, such as The X Files..., and films such as Independence Day released in 1996, and the shape of reported UFOs corresponds.

"It's impossible to prove a direct link between what people are reading and watching and what they report as UFOs but one interpretation could be that the latest advances in technology may be influencing what people see in the sky."

The files are available to download for free for a month from the National Archives website. [ http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8520486.stm
 
Also this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8520717.stm
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) received reports of a large, triangular UFO hovering in the sky above former Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard's home near Folkestone, Kent, on 8 March 1997.

Government correspondence, local newspaper reports and details of an RAF investigation into the sighting near the MP's home all feature in the newly released files.

Eyewitnesses in Burmarsh and New Romney reported seeing the "humming" object, said to have been the size of two passenger planes.

Newspaper cuttings from the time reveal Chris Rolfe, co-ordinator of group UFO Monitoring East Kent (UFOMEK), warned how the UFO could have been looking for Mr Howard.

Mr Rolfe said: "It would seem the UFO was disinterested in Sophie, the girl who reported it and watched it for quite a long time.

"This certainly makes it seem like it had a purpose and has left me wondering if its purpose had something to do with Mr Howard."
Click to expand...
 
rynner2 said:
Experts believe the records highlight how shapes of reported UFOs have changed over the last few decades, possibly explained by representations of UFOs in popular culture.

Many reports in this latest file describe aircraft as big, black and triangular in shape with lights along the edges, whereas the predominant form in the 1940s to 1950s was saucer or disc-shaped.

Dr David Clarke, author of The UFO Files and senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "In the 1950s the next big leap in technology was thought to be a round craft that took off vertically and it's intriguing to note that this is the same period when people began to report seeing 'flying saucers' in the sky.

"In the period the latest file release covers, triangular-shaped US stealth bombers and Aurora spy planes featured heavily on TV, such as The X Files..., and films such as Independence Day released in 1996, and the shape of reported UFOs corresponds.

"It's impossible to prove a direct link between what people are reading and watching and what they report as UFOs but one interpretation could be that the latest advances in technology may be influencing what people see in the sky."
Click to expand...


It seems that Clarke is confusing effect and cause. Aeronautical engineers in the 50s did not consider a disc shape to be the next big leap in technology. Programs like the Avrocar were conducted because of saucer sightings. They were more a public relations operation than anything else.
Similar remarks apply to the waves of black triangles.First, they were not as widespread as it is sometimes believed ; mainly in Belgium, some areas in Britain and the USA. Discs were still present in the late 80s and early 90s, and are still the dominant shape. Triangles preceded X-Files, not the contrary. Since the late 90s, they have spectacularly declined.
 
I would respectfully disagree about that. Triangles are seen more often now than then, and sightings seemed to peak last year. The MUFON monthly sightings reports usually rank triangles 3rd or 4th in the most frequently seen UFO types table.
One characteristic that distinguishes them from other types is that they sometimes seem to be observing the witness, just as in the Michael Howard case. Another is that they are seen pursuing them or arriving in the area not long after them. Sometimes helicopters turn up hovering around where the triangle was seen flying low and slow. Choppers are slow and short range, so they must have been relatively close by and knew where to look.

I think this reinforces the case for triangles being of Pentagon rather than alien origin.
 
Nice to see Bonnybridge councillor Billy Buchanan in the paper today complaining that everyone thought he was a lunatic but this latest release of documents completely vindicates him. Yes, he is still going.
 
MoD blanked out 'uncomplimentary comments' on UFO files
By Sam Marsden, PA
Sunday, 21 February 2010

The Ministry of Defence had to blank out "uncomplimentary comments" made by officials about members of the public before publishing its UFO files, a newly released document shows.

Following a deluge of requests under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000, the MoD agreed to disclose its full archive of reported sightings of unexplained sights in the skies.

But a previously secret memo reveals that the files had to be edited for references to military technology, relations with other countries and insulting remarks about the public written by defence officials and police.

The document, now posted on the MoD's website, also shows that officials feared publishing only part of the information would "fuel accusations of a 'cover-up"'.

Thousands of pages from the department's UFO files have been released through the National Archives since 2008, revealing details of hundreds of reports of strange flying objects and encounters with aliens.

The newly released memo to ministers and defence chiefs, dated September 2007, discusses how to handle making the information public.

It notes: "The majority of the files are of low security classification, but include references to air defence matters, defence technology, relations with foreign powers and occasional uncomplimentary comments by staff or police officers about members of the public, which will need to be withheld in accordance with FoI principles."

The document continues: "The MoD is aware of no clear evidence to prove or disprove the existence of aliens, and consequently the files are considerably less exciting than the 'industry' surrounding the UFO phenomena would like to believe."

Dealing with all the FoI requests for information about UFOs was becoming "increasingly costly and time-consuming" by 2007, with the Directorate of Air Staff (DAS) receiving 199 applications in 2005 alone, the memo shows.

Officials realised they would be forced to release virtually all the MoD files within a few years, and decided it would be better to do this in a "structured" way.

The document pours cold water on conspiracy theories suggesting the Government was heavily involved in investigating aliens.

"Contrary to what many members of the public may believe, MoD has no interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life forms visiting the UK, only in ensuring the integrity and security of UK airspace," it says.

The MoD was tasked with recording sightings of UFOs from the end of the Second World War until it shut down its special investigation unit on December 1 last year.

After the unit was closed, defence staff were told to tell the public to stop making UFO reports in an order sent to all UK military establishments.

"Stations that are contacted by members of the public are advised not to encourage them to report a UFO sighting or to expect an investigation to take place," the newly published order reads.

UFO expert Dr David Clarke, who obtained the memo and the order following FoI applications, was instrumental in getting the full MoD files released.

He said: "What appears to have happened is that they had to make the move because of all the pressure they were getting from people making FoI requests. It must have been costing them a fortune.

"The transfer of the files to the National Archives and the decision to close the desk itself seem to be linked. They were clearly pleased to be shot of it."

The fifth instalment of MoD UFO files was released last week, revealing reports of a large triangular UFO hovering in the skies above former home secretary Michael Howard's home near Folkestone, Kent, in March 1997.

Dr Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, said two-thirds of the archive - or about 120 files - still remained to be made public.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 06173.html
 
UFO sightings will vanish in the ex files
Home Staff

The Ministry of Defence will destroy future reports of UFOs to prevent them from being made public, a memo has revealed.

The British UFO investigation unit and hotline were closed at the start of December. Since then reports have been kept for 30 days. It means that details of sightings will be exempt from freedom of information laws. The memo said that an increase in reports had diverted staff from “more valuable” defence-related activities. The MoD had 634 reports of sightings last year, the highest total since 1978.

The MoD is releasing its past UFO files through the National Archives. Five instalments have been made public, which is about a third of the total.

Dr David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, obtained the memo through the Freedom of Information Act.

He said: “This is the final rubber-stamping of the decision — they just want to totally wash their hands of the UFO business altogether. It’s just been a millstone around their necks ever since the Cold War. They have decided that whatever they do, it reflects badly on them.”

The UFO expert said that the MoD’s new policy on destroying reports would make it much more difficult to uncover the truth about incidents in the future.

“It’s like they’re desperately trying to avoid having to answer FoI requests on this subject,” he said. “Even if something quite serious happened, perhaps where there was a near-miss with an airline, the MoD will say, ‘we may have had a report on it, but we’ve destroyed it’.”

The MoD is releasing its historic UFO files gradually through the National Archives. Five instalments have been made public so far, amounting to about a third of the total.

Nick Pope, a former MoD employee who worked on the UFO files, said: “It’s ironic that the UFO project was cut because sightings were increasing. MoD disengaged because they were inundated. It’s laziness as opposed to a conspiracy.

“Destroying UFO reports to avoid dealing with FoI requests isn’t illegal, but it’s a great shame. Who knows what fascinating material will be lost?”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 044679.ece
 
Of course sightings are increasing; there are all these sky lanterns flying about. Together with the ISS, (which is quite spectacular nowadays) there are more things to see in the sky than before.

Just subtract the number of sightings there were ten years ago from the number of sightings there are nowadays and youi've got a reasonably good estimation of how many sightings are caused by sky lanterns (a lot) and the ISS (a few),
 
MoD decision not to record UFO reports...

I have enjoyed reading these forums for many years, but this is the first time I've posted.
The reason I'm posting now is that the recent MoD/ UK government decision to cease recording UK UFO reports - and indeed to simply destroy those that they do still receive after a period of 30 days - has rather incensed me.

Hence, I have set-up a simple, straight forward, website (http://www.UFOreports.co.uk/) designed explicitly to record UK UFO reports.

One of the reasons I feel so strongly about this, is that this new attitude to UFO reports seems potentially indicative of their [the government's] attitude to the Freedom of Information Act itself; which surely can be of no value what-so-ever if it can simply be circumvented by the destruction of data!
 
Fair enough, but I'm not happy about this condition:
By supplying your report you agree that you relinquish all ownership, inclusive of copyright, of the report - and any associated media - to us [UFOreports.co.uk] (this is necessary for us to publish your report and/ or publicise it via any other media).
Click to expand...
I can have photographs published on the BBC or in the press without relinquishing copyright. Only if there is a commercial transaction (ie, someone pays me for my work) might I have to relinquish copyright.

I assume you're not offering to pay for reports. That would be rather foolish in any case, as it would only increase the number of hoax reports.
 
rynner2,

The text you refer to is part of the - I admit, rather detailed (maybe overly so in retrospect) - privacy policy.

FYI - I have worked in the Internet sector for over a decade and believe that a clear privacy policy is important (most UFO related sites exhibit no privacy policy at all). The text is primarily designed to reassure of our privacy policy, more than anything else. It is also designed to ensure that http://www.UFOreports.co.uk/ can be referenced by third-parties without any fear of copyright infringements.

However, I do appreciate the concerns that you have raised and may revisit/ revise the text in future.

Comments are appreciated and I take yours on-board.
As stated on the site itself, this is still 'early days'. My main focus has been on putting the site 'live'.

My aim is to produce a site which those whom have seen UK UFOs will regard as trustworthy, and will hopefully encourage reports from those whom might previously only have considered the MoD a worthwhile avenue of pursuit.
 
UFOreports.co.uk

Comments taken on-board (and hopefully addressed)...

Much more friendly (less corporate) policy now in place. The section referenced now reads 'By supplying your report you agree that you allow us to publish it and any associated media.'

Hope this helps to assure all of the intended nature of the site.
 
:yeay:

Now all I have to do is sight a UFO.

Happily, the local council has replaced our old yellow sodium street lighting with new state-of-the-art white lighting, which gives far less glare and sky-glow. :D
 
I don't think this is worth a searate thread - unless it actually happens!
(Although it's just the sort of thing that would appeal to anally-retentive EU bureaucrats... 8) )

EU call for 'X Files' archive of UFO sightings
A European Union lawmaker has called on member governments to open their secret files on UFOs, saying people need to know about close encounters of the third kind.
Published: 5:58PM BST 06 Jul 2010

Mario Borghezio, an Italian member of the European Parliament, said that the EU needed its own "X Files" archive where anyone could see information on UFOs – including data gathered by the military.

Mr Borghezio said all European governments should go public and stop what he called a "systematic cover-up."

Opening the files is not unprecedented. Last year, Britain published 4,000 pages online on 800 alleged encounters with aliens during the 1980s and 1990s. And over the past three years the Ministry of Defence has been gradually releasing previously secret UFO papers after facing Freedom of Information demands.

Mr Borghezio also said it was essential to have a scientific centre to research unidentified flying objects. Its investigations could have "major scientific and technological spin-offs," he said.

"I think that, under the principle of transparency, the EU member states have a duty to make public and available to all scientific data on UFOs which today are partially or wholly withheld," he said.

He is seeking the support of other lawmakers from the 736-member assembly for a statement calling on governments to act.

So far, though, he's collected only 18 signatures. 8)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... tings.html
 
I wish him the best of luck. I'd love to be able to surf through all the European UFO reports, just to see how they differ between countries. For me, that's half the fun.
 
Timothy Good was on the Breakfast telly (along with a representative from BUFORA) discussing this and everything was going well with a discussion on the mundanity of the releases, general public reports and inter-office memos when all of a sudden out of the blue Good drops in an anecdote about a royal equerry and Deputy Commander in Chief of RAF Strike Command (Peter Horsley) who wrote about meeting a humanoid Extra-terrestrial who could read his mind. :shock:

Needless to say the rep from BUFORA looked embarrassed and I'm sure Joe Public's perception of Ufology just dropped a couple of notches.

Nice anecdote Tim, wrong forum to bring it up.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
The foo fighter story involving Churchill seems quite interesting. :)
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Although a bit tenuous being a foafoaf type tale.
 
Heckler20 said:
Pietro_Mercurios said:
The foo fighter story involving Churchill seems quite interesting. :)
Click to expand...
Although a bit tenuous being a foafoaf type tale.
Click to expand...
The bookies are taking it seriously!

UFO files: bookmakers slash betting odds that 'aliens exist' after Churchill claims
Bookmakers have been forced to slash the odds on bets that aliens exist after it emerged Winston Churchill ordered a cover-up of a Second World War encounter between a UFO and a RAF bomber.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 7:30AM BST 06 Aug 2010

William Hill reported a surge of people placing bets on whether there was extraterrestrial life after claims were published about the former Prime Minister fearing public "panic" and loss of faith in religion about the war incident.

Betting officials on Thursday said they slashed the odds that David Cameron, the Prime Minister or Barack Obama, the US President, would admit the existence of aliens within a year from 100/1 to 80/1.

One gambler even placed a bet that will see them win more than a million pounds if any such claims are proved.

"We have had loads of calls. There are thousands of believers out there many of whom are putting their money on an imminent announcement," said a Hill's spokesman.

According to newly declassified files on UFOs, released on Thursday online by the National Archives, Churchill allegedly banned reporting of the “bizarre” incident, off the east coast of England, for half a century amid fears disclosures about unidentified flying objects would create public hysteria.

He is said to have made the orders during a secret war meeting with US General Dwight Eisenhower, the then commander of the Allied Forces, at an undisclosed location in America during the latter part of the conflict.

The allegations involving Churchill were made by the grandson of one his personal bodyguards, an RAF officer who overheard the discussion, who wrote to the Ministry of Defence in 1999 inquiring about the incident after his grandfather disclosed details to his family.

After investigating the claims, an MoD official said there was no evidence to support the claims as all “UFO files before 1967 were destroyed after five years” due to insufficient public interest. This was supported by a Cabinet Office official.

The UFO files also disclosed that the MoD intervened in a dispute between a gambler and Ladbrokes, after the betting agency refused to pay out a bet that aliens existed.

The gambler, whose details were redacted, placed a 100-1 bet with the bookmakers that “aliens would be found on earth (dead or alive) before the end of the century”.

He placed the wager in 1990 as part of double "paired" bet on that year's football World Cup with the bookmaker's Lower Briggate branch in Leeds.

The bet was never paid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... laims.html
 
With Churchill being involved, it's looking like Victory of the Daleks, in the last series of Doctor Who might be a documentary...
 
The part with Churchill seems anachronistic. His remark (that is, if he told it at all) implies that he thought of aliens, which is unlikely for any ruler in the Second World War.
 
oh look what I found

Churchill 'borrowed' famous lines from books by HG Wells

By Sarah Cassidy

Monday, 27 November 2006

Winston Churchill was a closet science fiction fan who borrowed the lines for one of his most famous speeches from HG Wells, says new research.

Dr Richard Toye, a history lecturer at Cambridge University, has discovered that the phrase "the gathering storm" - used by Churchill to describe the rise of Nazi Germany - had been written by Wells decades earlier in The War of the Worlds, which depicts an attack on Britain by Martians. Dr Toye also identified similarities between a speech Churchill made 100 years ago and Wells's book A Modern Utopia, published in 1905.

Tellingly, just two days before Churchill delivered the speech in Glasgow on 9 October 1906, he wrote to Wells to enthuse about the book, admitting: "I owe you a great debt."

"It's a bit like Tony Blair borrowing phrases from Star Trek or Doctor Who," Dr Toye said.

Dr Toye made the discoveries while researching a book on Churchill. He identified several points at which Churchill appeared to borrow Wells's ideas.

"People look at politicians in the 20th century and presume their influences were big theorists and philosophers," Dr Toye said. "What we forget is that Churchill and others were probably not interested in reading that stuff when they got home after a hard day in the House of Commons. They wanted to read a book that was full of ideas but was also going to be fun. HG Wells was perfect for that.

"Churchill was definitely a closet science-fiction fan. In fact, one of his criticisms of A Modern Utopia was that there was too much thought-provoking stuff and not enough action."

Dr Toye argues that Wells was an important intellectual influence on Churchill during the formative period of his career.

In 1901, having already written some of his best-known works, including The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, Wells wrote Anticipations, a book of predictions about the future calling for the establishment of a scientifically organised New Republic.

His publisher sent a copy to Churchill, and the future prime minister wrote a long letter to the author, in which he told Wells: "I read everything you write" - adding that he agreed with many of his ideas.

Churchill and Wells first met in 1902. They kept in touch in person and by letter until Wells died in 1946.

Wells wrote A Modern Utopia in 1905. The book was an attempted update of Thomas More's Utopia, which championed radical ideas including basic state support for citizens. Churchill, then a junior minister in the Colonial Office, did not get around to reading it until his holidays the following year.

Two days after writing to Wells, Churchill gave an address to the Scottish Liberal Council in Glasgow in which he said the state should support its "left out millions". Historians now regard this as a landmark speech of Churchill's career.

In 1908, Wells supported Churchill when he stood in a by-election for the seat of Manchester North-West.

In 1931, Churchill admitted that he knew Wells's work so well he could pass an exam in it. "We need to remember that there was a time when Churchill was a radical liberal who believed these things," Dr Toye explained. "Wells is often seen as a socialist, but he also saw himself as a liberal, and he saw Churchill as someone whose views were moving in the right direction."

A meeting of minds

* On the state:

Like Wells, Churchill said the state should support its citizens, providing pensions, insurance and child welfare.

* On Utopia:

Wells entitled his book A Modern Utopia.

Churchill, two days after expressing his "debt" to Wells, described his own vision of the supportive state as a "Utopia".

* On selective breeding:

Wells advocated the idea of selective breeding, arguing that people should only be able to have children if they met certain conditions such as physical fitness and financial independence.

Churchill told Wells he particularly admired "the skill and courage with which the questions of marriage and population were discussed". Churchill was then described by a friend as "a strong eugenist".

* On English-speaking peoples:

Wells predicted the political unification of "the English-speaking states" into "a great fed eration of white English-speaking peoples". Churchill often argued for to the "fraternal association" or "unity" of the English-speaking peoples, and even wrote a four- volume his
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 26031.html
 
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