Table Of ContentJuly
magonia • interpreting contemporary vision and belief • 2001 • £1.25
•
LOOKING AT WHAT'S BEHIND THE UFO TRICKSTERS
------------------------------------------------��
NO KIDDING THIS
TIME. ..M Y FLYING SAUCER
PHOTO IS GENUINEI
UFO HOAXING AND THE STORY OF ALEX BIRCH AND STEPHEN
DARBISHIRE
DAVID CLARKE AND ANDY ROBERTS
"Thecrea nb en op ossidbolueb tth atth iissa genuisnteo ry.
Childdreonn ota sa r ulgeor ounfda kipnhgo tographs."
LeonaCrradm p,q uotbeydDe smondL eslSipeac,e, Gravity and
the Flying Saucer (1)
". h.o.w c oulayd o unbgo yo f1 3t eall li eW?e lIlw asa t remendous
liaIwr a,s b rouguhpti na middcllea sfsa miwlhyo w ereh ighly
religiaonudsIl earnttol ifer otmh aeg eo fo ne!I nre trospeIc t,
thiwnaks m erelayp awfno ort hpeero plnee'esd asn,d j usfti tted
I
thbei ll."
StephDeanr bisFheibrer,u 2a0ry0 (12 )
Whenevuefro logtiusrttnsh eaittre nttioot nh es ubjeocf1tr s� PERFECTLY collection of UFO reports, turning
:: ;t 7�:, local a flap into a national phe
hoaxiwnigt htihne siurb jetchtfe undamegnutlabfle tween �
o i nomenon. And so the cycle con
sceptaincdbs e lieivseb rrso ugshhta rpilnytf oo cuTsh.o steiga ted UFO cases, tinues.
known hoaxes Listing and discussing known
whoc hoosteoi nvebsetl iientf h eE THa ndo theerx otic
represent a tiny hoaxes would be tedious. The in
explanatfiotorhn esUF O phenomentoenn tdo wartdhsef ra ction. But sim- formation is available in the lit
. ple bean counting erature for those who wish to seek
s1. m1p.1 s .1t cp art1y.m et h a ty,e so,ha xeesx1s tb,u tth eayr fee w misses the point it out. Most of you will already be
andf abre tween haanvdle i ttelffee cotn' seriuOfUoSl oegntyire'ly.. U FO familiar with it and how hoaxes
hoaxes may be like Gulf Breeze, MJ-12 etc have
Sceptaincdms o roep en-minsdtuedde onftf sl yisnagu cesryma ll in number affected the subject. One small
but those which part of our research in recent years
arael ittmloer ree alistic.
exist have had a has focussed upon those suspected
massive impact upon the subject, hoaxes that had a huge impact
and have been far reaching in their upon the media and ufology but,
influence. more importantly, have continued
Hoaxes are rarely just standard to influence the witness/
UFO reports. They are invariably perpetrator. We all too often forget
photographic or document based. that people lie at the centre of the
This makes them an easily dis UFO mystery and what happens to
playable, marketable media com individuals who are thrust into the
modity. Whereas a single witness public eye, and how their views
sighting of a brightly lit UFO may about their alleged experience/s
only get, at best, a few column change and mutate over the years,
inches in a newspaper, a UFO is often forgotten or overlooked.
hoax photograph, such as that cre The cases under discussion
ated by Gordon Faulkner during here exemplifY the problem in that
the 1965 W arrninster flap, will they are in the borderlands, being
receive national media coverage. neither 1 00% proven hoaxes or
ln turn this sort of exposure can unequivocally from 'out there· but
add a stamp of validity (however continue to exert a deep influence
specious) on to a hitherto disparate upon the public perception of UFO
EJIIIIIIIIIIIII�-------------------------------------------------
mythology. The Alex Birch and 1950 was "bigger than the Atom that if ever I see life from Venus it The pair planned to take pic
Stephen Darbishire photographs Bomb wars." Partly as a result of will not look anything like me, or tures of birds and other wildlife in
are classic UFO photographs, this first tabloid-style hype, the Mr Adamski or the being he en a small hill valley on the slopes
much written about and much Dispatch 's circulation rose from a countered." (6 ) below the Old Man. Stcphcn im
speculated upon. Both these cases mere 700,000 copies in the late Many thousands of people mediately raises doubts about the
impacted hard on British ufology. 40s to 2,400,000 when Eade left read the article in Illustrated. and reality status of the photographs he
As we will see they impacted even the editor's seat in 1957. (4) the follow-ups that appeared in the obtained when, today, he recalls
harder on those involved with The flying saucers had arrived national newspapers during the how: " ... my cousin and I had been
them. They also give an important and the ground was prepared for winter of 1953-54. Adamski's fooling around taking pictures ...
insight into the nature of hoaxing ever more bizarre and incredible photographs and claims were [doing] trick photography and lots
and into the heart of early British stories. By the autumn of 1953 transmitted across the world, and of other exciting things with it,
ufology. when George Adamski's book the exciting story of visitors from double images, ghosts, jumping
UFO cases come and go, wit with Desmond Leslic, 1</.ying Sau other planets were the very stuff of off rooftops and that sort of
ness names and case details used cers have Landed was first pub schoolboy fantasy. So widespread thing ... "
like happy family cards to justify lished the Britain, the public were were the stories that news of the What happened next is a little
one theory or to trump another. already primed to accept the in arrival of the flying saucers "out of focus"- as were the pho
Classic cases are repeated by rote, credible (5). It was an era of rapid reached Little Arrow farm at Tor tographs that resulted from this
the humanity ripped out of them to technological progress and great ver, in the beautiful surroundings encounter with 'the unknown.' Ac
satisfy UFOlogical obsessions and optimism that mankind would of the English Lake District, dur cording to the story told by the
facts. It's the frequent cry in soon be taking steps into outer ing the winter of 1953-54. Little boys in 1954 it was Adrian who
intemet forums such as UFOup space. As a result, the British pub Arrow was the home of Dr S.B. first drew Stcphen's attention to
dates that sceptics don't take wit lic eagerly lapped up the stories Darbishire, a GP who had retired something odd in the sky in the
ness testimony seriously, but how describing military jets outpaced to run a small farm in the fells be direction of the mountain. The
many of these smug intemet key by saucers and puzzled over the low Coniston Old Man (2,575 ft). older boy was at that moment
clickers take the trouble to track photographs taken by a humble He had a son, Stephen, then aged looking in the opposite direction,
down witnesses to classic cases American farmer, Paul Trent, al 13, an intelligent, creative boy towards Lake Coniston when
and or try to make sense of their legedly showing a flying disc who had displayed a talent for art Adrian thumped him on the back
stories? We did. Whether there is (again featured on page 1 of the that he would eventually develop and exclaimed: 'Look, what on
any sense, whether their stories are Sunday Dispatch). The next logi into a career as an adult. earth ·s that?' pointing to the sky
true or false only you can decide. cal step was a story claiming a Dr Darbishire had been above Dow Crag. The 'object',
flying saucer had landed, followed brought up as a Quaker and his according to the first published
The Stephen Darbishire by the first photograph taken in son Stephen says he had "a good account (in the Lancashire Even
photograph the British Isles. Both events were sense of humour and a very in ing Post, Preston, February 18,
Flying saucers arrived in the Brit to follow in the space of little quiring mind; he would accept 1954) had a silvery, glassy ap
ish Isles in the late summer of more than 18 months. nothing, questioned everything he pearance, shining "like aluminium
1950, when two popular weekend " ... It had to happen. It has was told and loved excitement." in the sunlight." It glided towards
newspapers, the Sunday Dispatch happened. A flying saucer has More excitement than many peo them from the direction of Conis
and the Sunday Express, launched landed-in the United States!" ple experience in a lifetime was ton, descending until it disap
a major media promotion cam This was how science editor soon to follow. Within six months peared behind a piece of high
paign. Both papers competed to Maurice Goldsmith opened the of the publication of Ad ams ki's ground, once again coming into
serialise the seminal books by Ma story published in the October 3, book, Stephen became the first view again a few seconds later. It
jor Donald Keyhoe J?lying Saucers 1953 edition of the popular person in England to take photo approached within 400 yards of
are Real, Frank Scully's Behind London-based magazine Illus graphs of a 'flying saucer' hover two startled boys, travelling at
the f1ying Saucers and Gerald trated. Entitled "Happy Landings ing near the Old Man. tremendous speed, and then
Heard's Riddle of the Flying Sau from Outer Space" the article fea The story began -as in so stopped suddenly and hovered,
cers. Behind the scenes, the editor tured a half-page b/w reproduction many other UFO photo cases - as noiselessly, in the sky.
of the Sunday Dispatch, Charles of the classic 'bottle cooler' pho a result of what Stcphen describes Stephen told a reporter they
Eade, was quietly encouraged to tograph taken by US contactee as "an accident" of history. On the could clearly see every detail:
promote 'flying saucer" stories by George Adamski at Palomar Gar morningof February 15,1954, "The object was glistening and it
his friend Lord Mountbatten dens, California, on December 13, Stephen -then a pupil at Ulver was a silvery milkyr colour. You
whom he had served as Press offi 1952. The photo it was said, de ston Grammar School- and his could tell the outline of it very
cer during the Second World War picted a flying saucer "Scout eight-year old cousin Adrian plainly indeed and sec port-holes
(3 ). Mountbattcn, who was at that Ship" 35 feet in diameter, com Meyer set off for an expedition on along the upper part, and a thing
time a personal believer in the ET plete with three portholes and the slopes of the fell below the which looked like a hatch on top.
origin of the saucers, felt the sub three ''landing spheres." Old Man armed with an ··old There were three bumps under
ject should be taken seriously and Also featured in the magazine fashioned" Kodak box camera re neath and the centre of the under
wanted to make the public aware were photographs of 'six flying cently purchased by his father. To neath part was of a darker colour.
of the '·evidence." saucers" and a cigar-shaped this day, Stephen maintains that at I took the first picture when it was
The S'unday Di.\patch played 'Mother Ship' taken on March 5, this point he knew ·'absolutely moving very slowly about three or
an influential role in creating the 1951 and an artist's impression of nothing" about the subject of fly four hundred yards away and then
first real flying saucer invasion of the 'man from Venus" Adamski ing saucers. According to it disappeared from my view as
Britain. The popular newspaper claimed to have met near at Desert Dcsmond Leslie 's account the there was some undergrowth in the
featured saucer sightings promi Centre, Arizona, in November the youngster experienced "a nagging way. When it came into sight
nently on page I on a number of following year. Goldsmith adopted persistent restlessness" that fateful again I took another picture but
occasions throughout the early a tongue-in-check stance through morning, as if something was urg then it suddenly went up into the
1950s much to the chagrin of its out his extended review of the ing him that he must go up the hill sky in a great swish. As it went
rivals, but Eade took great pains to book and concluded dryly: " ... un behind his home ". ..h e could not upwards it tilted and I could see
protect the source for his original fortunately, Adamski's logic is tell why; he merely knew he had the underneath side more clearly.
story that he claimed in October poor and I am prepared to wager to." (7)
----------------------------------------------�IIIIIIIIIIIIIEI
There was some sort of whistling
sound as it went up which I think
was the wind." (8)
Immediately the boys ran
down to Little Arrow farm where
they found Or Darbishire and the
family watching TV, oblivious to
the events unfolding outside. Ste
phen recalls how the two excited
youngsters rushed into the farm
house and blurted out how they
"had seen something strange .. .!
think I used the words 'a flying
saucer' and of course everyone fell
about laughting and said 'oh yes,
Stephen, you've been up to your
tricks again."' Stephen's father,
according to Desmond Leslie,
"frankly did not believe it" but
made his son sit down and write a
statement and make a sketch of
what he had seen within half an
hour of the sighting taking place. 1. Leslie, quoted in Cramp, Leonard.
Stephen quickly produced Space, Gravity and the Flying Saucer.
some remarkable and accom London: Wemer Laurie, 1957, p. 173.
plished pencil sketches of a clas
sic Adamski 'flying saucer' before 2. Interview with Stephen Darbishire, 7
April2001. All subsequent quotations are
his two photographs were repro
drawn from this interview unless otherwise
duced in celluloid. They consisted
referenced.
of two detailed drawings of a
''Scout Ship," complete with tur 3. Ziegler, Philip. Mountbatten: The official
ret, three portholes and landing biography. London: BCA, 1985, p. 494.
gear, almost but not exactly iden
tical to those which had appeared 4. Sunday Dispatch (London), 14 April
1957
in the magazine Illustrated during
October 1953. Other sketches de
6. Adamski, George and Leslie, Desmond.
pict the craft at different angles,
Flying Saucers Have Landed. London: T.
possibly showing its method of Wemer Laurie, 1953.
departure. In longhand beneath the
drawings appear the words: 6. Illustrated (London), 3 October 1953
"Drawing by Stephen Darbishire,
aged 13 years, of what he saw, 7. Leslie, in Cramp, op. Cif., p. 13
done before the two photographs
8. Lancashire Evening Post (Preston), 18
of the flying saucer had been de
February 1954
veloped." (9)
Dr Darbishire delivered the 9. "Saucers over Britain," by Waveney Gir
film for development to a lab in van, Illustrated, 12 February 1955.
Coniston village while Stephen
was away, staying with his god
mother. When the film was re
turned the retired GP could not
believe his eyes. For the final two
frames on the film did show a
fuzzy, saucer-shaped object ap
parently suspended above a grassy
hillock. Although out of focus, in
the best picture it is possible to
pick out what appear to be 'dark
portholes' and three 'landing
domes' as described by Stephen at
the time.
Stephen recalled: "When I
came back my father greeted me
off the bus at 8 o'clock in the
morning and said 'right, come on
inside.' He was very agitated and
he said I've got so and so from the
Stephen Darbishire and Adrian Meyer [Ilul strated magazine, February 12, 1955] Daily Express and someone from
�...__
______________________
the Daily Mail arriving in half an before the photographs were de two stark alternatives: either Ste
hour. Before I knew it we had half veloped, how could Stephen know phen had seen an identical Venu
the world's press on the doorstep." what, if anything, was depicted on sian Scout Ship as described by
What happened next, as they say, the negatives that were, at that George Adamski, or he had re
is history. Stephen's story and a point, still inside his father's cam produced the photograph he had
reproduction of the clearest pho era? Sadly, no one other than the seen in Illustrated and somehow
tograph, the first in the sequence, editor of Flying Saucer News felt transferred this to celluloid.
was published on page l of the it necessary to ask this very rele Perhaps realising the problems
Preston-based Lancashire Evening vant question at the time. this admission created for the story
(1 0)
Post. Within days photos of Ste Equally of interest arc Lcslie claimed that Stephen main
phen, Adrian and the 'flying sau Stephen's words describing the tained "although this saucer pic
cer' had appeared in the national point immediately after the photo ture [published in Illustrated] had
Press. On February 26, 1954, the was taken: '·. .. just as I had finished shown a saucer with three port
Lancashire Evening Post became the flying saucer (which I now holes in a row, the one had seen
the first British newspaper to re thought it must be) shot off up had four in a row.'' In the drawing
produce Darbishire's sketches and into the clouds ... " A curious turn he produced immediately after the
photograph alongside those of the of phrase for a boy who claimed sighting Stephen drew only three
Venusian ''Scout Ship" taken by he had "no knowledge" of flying portholes," but as the saucer went
Adamski, having obtained special saucers! Desmond Leslie, who away it turned slightly so that a
permission from ''the leading Brit travelled to Coniston on February fourth porthole came into view.''
ish expert on the subject," Des 23 and was a guest of the Dar For Leslie that was evidence
mond Leslie. Al Griffin of the bishire family for two days, soon enough, for he knew that in one of
dismissed the possibility that Stc the unpublished Adamski photos
phen had faked the photographs. four portholes in a row are clearly
During his stay "Stcphen never shown.
once contradicted himself [orl "He [Stephen Darbishire j did
made a remark or inadvertent slip not know this!" exclaimed Leslie
suggestive of a hoax," wrote Les with obvious glee. "This, on top of
lie who was at that time promoting the other evidence, fully convinced
Flying Saucers Have Landed. He me that Stephen was not only tell
saw young Step hen's photographs ing the truth but also that he had
as corroborative evidence of seen the same saucer (or an iden
Adamski' s outlandish claims. Lcs tical model) as Adamski." (12)
lie notes that Stephen did not In the heady days of 1954,
make any slip-ups when ques these problems seemed irrelevant.
tioned by four hardened journalists Through accident or design Ste
and a crew from BBC TV. The phen Darbishire became a national
boy's father maintained that he too celebrity overnight. His pictures
had cross-examined both Stephen were flashed around the world,
and Adrian thoroughly before de and before February was out the
ciding to "go public" with the inhabitants of Little Arrow farm
Stephen Darbishire's original sketch of
Post noted how" ... we are as photographs. He said they stuck by had been introduced to what today
the UFO he photographed at Coniston,
sured ... that Stephen had never their story even when warned Stephen calls ''the world of sym
made before the film was developed.
seen the Adamski pictures" when about the trouble they could be in pathetic magic ... modem magic"
he produced the sketch. What the if the story was a hoax. He was Desmond Leslie was just the first
paper described as "space travel convinced they were not lying. "flying saucer believer" to visit
enthusiasts, flying saucer fans, But the most suspicious Coniston to experience the vibes
scientists, scoffers and sceptics" statement of all is hidden within of the 'Space visitors.". Lcslie lost
were all left to draw their own Leslie' s attempt to pursuade read no time in proclaiming Stcphen 's
conclusions. ers that Stephen had never read his photo as ''the second of the
During the media frenzy that book Flying Saucers Have Landed Adamski type to be photographed
followed publication of the photo or even a abridged version of in the world" and told the local
graphs, Stephen 's written state Adamski' s claims: " .. he fStephen newspaper: "I am satisfied that
ment was overlooked. The origi Darbishire] admitted he had seen Stephen saw what he says he
nal, or what is purported to be the the photograph of the Adamski saw ... this visit or contact has been
original, was reproduced in Leon saucer as published in Illustrated expected for some time." (13)
ard Cramp's book Space. Gravity on 30th September fsicl 1953." Before the March was out Ste
and the F'lying Saucer and poses a (ll) phen had been invited to a
number of questions. Most impor If Leslie's account is accurate saucer-spotters convention in Lon
tant is the sentence that reads: then Stephen clearly had seen don where delegates scrutinised
" ...A drian and I were down in a Adamski 's Scout Ship photo, pub blurry enlargements of his photo
small hill valley so the rising in lished four months before his own graph. He recalls how ''it all got
foreground of photo is due to the photographs showing a similar rather hysterical and one chap
position we were in. Some grass is ''craft" were taken. Indeed, how leapt up and said he could see a
shown under the saucer.fmy em else could the youngster have pro face in a porthole."
phasis I" If these words really duced such an accurate pencil It was during this visit to Lon
were committed to paper within drawing of an "Scout Ship"com don in March 1954, that Stephen
half an hour of the experience as plete with three portholes and and his father were secreted into a
claimed and therefore some days landing gear? Clearly this left just car and driven to Buckingham
----------------------------------------------------------�111111111111111
Palace to meet one of the Duke of himself: "How can I be involved did the photograph depict? ''An
Edinburgh's private secretaries. It in this, how can I actually be sit object," was the simple but am
was claimed the invitation came ting here with these people?" biguous answer Stephen Dar
from the Palace via Desmond Les The teenager was by now bishire gave when this question
lie who had contacts at 'the high feeling increasingly that he was was asked in 2001. What is not in
est level.' In fact, the Sunday Dis pawn in other people's games, that dispute is that Stephen shared his
patch got wind of the meeting the photo was no longer his prop father's inquisitive nature and
soon afterwards and reported how erty " ... all I was being used for creative talents-and clearly his
Prince Philip had read about was an instrument of verification." sense of humour too, an attribute
Stephen's sighting in the newspa As a result he decided the best also associated with another in
pers ''and wanted to know more." way out was to put the word fluential personality entwined
(14) around that his photos were in fact within this story, Desmond Lcslie.
The Royal Equerry, RAF fakes so he could go back to living Interviewed in 200 l Darbishire
Squadron Leader Sir Peter Horsley a normal life. continues to maintain he had never
was at that time involved in his In a letter sent to UFO author seen Adamski's photos when he
own "saucer" study with the bless Timothy Good in 1986 Stephen produced his drawings and photo
ing of the Duke, and "the Dar told how " ... in desperation I ... graphs, contradicting his own
bishire boys" became the latest in said it was a fake." (16) But as statement to Leslie in 1954 that he
a series of saucer-spotters who Alex Birch and others who fol had indeed seen the pictures that
were invited to his office to dis lowed in Stephen 's footsteps were appeared in Illustrated, the year
cuss their sightings. In his autobi later to find, the "hoax" declara previously.
ography, Horsley says he was tion did not bring an end to the How likely was it that the
"impressed by their story and notoriety -rather the opposite: "I 13-year-old living in the early 50s 10. See "Coniston Puzzle" in Flying Sau
truthfulness" and notes Dr Dar was counter-attacked, accused of had never heard of "flying sau cer News: Journal of the British Flying
bishire ''was not relishing the pub working with the 'Dark cers"? Not very likely, it seems. Saucer Bureau and Flying Saucer Club,
licity and notoriety the family Powers· ... or patronisingly 'under A survey of newspapers published vol1/9 (summer 1955), 19.
were receiving from the newspa stood' for following orders from in Cumbria during 1953-54 re
11 . Leslie, in Cramp, p.17
pers... Horsley sent a report of the some secret government depart vealed an earlier saucer sighting,
meeting to the Duke, who was in ment." pre-dating Darbishire's experience,
12. 1bid.
Australia at the time, and asked a While Stephen remained "de made by three Coniston school
professional photographer, Wal tached" from the strange charac boys who claimed to have seen a 13. Lancashire Evening Post (Preston), 24
lace Heaton, to examine the nega ters and even stranger beliefs that saucer pass over the village as February 1954
tives. His conclusion said, in surrounded his experience, he they waited for a bus. Another
summary: "Yes, they could have found the biggest impact of all sighting followed at the village of 14. Sunday Dispatch (London), 24 March
been faked but they were so good was upon the lives of his parents. Askam. ( 17) Surely a boy with 1954
it would have cost quite a lot of Following the experiences of such inquiring mind as Stephen
16. Horsley, Sir Peter . Sounds from An
money." This left the RAF vet 1954, Dr Darbishire underwent Darbishire had would have heard
other Room. London: Leo Cooper, 1997,
eran puzzled: how could an ordi what his son described as '·a mid about these sightings, if not in a
p. 180.
nary farming family find the life crisis." The visitors and atten newspaper then on the local
money to finance an elaborate tion his family received from the grapevine, along with the stories 16 . Good, Timothy. Above Top Secret.
hoax and even if they had, what flying saucer movement opened up about flying saucers widely pub London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987, p.37,
was their motivation? ''Was there a whole new world of possibilities lished in the national media? 373.
a wider conspiracy?" he mused. and Darbishire senior became Stephen was in fact quoted in
(15) drawn into the world of the occult, the London News Chronicle as 17. Lancashire Evening Post (Preston), 19
February 1954
Stephen Darbishire 's visit to collecting a huge library of books claiming a second sighting, just
Buckingham Palace was just the on a range of esoteric subjects. five days after the photograph was
18. News Chronicle (London), 22 March
beginning of a series of adventures The workshop at his farm became taken, of ''a cigar-shaped object, 1954
which led him and his family fur a laboratory where he constructed again near Old Man" and added
ther and deeper into the bizarre strange machines that utilised re ''since then I have studied reports
world of the 'flying saucer cult.' volving lights to detect the human of flying saucers and believe in
Visitors called in at the Darbishire aura and effect alternative cures. them." ( 18) Was it entirely coin
family home without invitation, Similarly, Stephen's mother was cidental that the second sighting
and letters arrived by the sackful also profoundly affected by the was of a cigar-shaped craft-of the
including one from none other experience and became more in 'Mother Ship' type photographed
than Lord Dowding, the Battle of terested in the spiritual world. by Adamski and published along
Britain hero -another highly In 200 I Stephen Darbishire - side the 'Scout Ship' pictures in
placed saucer believer at that time. the artist - prefers to play down that widely-read issue of Illus
In 1959 Stephen was introduced the significance of his best known trated?
by Desmond Leslie to George piece of work, growing weary after Wherever the inspiration for
Adamski at a meeting held in almost half a century of tiresome those sketches came from, what
London during the contactee 's questions. Yet the central mystery can be said about the photographs
lecture tour of Britain and Europe. that eluded Sir Peter Horsley re themselves? Very little, because
Stephen, who was by then attend mains: just how could a young according to Darbishire both the
ing art school, remained ''unim boy, who claimed he "knew abso negatives and all the surviving
pressed" by the contactee who he lutely nothing about flying sau prints were "stolen" or "borrowed"
dismissed as "mad, mad as a cers" manage to "create" one of and never retumed.Although Ste
hatter.. .somewhere else alto most mysterious photographs in phen remained convinced he had
gether." It was at this stage, Ste the history of the subject? And if correctly focussed upon "Infinity"
phen told us in 200 I, that he asked it wasn't faked, then what exactly before the saucer had appeared,
IJIIIIIIIIIIIII�----------------------------------------------
the "'object" depicted in both pho
tographs is out of focus. The ex
planation for this curious anomaly
suggested at the time was that "the
bellows of his small camera were
not fully extended.'' This theory
was disproved when Desmond
Leslie experimented with the
camera at the place where the
photographs were taken, taking a
number of exposures using differ
ent combinations of shutter speeds
and bellow settings. The results
suggested the camera was in fact
correctly focussed, but Leslie sug
gested that Stcphen had altered the
shutter setting by mistake during
the excitement of the moment.
The reproduction of the photo
featured in most UFO books is in
fact the first picture taken as the
youngster spun around when
alerted to the saucer's presence by
his young cousin. In the second
photo, rarely published in the UFO
literature, the 'craft' appears partly
distorted on its right-hand side, as
if the craft's angles arc 'stewed
round.'
" ... There is no doubt that the photographs are completely
It was an effect that a writer in
authentic. lt is inconceivable that the youngster or parent could
f'lying Saucer News explained as
have perpetrated a hoax."
being the result of UFOs' ability
to change shape "prior to warping
into hyperspace, or another di Leonard Cramp, on the Birch photos, in Flying Saucer Review. (26)
mension." (20) This peculiar fea
ture has since been seized upon by
Timothy Good as evidence to
support the authenticity of the no
torious Silver Spring film taken by sketches just half an hour follow The original glistening, translucent Stephen, how lovely to hear from
Gcorge Adamski in 1965. In the ing his "sighting." metal had become a '·preternatural you again; you know ifs extraor
film the ·scout Ship' displays a So what was the "object"? light." (24) dinary that there are still people
similar distortion of its dimen During the writing of his best And what of Adrian Meyer, taking pictures of the old flying
sions. (21) On the contrary, there selling Above Top Secret author who despite being the first to see saucers. .. where can they find
is no good reason why Adamski Timothy Good approached Ste the UFO, faded into the back those 1930s lampshades from, I
could have not been aware of Dar phen and asked if the experience ground and never received the at thought they had all gone out of
bishire' s second photo. Darbishire was genuine. Stephen, then 46 and tention of his elder cousin? Could production.'· Stephcn said of him:
met Adamski in London during back living in his native Cumbria, he provide the key to what really --you never knew with Desmond.
1959 -six years before the Silver would say only: ''It happened a happened that cold February af He appeared to believe completely,
Spring film was produced - and long time ago, and I do not wish ternoon in 1954? but he also had a great sense of
would certainly have been shown to be drawn into the labyrinth "I met him recently for the humour.'"
both photographs taken by the again.'' (23) first time in many years," Stephen Echoing Alex Birch -soon to
youngster in the presence of his Today he continues to distance told us candidly. "He wasn't in follow in his footsteps -and many
host, Dcsmond Lcslie. himself from the flying saucer volved in it really. He just sort of others caught up in the UFO laby
Despite the underlying doubts, buffs who staked so much of their 'blinked twice.' He dosen 't re rinth through accident or design,
believers in the Space People were belief system in the authenticity of member anything about it and Stephen summed up his feelings of
oyerjoyed when aeronautical en those two photographs. After al probably thinks we made it all up. that time:
gineer and Saunders-Roc hover most half a century Stephen 's He just said 'that was a load of .. It was a one-off experience
craft designer Leonard Cramp used original account of the Adamski baloney, wasn't it?"' that lasted 30 seconds but the re
a method he called ··orthographic ''Scout Ship" with portholes and The other major player in the percussions are still reverberating
projection--to demonstrate that the turret has been replaced by a de Darbishire photo case, Desmond ... I don't have any idea about its
objects depicted in the Darbishire scription more fitting the preoccu Leslie, passed away in February significance, except that it was one
and Adamski photographs were pations of the 21st ccnturv. 2001. His obituary described his of these things that happen out of
proportionally identical. (22) This "By the time I took the second extraordinary life as rivalling "'any the blue that you arc caught up in.
should not be so surprising if the photo it had gone," Stephen said. fiction by Nancy Mitford or An It's just a type of accident.'"
"object" photO!:,l'faphed by Stephen ··There was nothing dramatic like thony Powell, with overtones of a
Darbishire was based upon the people at windows or anything ... it Fifties sci-fi movie, and a little
photograph of the Scout Ship he looked like a cloud to me and Weimar decadance thrown in.''
had seen in Illustrated and so when it first happened I thought (25) One of his final notes, faxed
faithfully reproduced in his pencil ·that's a funny shaped cloud.'' to Stephen Darbishire, read: '·Dear
----------�--------------------------��
nationals during the summer of
1962, whilst the part played by the
other two boys faded into the
background. A lex's father and his
English teacher Colin Brook, both
sympathetic to ET visitations,
played a similar role to Dr Dar
bishire, promoting the pictures and
playing heavily upon the naivety
and natural honesty of young
Alex. His father in particular
played a major part in the promo
tion of the picture to newspapers
and UFO societies. ln a letter to
Flying Saucer Review published in
1963, Birch senior wrote: " ... 1 my
se! f was a non-believer in these
objects ... [but now] I am firmly
convinced that we arc being vis
ited by flying saucers of other
planets." (29)
Within months
14-ycar-old Alex was retracing the 20. Flying Saucer News, op. cit.
steps of his Cumbrian predecessor,
visiting London to address the in 21. Zinsstag, Lou and Good, Timothy.
augural meeting of the British George Adamski: The Untold Story. Beck
UFO Research Association in enham: CETI Publications, 1983, p. 171-3.
Kensington on September 22,
22. See Cramp, Space, Gravity and the
1962. A contemporary account of
the meeting described how the Flying Sa�cer, Zinsstag & Good, George
Adamski: The Untold Story and Flying
schoolboy addressed a crswd of Saucer Review vol1 0/1 (January-February
more than 200 members of UFO 1964), 13-14.
The instrument of ufological alchemy was a
socieites from across the country
one-year-old box Brownie
127 ". ..h e seemed dwarfed by the 23. Good, Above Top Secret, p.373
speaker's stand as he spoke fault
24. Interview with Stephen Darbishire by
lessly for four minutes." (30)
The Alex Birch photograph camera which Alcx continues to Peter Hough and Dr Harry Hudson, 1993
BUFORA enthusiastically en
treasure, despite a recent bid from (?), by courtesy of Peter Hough. The
dorsed his pictures following an
ln 1962 Alcx Birch was one year the Roswell Museum in New Mex authors wish to make it clear that the
older than Stephen Darbishire had ico, who wanted to turn it into one analysis conducted by one of their views expressed in this article are not
'experts', Alan Watts. He con shared by Hough or Hudson.
been when he took the photo of their exhibits.(27)
cluded his report with the com
graphs that changed his life. His It was a grey Sunday
ment: "If we want the truth I 26. Obituary by Philip Hoare, published in
single black and white picture has morning in March and the trio
would say we couldn't do better The Independent, 10 March 2001.
since entered the UFO mythology were fooling around in a field near
than take these to be fairly normal
as one of the best-known photo the British Oak pub five miles 26. "Aiex Birch tells his story," Flying Sau
Adamski-type saucers and argue it
graphic hoaxes -or was it? from Sheffield City Centre. Today cer Review vol 9/1, 22 (JaniFeb 1963)
out from there." (3 I) The editor
Alcx·s family were considerably the pub is surrounded not by trees
less financially well-off than the but by modem housing develop of Flying Saucer Review, Waveney 27. Sheffield Star, 9 February 1999
Girvan went further suggesting the
Darbishirc's; the Birch parents ments. ln uncannily similar cir
lived in a modest house at Mos cumstances to those described by saucer pilots were interested in 28. Derbyshire Times (Chesterfield), 22
Sheffield because "if there is life June 1962
borough, at that time in Derbyshire Stephen Darbishire, Alex was tak
of any sort inside these flying ob
but actually on the outskirts of the ing experimental pictures with his jects it presumably needs water to 29. "The Censors at Work," Flying Saucer
industrial Yorkshire city of Shef new camera -snaps of a dog, of Review vol912, 7 (March/April1963)
sustain it...and Sheffield is sur
field. Like Stephen Darbishire, Stuart jumping into the air, of a
rounded by reservoirs." (32) Pre
Alex had a Catholic upbringing stone being thrown and then, lo 30. FSR vol9/1, 22.
dictably, the publicity that Alex's
and it is clear that his parents Mar and behold ... a formation of flying
garct and Alex senior had an open saucers! Five in all, hanging in photo received sparked a major 31. Report by Alan Watts in BUFORA case
flap in the Sheffield and Yorkshire file, 620009 dated 21 September 1962.
mind on subjects such as spiritual the air, with dazzling white blobs
region during the autumn of 1962
ism and flying saucers. emerging from their dark saucer
with dozens of others 'seeing' 32. "Flying Saucers: The evidence runs on
Alcx also had the back shaped fuselages. "l got my cam UFOs above the city. (33) straight lines," by WaveneyGirvan, Shef
ing of additional witnesses who era up and took a shot of them� " field Telegraph Weekend Magazine, 1
But the real highlight of
initially pledged to stick by the Alex told the Derbyshire Time·. September 1962
the year was Alex's visit to the
story through thick and thin. They '"A second or so later they disap
were Alex·s schoolpal David peared at terrific speed towards very seat of power-Whitehall. 33. See Clarke, Randles & Roberts, The
Brownlow aged 12 and an older Sheffield." (28) Official interest was encouraged UFOs that Never Were. London: London
by Alcx's father who took it upon House, 2000, p 129-30
friend, Stuart Dixon, then 16 years Alex soon became the
himself to contact the Air Ministry
of age. The instrument of centre of a whirlwind of publicity.
in July 1962. He informed them �f
ufological alchemy was a His photo appeared first in the
the existence of his son's photo
one-year-old box Brownie 127 Yorkshire newspapers, then in the
graph and said he was "awaiting
�r---------------------------------------------------------
instructions." (34) After declining and a Dickie bow. W c went down story, his father only learned the
to make a field investigation, the long corridors into a room where truth the day before the newspa
Air Ministry slowly and reluc there were some men and a doctor. pers carried the story and begged
tantly agreed to take a look at They took the negative and the him not to go ahead with the plan.
Alex's photo in the face of mount camera and kept them overnight, The Sheffield Telegraph quickly
ing publicity. Alex and father taking the camera apart. They tracked down another of the trio,
subsequently paid a visit to White asked me all these questions for so David Brownlow, who confirmed
hall in a trip sponsored by a long I got muddled, telling me the whole thing was a joke which
newspaper, the Yorkshire Post. they were not flying saucers but snowballcd.(40) And there it stood
When the group arrived at the Min Russians." (37) until 1998 when, in the midst of
istry building the journalist was Reading the Air Ministry file short-lived UFO revival that ac
carefully separated from the Birch on the Birch case, preserved at the companied the popular TV series
family and taken to visit the Pub Public Record Office, it becomes The X-Filcs, Alex-now in his
lic Relations office. Meanwhile, clear that White and Bardsley did mid-50s and a successful antiques
Alex was questioned by the two not believe the boy's story but dealer - courted publicity once
senior RAF officers whose job it could not say so publically. In an again. This time his story followed
was in 1962 to monitor UFO re internal memo dated September a familiar route taken by Stcphen
ports. These were Flight Lieuten 24, 1962, released in 1993 under Darbishire as a result of his 1959
ant R.H. White of S6 -a prede the ''30 year rule," Bardsley writes 'confession"; it was the hoax that
cessor of Nick Pope's Secretariat to a colleague in S6: " ... it is a was in itself a hoax - the photo
(Air Stafl) 2A -and a '"technical relatively simple task to reproduce graph was genuine after all!
consultant", Flight Lieutenant an identical photograph to the one '·I did become internationally
we were shown ... the sequence of famous but I also faced a lot of
exposures on the two strips of ridicule and pressure,'· Birch told
negatives we saw do not exactly Pcte Moxon of Shefficld-based
fit the boy's story. [my emphasisr White's Newsagency. "I decided
Bardsley summed up his exaspera to claim that it was a fake in hope
tion: ". ..p erhaps this brief outline that it would all go away and the
of these doubts will assist you in pressure would be taken off me.
deciding what on earth you can But it didn't work out like that...
write to Mr Birch." (38) the UFO fraternity didn "t believe
After much deliberation, S6 me, and they even called a confer
decided on a classic fudge. In a ence in London and came to the
letter sent to Mr Birch senior, and conclusion that my change of story
subsequently released by the fam was due to pressure r from the
ily to the Press, the Ministry sug Government]." (41)
gested the objects shown in the Why had Alex waited until
photograph were "ice particles in 1998 to tell the whole truth? "The
the atmosphere" an explanation reason I've decided to let the real
that was rejected by just about story be known now is because I
everyone including the editor of think it is important that the public
"Theex perioefnt hcee s fatheArnt hony Bardsley of the more Flying Saucer Review, Charles should know." Unfortunately,
have nowp absesdeeond wn t o shadowy Air Intelligence depart Bowen, who questioned whether A lex ·s two former school pals did
his Asdorni[ ealfnwht o] adver ment DDI (Tech). An internal the Air Ministry really believed n "t see it that way. David Bro-wn
MoD account described the at their own explanation, which of low and Stuart Dixon were still
tisqeusia tlhya n-dcrawftoeodd en
mosphere at the meeting as "cor course they didn "t! To many ob resident in Mosborough and both
modeolfcs l asUsFiOsc. "
dial [and] both Mr Birch and his servers, including Alex Birch sen were contacted by the Snejjield
[Photo: Yorkshire Post] son were prepared to talk about it ior, the Air Ministry statement Star before Alex was able to speak
rthe photograph] at length." (35) simply confrrmed their belief in an directly to them. Both men inde
Mr Birch senior seemingly had official cover-up. Birch claimed it pendently dismissed A lex ·s new
another agenda. In Flying Saucer was this statement that actually led claim, although Stuart Dixon was
Review he claimed his son was him to believe flying saucers were later to retract his original state
''sick with fear" when the inter extaterrcstrial "and what is more, ment but only after meeting his
view began and said the officials the Air Ministry knows also but old friend for the first time since
"started what I will call a won't admit it." (39) 1962.
brainwash ...a sking him wasn't it Alex Birch had his brief mo Brownlow, however, was hav
any reflection that he saw and ment of fame, and by 1972 the ing none of it. "It was a hoax,'" he
what was the weather like, what bubble had burst. By that time he told us. ''Alex has always run with
were the formations of cloud. ..t he had moved home several times but it more than we have. It was
questions they must have repeated was still pursued by people he de painted on glass. We were just
at least thirty times ..." (36) In the scribes as '·nutcases" and their messing around in A lex ·s dad's
re-telling the length of the inter endless questions about the sau greenhouse when we had the idea
view at Whitehall increased from cers. Newly married with his first to do it. We were all into (Juater
hvo hours to three (in FSR) and child on the way, continual ridi mass and War of the Worlds at the
then to seyen hours when recalled cule led him to phone the Daily time. It was Alcx ·s idea to take the
by Alcx in 1998. He remembered Express and admit the 'flying sau photo but then his dad and a
walking up the steps of Whitehall cers· were simply cut out shapes teacher at the school got hold of it
with his father where the pair ''met pasted on a sheet of glass and and we all got swept along with
a man in a tweed jacket, flannels re-photographed. According to his the hoax which just snowballed. It
