Aliens On Earth.com Resources for those who are stranded here Our Bookstore is OPEN Over 5000 new & used titles, competitively priced! Topics: UFOs - Paranormal - Area 51 - Ghosts - Forteana - Conspiracy - History - Biography - Psychology - Religion - Crime - Health - Geography - Maps - Science - Money - Language - Recreation - Technology - Fiction - Other - New Search... for keyword(s)   in Page Titles in Book Title/Author in Contents of Pages ---other searches--- Metacrawler Yahoo FAST Search Google Altavista Dogpile Inference Find Northern Light IWon.com MSN Search Las Vegas Sun Location: Mothership -> UFO -> Updates -> 1999 -> Nov -> Nick Pope's Weird World

UFO UpDates Mailing List

From: Georgina Bruni <georgina@easynet.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 14:21:27 +0000
Fwd Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 17:21:31 -0500
Subject: Nick Pope's Weird World


Nick Pope's Weird World  Hot Gossip UK November'99

http://www.hotgossip.co.uk/pope.html


Welcome to November's column, and the latest news and gossip
about ufology, the paranormal and anything else that catches my
eye.

Leeds Conference

I had planned to write an account of all the news and gossip
from the Leeds conference organised by UFO Magazine, but there's
already been a fair bit about it on the Internet, together with
a detailed account that ran in the November/December edition of
UFO Magazine itself, which hit the news-stands a couple of days
ago. Accordingly, I won't say much, aside from saying that I
thought it was a very good conference. UFO Magazine managed to
bring speakers from Germany, America and France, as well as
British speakers, and it's this that makes these events special,
because there aren't too many conferences that have the
resources to do this. The UFO phenomenon is a global one, but
unless we have the opportunity to hear and meet researchers from
overseas, we run the risk of developing an insular view of
ufology. The Internet can help break this down, but there's no
substitute for actually meeting these people face to face.

Ufology And Popular Culture

I'm sure many of you have seen the new television advertisement
for the Ericsson T28 mobile phone. It's a slick production based
around an alien abduction, with the hapless victim being taken
up a beam of light and into a craft where the aliens mistake his
cellphone for the intelligent life (The long version even
features a cow that's been taken on board!). It's witty and
visually striking, but the interesting thing is that it was made
at all. Advertisements only work when they tap into something
with which the audience is familiar, so it's an interesting
indictor of the extent to which the basic abduction scenario is
now embedded into the public psyche. Interestingly - and I don't
know if the producers were aware of this - it's not the first
time that the abduction scenario has been used to sell mobile
phones. There was a similar advertisement that ran in America in
1992, for AT&T. It showed a golf buggy being drawn up a beam of
light towards a UFO, and the slogan was "At a time like this,
whose cellular phone would you rather own?". A few years later a
British advert showed a car being similarly drawn up a light
beam, with one of the people on the ground saying "You'd better
ring the Royal.".

Operation Thunder Child

I've been out promoting my new book, Operation Thunder Child,
and have done various television, radio and other media work
over the past month or so, ranging from The Big Breakfast on
Channel Four, to Steve Wright's show on Radio 2. I've noticed
two interesting things. First, interest in ufology among
researchers, producers and presenters hasn't waned, even though
the market for UFO books has slumped in the aftermath of the
Summer 1997 peak. Secondly, so much more promotional work is
done on the Internet these days. I've done two live Internet
interviews and another interview specifically for an Internet
site, in the past few weeks. In addition, a lecture I gave was
publicised on the popular UFO Updates site, and a review
appeared on CNI News. I hope this encourages other authors, and
if I might offer one tip, it's a plea to make sure your
publishers are alive to the power of the Internet when it comes
to marketing your books.

My Role At The MOD

There have been several recent Internet posts about my work at
the Ministry of Defence, and regrettably, some of what has been
claimed is inaccurate. It all started when James Easton wrote to
the MOD asking for some details about their policy and views on
UFOs, and enquiring about my official research and
investigation. From what I understand, Easton has only quoted
selectively from the MOD's reply, and this has resulted in a
misleading picture being given. The situation has been further
complicated because Easton's subsequent post has been picked up
by other researchers who have subjected it to their own
interpretation. I thought I'd set the record straight, and to do
so, we need to look at the statements in the MOD letter:

"The Ministry of Defence has not investigated a case of alien
abduction, crop circle formations or animal mutilation."

I described my work with abductees in chapter 8 of The
Uninvited, while my work on crop circles and animal mutilations
was set out in chapters 5 and 6 of Open Skies, Closed Minds.
Both books were cleared by the MOD.

"Mr Pope was employed as an Executive Officer in Secretariat(Air
Staff)2. His post was designated Sec(AS)2a. The main duties of
the post concerned non-operational RAF activities overseas and
diplomatic clearance for military flights abroad."

I've always made it clear that I had other duties aside from
those connected with the UFO phenomenon. These included work on
clearing some of the books written by military personnel about
their Gulf War experiences (In my previous tour of duty I'd done
Gulf War-related work in the Air Force Operations Room - part of
the Joint Operations Centre). While I did do some diplomatic
clearance work, this was an additional task that I only acquired
in the final few months of my three year tour of duty. In
practice, the Administrative Officer in Sec(AS)2a did most of
this work, as well as providing clerical support to my boss and
me.

"A small percentage of time is spent dealing with reports from
the public about alleged 'UFO' sightings and associated public
correspondence."

This statement describes the current situation in Sec(AS)2a, and
I couldn't possibly comment on that. What I can say is that
during my tour of duty the situation was somewhat different. A
considerable percentage of my time was spent investigating UFO
sightings from both public and military sources. I also prepared
material for media enquiries, and drafted replies for defence
ministers to send to Members of Parliament who asked about MOD
policy on UFOs, or enquired about particular UFO incidents.

I can't respond to every Internet post that makes misleading
statements about my official research and investigations, but in
this instance a genuine MOD letter was being selectively quoted
from and misinterpreted. I don't know if this is because those
concerned have genuinely misunderstood the position, or whether
it was a deliberate attempt to downplay my role, but in either
event, I hope this has cleared up any confusion.
_____________________________________________

Ed's Note:

Nick Pope's three books, Open Skies, Closed Minds, The Uninvited
and Operation Thunder Child are available from all good
bookshops. His UK publishers are Simon & Schuster. In America,
The Overlook Press publish his books in hardback while Dell
Publishing produce paperback editions.
_____________________________________________

   © Hot Gossip UK 1999