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From: Georgina Bruni <georgina@easynet.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 17:14:31 +0100
Fwd Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 13:05:13 -0400
Subject: HOT GOSSIP UK - August '98

HOT GOSSIP UK MAGAZINE
The Hottest Gossip At The Coolest Site. www.hotgossip.co.uk
August 1998 Issue - Georgina=92s UFO Update Section
[via the Unexplained]
****************************************************************
Tension At UK UFO Conferences
Conference Speakers at Quest/UFO Magazine Event
Ufologist=92s Retire From Public
Flying Lighthouses
FEATURE - Alternative 3, The Saga Lives On
___________________________________________________________

Tension At UK UFO Conferences

Is it something in the air or what? Just as everyone was leaving
the London conference organised by Quest/ British UFO Magazine,
a very irate Irene Bott [President of the Staffordshire UFO
Group] began screaming and shouting at Graham Birdsall's wife,
Christine. I am all ears. It appears that Irene, who had been
accompanying Nick Redfern, was complaining about the hotel
accommodation. Nick had called me the day before; asking if they
could stay at my place the following night as they had an
appointment in London the next day. The conference speakers are
normally checked into a quality hotel, but most likely, because
of the holiday season and the fact that it was only a one day
conference, the hotel wasn't as good as normal. I thought any
minute now the girls were going to come to blows. It was most
unlike Irene, although well known for being outspoken, I'd never
seen her behave quite so dramatically as this. Thank goodness
the two of them finally made friends. It was the end of a very
long day for both organisers and speakers.

I didn't manage to attend the Hertford conference organised by
Tony Spurrier. I mixed up my dates. Speakers included Michael
Hesseman, Steven Greer and Nick Redfern.

Apparently there was an argument at this event too. This time,
according to my source, sceptic, Rob Irvine and Michael Hesseman
looked like coming to blows. I'm told that the argument got
quite heated at one stage, albeit that it was over in no time.
Rob was said to have pointed a finger at Michael=92s nose - well
almost - and said.

 "Never forget, I know you are a liar"

Michael walked off, but I hear they made it up, well at least
they shook hands.....So what's going on?


Conference Speakers at Quest/UFO Magazine Event

I realise I'm late reporting on the Quest/UFO Magazine
conference in general, but I wasn't around last month. So here's
the report anyway.

I really enjoyed Nick Redfern's talk, almost as much as I
enjoyed the book. [see review] I also enjoyed the presentations
of James Courant and A.J Gevaerd as I had never met either of
them before.

Pilot and researcher, James Courant, was like a breath of fresh
air. He's one of the rare researchers around who doesn=92t flaunt
an ego. Shades of Michael Lindeman. Both are keen reporters on
the media side of ufology. James gave a superb presentation
which also featured some humorous parts - to what is usually a
very serious subject. Of particular interest was his talk [along
with slides] on some 5,000 year old Peruvian stones. Remarkably,
there are 15,000 of these stones on display in Peru, and these
strange relics are said to record the whole of life's history
right up to the year 2007. One hopes that somewhere amongst the
collection, are records of life after that time. Other
highlights of his talk revolved around how the media had
betrayed the UFO system. Along with myself, James is one of the
few researchers who have interviewed Dr Michael Wolf, but I have
never met him personally. It was interesting to see a piece of
footage of Wolf, I had always imagined him to be much older
looking, being as ill as he claims to be. But, he looked in good
shape, and in fact, quite dishy! I asked James what he thought
about Michael Wolf; did he believe he was credible.

"Absolutely, I can vouch that he worked at Area 51 and the
Dulcie Base." Said James.

You can purchase James Courant=92s taped interview with Michael
Wolf from the UFO magazine. E-mail them at:

106151.1150@compuserve.com

for details. It=92s a very interesting interview. If you require
more details on Michael Wolf you can e-mail me for a copy of my
interview. <georgina@easynet.co.uk> I hope the Birdsall=92s invite
James Courant to the ' 99 annual conference.

I=92m not going to go into detail about A.J. Gevaerd=92s
presentation because the story of Brazil=92s Varginha has been
well publicised. However, as one of Brazil=92s top researchers
Gevaerd brought the case to life. Although a good 20 minutes
over his time, and still going strong, no one appeared to be
bored. It was all very fascinating. I asked A.J, who was sitting
beside me during Courant=92s talk, if there was a US presence
involved in the cover-up of this famous case. I wasn=92t at all
surprised to hear that there was. It seems that no matter were
in the world a major extraterrestrial situation arises - the US
military is on the scene in no time. For more details on the
Varginha case you should try an internet search - there=92s an
enormous amount of material out there, but try searching out
material by Gevaerd.

Graham Birdsall, one of the organisers and Editor of UFO
Magazine, gave a brief sit down [back problems] talk about the
Global UFO Update. He also showed some brilliant film footage
which will be featured in a forthcoming TV documentary special.


Ufologist=92s Retire From Public

Ex policeman, and well known British Ufologist Tony Dodd, has
retired from the UFO scene due to his wife=92s illness. She is
suffering with heart problems and Tony wants to spend more time
with her.

Another Ufologist to fade off the scene is Philip Mantle. Philip
recently co authored a book with Michael Hesseman, about the
Roswell case. He was also involved in the research of the
Santilli Alien Autopsy film. Now that Santilli has admitted the
'Tent' footage was a hoax, albeit that it=92s alleged to have been
done by another party, me thinks that Philip has had enough. It
is disheartening. However, I=91m sure he won=92t be gone for long,
last I heard he was supposed to be co-authoring a book on the AA
saga.


Flying Lighthouses

If you=92ve read Nick Pope=92s column, you=92ll know that there=92s been
an ongoing discussion in a certain Press forum between science
writer, Ian Ridpath and myself. It=92s all to do with 'The
Rendlesham Forest Case'. Ian is still trying desperately to flog
his theories of what allegedly happened during December 1980
involving numerous US military personnel based at RAF
Bentwaters/Woodbridge in Suffolk, UK. Witnesses claim they saw
unusual lights in the sky and unidentified craft land in the
forest next to the Woodbridge base.

Ian expects us to believe that the then Lt Col Charles Halt and
several patrols, witnessed none other than the Orford
lighthouse, the Shiplake beacon, a meteor and a cluster of stars
which included Sirius. It=92s not easy to debate this case with a
bunch of hard core journalists and a science writer who
obviously thinks we=92re gullible enough to believe that
lighthouses can fly! It is unfortunate that I haven=92t the time
to continue the debate which lasted for several weeks. However,
suffice to say that I couldn=92t convince the press that it was
anything other than that which was proposed by Ian Ridpath.
Interesting, considering it was the Broadsheets that consulted
Ian Ridpath, and actually published his 'findings' way back in
1983/4. One wonders how Mr Ridpath could come up with so many
[in my opinion] nonsense conclusions considering he didn=92t pick
up the story until 3 years after it occurred, and at no time did
he consult any of the actual witnesses, preferring to speak to a
forester, who himself had not witnessed the events, and in fact
had not visited the scene until several weeks afterwards.

During the debate, sceptic James Easton produced his case
involving the alleged original witness statements. Easton will
not have it that these were watered down versions. The real
statements were given to the OSI.

When I mentioned to witness Jim Penniston that Ian Ridpath was
still going on about the lighthouse, he advised me to disregard
any comments like that, and answered.

 "When researching Bentwaters, keep in mind we are not talking about lights
in the sky."

_______________________________________________________

FEATURE

Alternative 3, The Saga Lives On

Was this one of the most astounding and frightening conspiracies
ever, or was it just a clever hoax ?

British scientists vanishing off the face of the earth.
Astronauts' reports of strange craft they saw on the moon=92s
surface. Social drop outs being abducted and used as slaves on
an alien planet. Life on earth is doomed. A shocking
international government conspiracy involving a plan to save
only a chosen few individuals....

During the 1970s you could sat that the United Kingdom suffered
a great loss of brain power. The Brain Drain, a terminology used
for the mass exodus of some of the best surgeons and scientists
in the country, were being enticed with huge pay cheques to work
in the United States. At the same time, small groups of
environmentalists were just beginning to understand the problems
facing the ozone layer, most of the general public were still
unaware of the environmental issues yet to come, and very few
people appeared to have heard of NASA's space shuttles.

The Story Breaks

At 9pm on Monday June 20th 1977 Anglia Television based in
Norwich UK, put out an unusual one hour TV special. The
programme was simultaneously transmitted to a number of other
countries which included Australia, New Zealand, Canada,
Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The
name of the Television programme was called Alternative 3.
However, it wasn=92t just a =91one off=92 TV special, as many have
been led to believe, but the last in a series of science fact
documentaries, called Science Report. It was for this reason
that the programme would shock the world, and in the days to
follow would rock the station's credibility. The one hour
programme informed viewers of a huge conspiracy involving the
United States government and NASA. They showed a piece of film
which was allegedly passed on to the programme=92s team by an
insider from NASA HQ. The footage, which appeared to be
authentic, featured a US astronaut landing on Mars, and saying
"Boy, when they take the wraps off this, it'll be the biggest
day in history. 22 May 1962, we're on Mars and we have life" But
what really scared the public on that hot summer evening, was
not the alleged Mars landing, but news that planet Earth was
dying, and that =91social drop outs=92 were being abducted and
shuttled off into space to serve as slaves on some alien planet.
Viewers were told that life on Earth was doomed, and that there
were only three alternatives available for survival. Alternative
One - was to blow two holes in the ozone layer, but this, it was
feared, would cause skin cancers. It would also involve a rule
to stop polluting the planet immediately. Alternative Two was to
begin digging underground cities for the elite few, the rest of
civilisation would be left to fend for themselves on the dying
surface. Alternative Three was to get the hell off the planet.
Apparently the third alternative was already in operation, and
the world=92s top scientists were being commissioned to assist in
this 'above top secret' operation. But the narrator then tells
us that many of these scientists were simply disappearing off
the face of the earth.....

When the programme ended at 10pm, Anglia were besieged with
calls from irate viewers demanding more information. Callers
were told not to panic, that the programme was just a hoax, and
a frightened public sighed with relief and went back to their
armchairs to watch the remainder of the 10.00 clock news,
followed by a light entertainment show. The next morning the
national press confirmed that the programme was a hoax, and
pointed out that the scientist Dr Carl Gerstien, who had tried
to warn the world of the impending disaster, was none other than
the well known actor Richard Marner. The Times of London
reported "Independent television companies last night received
hundreds of protest calls after an Anglia programme, Alternative
3, gave alarming facts about changes in the earth=92s atmosphere.
It was a hoax, originally intended for April 1st."

Anglia got a scolding and the public were relieved of their
fears.

We know that the Alternative 3 programme was put together by a
respectable team of science reporters who had a regular weekly
slot titled Science Report. We know that it was an intelligent
documentary series which reported on new scientific inventions,
and we know that it was because of the teams' credibility that
Alternative 3 was taken so seriously. The question is; why would
a serious science investigative team who had a regular weekly
documentary series - suddenly produce a hoax? Even taking into
consideration that it was originally intended to be an April
Fool hoax, it=92s hardly fitting for a team of their calibre to
produce such a programme.

I remember having mixed reactions to the disturbing documentary,
or drama, as it was later to be called. One theory that had
crossed my mind at the time, and incidentally, I did see the
programme, was that the science team were genuinely on to
something, but that the witnesses were unwilling to take part in
the documentary. Three months after the programme aired, I met a
cameraman at a party in Berkshire, who claimed to have been part
of the film crew. He told me outright that Alternative 3 was a
hoax, and that they had used actors. He also said the crew were
all joking about it at the time. Well, by now most people knew
that actors had been used, but few knew that the film crew, or
least one of them, had confirmed it was a hoax.

Alternative 3, The Book

By 1978 the story looked like dying a death, when suddenly
Sphere Books published ALTERNATIVE 3, written by LESLIE WATKINS
and DAVID AMBROSE. Those who were able to secure a copy, read
with interest a story that was a follow-up of the television
programme produced by Spectrum (not Sceptre as some believed)
for Anglia Television. And so began The Alternative 3 Saga, and
an attempt by thousands worldwide to uncover what they believed
to be one of the world's biggest conspiracies.

I purchased the newly published paperback of Alternative 3 from
a popular book store in Berkshire. There in the center of the
store was a huge display of the books, as was always the case
when they had delivery of what they thought would be a best
seller. I was so excited about the book that I immediately
called a friend of mine, a collector of publications on =91the
unexplained=92, who I knew had been interested in the television
programme. The following day he phoned to tell me that the store
didn't have the book, I was surprised, I thought it highly
unlikely that they had sold all the copies. So I returned to the
store to discover that the display had indeed disappeared, and
there was no sign of the book anywhere in the store. I summoned
the manager who admitted that he had been told to remove the
stock from the shelves and return them to head office. I pushed
him for more information, but all he would say was that it came
from high up. It was this incident that prompted me to believe
that there may be some truth to the story of Alternative 3 after
all. Due to public demand the book was re-printed several times
in the following years, and incidentally, it is still listed
under World Affairs, and not as you might expect, fiction.

The publication was intriguing because some names and events
were genuine, whilst others didn't exist. One name mentioned,
was that of Otto Binder who was a member of the NASA space
programme. In the book he=92s quoted as saying that NASA killed
significant segments of conversation between mission control and
Apollo 11, the spacecraft that took Buzz Aldrin and Neil
Armstrong to the Moon, and that those segments were deleted from
the official record. It=92s interesting to note that Binder was
also a science fiction writer. According to an alleged quote by
Binder - when Aldrin spoke to mission control he said.

"These babies were huge, sir..enormous. Oh God, you wouldn't
believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out
there....lined up on the far side of the crater edge....they're
on the Moon watching us."

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who is also named in the book, had
previously described his feelings when looking at this world
from the Moon.

"I went into a very deep pathos, a kind of anguish. That
incredibly beautiful planet that was Earth.....a place no bigger
than my thumb was my home.. a blue and white jewel against a
velvet black sky...was being killed off."

And on March 23, 1974, he was quoted in a London newspaper as saying.

"Society had only three ways in which to go and that the third
was "the most viable, but most difficult alternative."

What was Mitchell trying to tell us more than 20 years ago, was
he trying to warn us about Alternative 3?

The book also reported on animal mutilations, space shuttles,
man made domes on the moon, the environmental problems, and
disappearing scientists. All of which would later public
knowledge. Inasmuch as astronomers were seeing and writing about
unusual domes that had recently appeared on the moon's surface.
NASA would announce news about the US space shuttles,
governments would acknowledge the environmental issues,
including the pollution of the ozone layer, and later we would
learn of the many disappearances and horrible suicides
surrounding British scientists.

A Letter From Leslie Watkins

The following is a letter from the author of Alternative 3,
Leslie Watkins, it was placed in the public domain of the
Internet in the VANGARD SCIENCES archives on October 28 1989.

A letter to Ms Dittrich from Windwords bookstore (address
unknown).

Dear Ms. Dittrich

Thank you for your letter, which reached me today. Naturally, I
am delighted by your interest in Alternative 3 and by the fact
that you plan to sell it in the Windwords bookstore. I will
certainly cooperate in any way I can.

The correct description of Alternative 3 was given to you by the
representative from Penguin Books. The book is based on fact,
but uses that fact as a launchpad for a HIGH DIVE INTO FICTION.
In answer to your specific questions:

1) There is no astronaut named Grodin.

2) There is no Sceptre Television and the reported Benson is also fictional.=


3) There is no Dr. Gerstein.

4) Yes, a "documentary" was televised in June 1977 on Anglia
Television, which went out to the entire national network in
Britain. It was called Alternative 3 and was written by David
Ambrose and produced by Christopher Miles (whose names were on
the book for contractual reasons). This original TV version,
which I EXPANDED IMMENSELY for the book, was ACTUALLY A HOAX
which had been scheduled for transmission on April Fools' Day.
Because of certain problems in finding the right network slot,
the transmission was delayed.

The TV programme did cause a tremendous uproar because viewers
refused to believe it was fiction. I initially took the view
that the basic premise was so way-out, particularly the way I
aimed to present it in the book, that no one would regard it as
non-fiction. Immediately after publication, I realized I was
totally wrong. In fact, the amazing mountains of letters from
virtually all parts of the world including vast numbers from
highly intelligent people in positions of
responsibility-convinced me that I had ACCIDENTALLY trespassed
into a range of top-secret truths.

Documentary evidence provided by many of these correspondents
decided me to write a serious and COMPLETELY NON-FICTION sequel.
Unfortunately, a chest containing the bulk of the letters was
among the items which were mysteriously LOST IN TRANSIT some
four years when I moved from London, England, to Sydney,
Australia, before I moved on to settle in New Zealand. For some
time after Alternative 3 was originally published, I have reason
to suppose that my home telephone was being tapped and my
contacts who were experienced in such matters were convinced
that certain intelligence agencies considered that I probably
knew too much.

So, summing up, the book is FICTION BASED ON FACT. But I now
feel that I inadvertently got VERY CLOSE TO A SECRET TRUTH. I
hope this is of some help to you and I look forward to hearing
from you again.

With best wishes
Leslie Watkins


Anglia Television & The Actors

In the early 90s I called Anglia Television and spoke to a
charming lady called Maureen who worked in the records dept.
Maureen was very helpful and told me she still received at least
one call a month about the programme, and that some people get
really angry and can=92t accept it was a drama. She told of one
student who flew all the way from the United States, and called
from Heathrow airport to ask if he could see the film, and that
he really got upset when refused. Maureen was a trainee back in
1977, and she remembers doing the paste-ups for the special, she
worked on stills at the time. Maureen said they used actors in
the drama and suggested I call the London PR office for
permission to give the names and contact numbers of the actors.
They gave permission and here are some of the actors who
appeared in the TV special

 Actor                          Role

 Shane Rimmer..............Bob Grodin (astronaut)
 Carole Hazell.............Investigative Journalist
 Gregory Munro.......................?
 Richard Marner............Dr Carl Gerstien( Professor)
 Ivor Roberts........................?
 Fibi Nicholas.............Harry's Girl
 David Baxt................Harry
 Tim Brinton...............Played Himself As A Presenter

I spoke to Richard Marner=92s agent who assured me that Marner=92s
CV stated that he did actually do one days filming with the
programme Alternative 3 on January 25th 1977. I Later called
Richard Marner who confirmed it, and he remarked that it was the
easiest job he'd ever done. He didn't do any filming in the
studio, and apparently the crew had problems with Cambridge
University because they filmed him on the steps without
permission. He said he didn't even rehearse the lines and that
it was all very rushed. Today Richard Marner is best known for
his part as Colonel Yon Strohm in the British sitcom =91Allo
Allo=92. I checked with Spotlight, a listing for actors and
entertainers, and found that Shane Rimmer and Ivor Roberts were
with Howels & Prior Agency. Shane Rimmer played the part of the
fictitious astronaut, Bob Grodin. Rimmer is a well known science
fiction and spy thriller writer who also does voice-overs and
has acted in numerous popular films and television spy dramas,
including a James Bond movie. He was also the famous voice of
Captain Scot Tracy in Thunderbirds.

I understand that Tim Brinton, later became an Member of
Parliament, and I discovered that the director of the programme,
Christopher Miles, is the brother of actress Sara Miles. Maureen
told me Alternative 3 was a hoax, Anna Dicki from the London
office said it was a drama. Anglia PR lady, Veronica Clover told
me it was an April Fool spoof and went out on April 1st. I
argued that it didn't air on April 1st, she later checked,
realised her mistake and kindly mailed me a photocopy of the
original TV Times showing clearly that Alternative 3 aired on
June 20th. Maureen doesn't remember any of the actors filming in
the studio. What I found strange was that she didn=92t mention
David Ambrose, but told me that Christopher Miles devised the
original script. However in the book it clearly states that the
TV film was devised by both David Ambrose and Christopher Miles.
Leslie Watkins had no involment with the television programme.
In my research I have been unable to trace David Ambrose, the
alleged writer of the TV programme. Leslie Watkins states, he
only used Ambrose=92s name on the book as co-author for
contractual reasons.

Who, and where is David Ambrose?

Fiction Based On Fact ?

So twenty years on, are we any the wiser? Are there any new
clues as to the validity of the story or was it really the
greatest hoax ever? Well, if it were a hoax, I would expect the
hoaxers to be available for comment on their prolonged success.
To sum it up, I agree with the author of the book, Leslie
Watkins, I believe the story is fiction based on fact. But the
question still remains: where did the fact originate ? In their
research, did the science team stumble on above top secret
information which had to be suppressed? In their enthusiasm, did
they realise their scoop was too good dismiss, and not being
able to use the witnesses for the programme, did they pull in
professional actors to play the part ? But then, I ask myself,
why did they use well known actors, why not new faces? Or maybe
David Ambrose, wherever he is, was just a conspiracy theorist
with great ambitions!

And as a final note - The original and only can of film marked
Alternative 3 mysteriously disappeared from Anglia's archives,
and apparently it is the only film ever to go missing. But word
has it that copies of the film have been distributed amongst
several UFO researchers. Well at least they=92re in good hands!

Alternative 3 is published by Spere Books Ltd, a division of
Macdonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd. # ISBN O 7221 1126 6

=A9 Georgina Bruni 1998
__________________________________________________________

HOT GOSSIP UK [from Georgina's UFO section via "The
Unexplained". Permission granted to distrubute this material
providing the authors and the publication are credited. Hot
Gossip UK. www.hotgossip.co.uk