A blue jelly sphere that rained down in the UK. (credit: BBC)

According to Popular Science, British authorities say the “tiny, one-inch gelatinous spheres are odorless, are not sticky, and are not meteorological.”

Former aircraft engineer Steve Hornsby discovered approximately twelve of these spheres in his yard on the afternoon of Thursday, January 26. The BBC explains that Hornsby kept the objects in his freezer to prevent them from melting, but later determined that is was not necessary, as the objects do not melt at room temperature.

There is speculation that these mysterious spheres could simply be “marine invertebrate eggs” that “stuck to a bird’s feet and were carried into the air.” But for now, as Popular Science explains, “no one has any real clue what they are.”

What is your opinion about these strange blue tiny UFOs? Share your thoughts on the Open Minds Facebook page.

UFO over Devon (credit: Gary McDermott/SWNS.com)

McDermott reportedly stopped his car to take a picture of a low-flying helicopter. That is when he noticed the UFO. According to The Telegraph, the UFO was a red disc-shaped object with bright flashing lights. McDermott explained, “It must have been a UFO – and I cannot believe I am saying that because I don’t believe in them usually. I am always sceptical. But this was definitely not a normal aircraft. It was red, the shape they say UFO aircraft is, and had two bright lights coming out of it.”

The unknown object disappeared almost immediately after McDermott saw it.

The object in McDermott’s photo appears more cigar- or blimp-shaped than disc-shaped. And while the object in the photo looks very much like a dirigible, the witness’s description of how the UFO vanished before his eyes is not consistent with the behavior of dirigibles. According to The Telegraph, Devon police said they did not received any UFO sighting reports in the area that night.

The object remains unidentified.

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Six UFOs were recently photographed in neighboring counties in England.

Two UFOs photographed in Kent (Credit: Ernestas Griksas/The Sun)

The second sighting occurred on the morning of January 13 in Essex as witness Josh Cummins was driving to work. He explained to the Sun, “I nearly crashed. I stopped to take this picture with my mobile. It was like the UFOs were surfing the clouds. They were there for 15 seconds then vanished.”

As the Daily Mail reports, the sightings were made just 30 miles apart “in an area now dubbed the country’s UFO hotspot.”

All six of these UFOs look strikingly similar.

Four UFOs photographed in Essex (credit: Josh Cummins/The Sun)

The nearly identical UFOs bear a striking resemblance to reflections of light bulbs hanging in light fixtures. Both photos were reportedly shot through windows, which increases the probability that the strange objects were simply light reflections. And some suggest the possibility that the two witnesses may know each other, hinting at a possible hoax.

But Griksas contacted Open Minds to explain, “I personally can’t say whether it really was a UFO or not because I was too busy focusing on my camera. I am a UFO fanatic and I wish I did see it with my own eyes but at this point it remains a mystery.”

What do you think about these photos? Share your views with us on the Open Minds Facebook page.

Rupert Matthews at his desk. (Credit: www.rupertmatthews,org)

According to the rules of the EP, he was to be replaced by Rupert Matthews, a prolific writer and politician who has published many books on the paranormal and UFOs. “Mr. Matthews was behind Mr. Helmer on the Tory party list in the region at the 2009 European elections, a position that would normally guarantee his succession in the event of a vacancy,” reported Your Local Guardian. However, his interest in the paranormal and ufology quickly began to work against Matthews’ once promising political future. “Golly! Ghostbuster UK MEP may not be coming to Brussels” was the December 29 headline in NEWEUROPE online, dubbed “The European Political Newspaper.” The article was decidedly against the appointment of Matthews to the EP, who was described as “a sceptic over the EU, but on precious little else. He has several fascinating interests. Chief among these is ghost hunting. Of course, there is much more to him. He’s also an expert on UFOs and alien abduction.” After listing the titles of several of the paranormal and UFO books published by Matthews, NEWEUROPE added facetiously that “this led to him being nicknamed ‘The MEP for Roswell and Bigfoot’.”

On top of the bad PR brought by his paranormal interests, Matthews was also criticized because Bretwalda Books, a publishing house of which he is a director, published a book on Political Correctness featuring golliwog dolls on the cover. The golliwog is a racially demeaning black rag doll from a 19th century character in children’s books once popular in Britain, the U.S. and Commonwealth countries. Although the cover was not for one of Matthews’ books, it led the ruling Conservative Party to announce an inquiry into the matter. According to a BBC News story on December 31, MEP Roger Helmer finally announced he was delaying his resignation until his successor was chosen. “There do seem to have been one or two administrative queries arising with central office over the succession to the seat,” said Helmer. “Naturally, I want to get those sorted out before I formalize my resignation.”

Rupert Mathews (right) shaking hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron. (Credit: Bretwalda Books)

Who is Rupert Matthews

According to his own official website, which describes him as “a historian and political activist”:

Rupert has written over 180 books, mostly on history or military subjects.
Rupert was born 1961 and was educated at the village Church of England junior school, then at his local grammar school. He later took up a career in publishing – which brought him face to face with militant trades unionism, especially in the print unions. That experience caused Rupert to turn against socialism, state control and restrictive laws. He began campaigning for Mrs Thatcher’s Conservatives and Norman Tebbit’s trades union reforms. Rupert has never looked back. Rupert stood for Parliament in 1997 and for the European Parliament in 2009. He has served 8 years on his local council.

Rupert Matthews with a Roman helmet. (Credit: www.rupertmatthews.com)

The second largest category of books published by Rupert Matthews after history is undoubtedly the paranormal. Some of the many titles are Haunted Hampshire, The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal, Paranormal Surrey, Haunted Sunderland, Haunted Places of Dorset, Mysterious Cornwall, Mysterious Yorkshire, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Poltergeists, Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, etc. And then there are the ufological titles which include UFOs – A History of Alien Activity from
Sightings to Abductions to Global Threat, Alien Encounters – True-Life Stories of Aliens, UFOs, and Other Extra-Terrestrial Phenomena, and Roswell – Uncovering the secrets of Area 51 and the fatal UFO crash. There are also his contributions to British editions of Readers Digest’s books on the Paranormal. As you can see, Rupert Matthews is not just a casual writer on these topics but one who has made quite a professional career out of it.

In an interview with Richard Thomas’ Room 101, Rupert Matthews describes how he became interested in the paranormal. “My grandma was very interested in ghosts and the supernatural,” he said. “When I was younger she used to tell me all about boggarts (we would call them poltergeists these days), white ladies, black hounds and ghosts of all kinds. I guess that is what started me off originally.” He then went on to work for a small publishing company and began writing history books; as he traveled around the country,

I started using the time to visit any haunted hotels, pubs or open spaces in the area. Over the years I built up a large amount of photos of haunted places, interviews with witnesses and so forth. It then occurred to me that I ought to try to get it published, and one of my publishing contacts was kind enough to take the book on. It sold rather well and since then I have been doing almost as much on the paranormal and unexplained as on history. Great fun.

Some of Matthews' books (credit: Book Sales, Inc., Heinemann, Arcturus Publishing Ltd., David Brown Book Co.)

Rupert Matthews’ views on UFOs

Rupert Matthews’ UFO books are basic introductions to the subject geared for a younger and general audience. In the interview with Richard Thomas he discussed some of his views on the subject. When asked about the closing of the UFO desk at the Ministry of Defence a year or so ago, Matthews said:

I spoke to a fairly senior RAF officer about this. His view was that UFOs were not the business of the RAF. He said that the RAF was there to fly missions over Afghanistan, keep an eye on Russian spy planes and such like. He was prepared to accept that there MIGHT be an objective reality to the UFO phenomenon, but seemed to think it was a job for the intelligence services. Until we know what UFOs are and why they are here, he did not think the RAF should be involved. The RAF has more than enough to keep itself busy. Whether that is the real reason I have no idea, but that was his view.

Thomas then asked him about “rumours of an ultra covert British UFO group and recovered alien technology,” to which Matthews responded:

I know that the US and UK intelligence services share a lot of information, but not everything. I would expect them to share the broad outlines about what they know about UFOs, but would maybe keep juicy details to themselves. As for alien technology, that presupposes that UFOs are alien spacecraft and that one or more has crashed and been recovered. I’m not entirely convinced by either of these suggestions. I know the alien spacecraft theory is the most popular among UFO researchers, but while it may well turn out to be the case, I think it is a case of “not proven” for now.

We also found and read a number of interesting UFO articles by Matthews posted on Richard Thomas’ blog. In one of them, “The truth behind Roswell,” he described the research he did for his book on Roswell, concluding that “in the final analysis something fell out of the sky in early July 1947. The United States Air Force did move quickly to collect the wreckage, then quickly launched a determined effort to kill the story and keep the find secret. Can I tell you what it was that fell from the sky? No. There are several possibilities that would fit the evidence – and an alien spacecraft is but one of those.”

Another article, “UFO Crashes in Britain,” described the evidence, such as it is, for these types of incidents in the UK. He noted that there isn’t anything remotely close to Roswell in terms of evidence and fame (the 1980 Rendlesham Forest case is sometimes compared to Roswell, but it clearly didn’t involve a UFO crash). Probably the most interesting case reviewed by Matthews is the Berwyn Mountain incident of January 23, 1974 in northern Wales, when many witnesses reported “spherical or saucer shaped” lights “moving erratically in odd patterns and formations. Then, at 8.38pm,” continued Matthews, “residents around the Berwyn Mountain in Wales heard a deafening rumbling explosion and the ground shook. People came out into the streets. One man said he had seen lights over the mountain just before the crash and speculated that an aircraft had crashed.” The local police went to the mountain with a nurse to check if there were casualties. The plot thickened shortly thereafter as explained by Matthews:

Not long afterwards a convoy of army trucks arrived, the men cordoned off the mountain and refused admittance to anyone. The policeman and nurse came back down under army escort. They said that they had seen lights and debris as if from a crash, but had been instructed to leave. The nurse would later say that she had got close to the crash and seen bodies that did not seem to be human.

The official explanation for the events at Berwyn are that an unusually large meteor hurtled across the sky at the same time that an earthquake struck Berwyn. Some geologists have speculated that the lights were the rare, and largely unexplained phenomenon, of earthquake lights which are sometimes reported in the air just before earthquakes strike. Others remain convinced that it was a UFO that crashed at Berwyn, though very little of the craft seems to have survived the impact.

The gate to Rudloe Manor in Bath. (Credit: Derek Hawkins/Wikimeda Commons)

The mystery of RAF Rudloe Manor

Another fascinating article posted by Rupert Matthews in 2010 is “RAF Rudloe Manor and the UFO Files,” which describes the history of this top secret RAF installation in Bath. Its link as a UFO reporting center was first outed by Timothy Good in his 1987 bestseller Above Top Secret. Matthews tells the history of the base since it was first set up by the RAF during World War II; how he used to poke around the area in the 1970s when visiting relatives in Bath; and how “I began to hear rumours that the well guarded base at Rudloe Manor might have some UFO link.” Although the details are obviously classified, Matthews mentions underground facilities housing “the Central Computer Complex” and how “Rudloe Manor has long been the HQ of the RAF Provost & Security Services (PSS), which is responsible for all aspects of security affecting the RAF. It includes personnel from MI5 and MI6 who liaise with the PSS and – at least from time to time if nor permanently – CIA personnel as well. We know from declassified government documents that the PSS collated and sifted UFO reports for several decades.” Then comes the punch line:

In the early 1990s UFO investigators in Britain began to notice that there was a cluster of high quality sightings over the Box-Rudloe-Corsham area of Wiltshire. This reminded some of a similar cluster of sightings over Warminster, a few miles to the south, in the 1960s. Intrigued, investigators began paying more attention. The sightings were found to centre over Rudloe and to consist largely of UFOs without wings that pulsated with colours of blue, red or green. Often they were said to be diamond or conical in shape.

These are just some samples of the type of research conducted by Rupert Matthews, a prolific author, paranormal expert, ufologist and, yes, politician with the ruling Tory Conservative Party. Whether he can navigate successfully around the series of obstacles preventing him to become a member of the European Parliament remains to be seen. According to the British rules, the EP seat for East Midland should be his upon the resignation of the current member Roger Helmer, but politics as we know can be a dirty game and the Tory machinery may block him. If he does make it, however, there is no doubt that he will instantly become the best informed MEP on all matters relating to UFOs and the paranormal.

Dudley Dorito (credit: Express and Star)

The witness described the object as “a black triangle with white lights at each end.” The UFO reportedly flew at a low altitude, and moved silently through the air. Nock believes the UFO could be an experimental military craft.

Sightings of “Dorito” shaped UFOs have been occurring in the UK for years.

Eade's Prince Philip biography (credit: Henry Holt and Co)

As reported in previous articles in this website about the Royals and UFOs, the Duke of Edinburgh’s interest in ufology, which included a subscription to Flying Saucer Review, the UK’s top magazine in the period between the 1950s and the 1980s, was spearheaded by his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten. The Earl of Mountbatten was a famous Admiral of the Fleet who served as Supreme Allied Commander in South East Asia during World War II and was the last British Viceroy of India. He even investigated personally a UFO landing and CE-III right in his Broadlands Estate in Romsey, Hamphisre, in 1955 (all the relevant documents were posted in that story).

Another key UFO player in Prince Philip’s entourage was Air Marshal Sir Peter Horsley, who served as Equerry to Princess Elizabeth and later the Duke of Edinburgh in the period between 1949 and 1956. The Equerry, now a senior aide to the royals, is a historical position that goes back to medieval times for the man who was in charge of the King’s horses, a key job in the days when horses were the main means of transportation and battle. As revealed in his 1998 autobiography, Sounds from Another Room, Horsley arranged for UFO witnesses to give their testimony at Buckingham Palace and, even more incredibly, stated he once met and talked at length with a man at a house in Ealing who claimed to be an extraterrestrial. Horsley’s military career included serving as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) and Deputy Commander-in-Chief RAF Strike Command, from where he retired in 1975. An unnamed senior Ministry of Defence (MOD) official told Eade, “how unfortunate that the public will learn that the man who had his finger on the button of Strike Command was seeing little green men.” But of course the alleged ET he met in Ealing was neither little nor green, but a highly cultivated human looking person. Whether he was truly an ET is impossible to know at this stage, but it’s highly unlikely that a military officer of Horsley’s rank and character would have made up such a story.

Another significant sign of how deeply the interest in ufology had penetrated the upper crust of British society was the famous UFO debate that took place in the venerable House of Lords on the evening of

Palace of Westminster where the House of Lords meets (credit: Mgimelfarb/Wikimedia Commons)

For the full details of this historical event, we reprint below another of my classic articles written under the pseudonym of “A. Hovni” for a UFO Supplement in the long-defunct New York City daily The News World in the early eighties, when the story of the House of Lords UFO debate was still fresh. Other than adding illustrations, we transcribed the article exactly as it was published back on November 21, 1981.

* * *

Britain’s Lords studying UFOs

By A. Hovni
Special to The News World
New York City, November 21, 1981

“It is with much pleasure that I introduce this debate this evening about unidentified flying objects – known more briefly as UFOs and sometimes as flying saucers. I understand that this is the first time the subject of UFOs has been debated in your Lordships’ House, so that this is indeed a unique occasion.” With these words, his noble lordship, the Earl of Clancarty, initiated on the evening of January 18, 1979, a historic debate in Britain’s venerable House of Lords, over a “question” previously requested by him. The debate lasted almost four hours, and not less that 14 lords stated for the record their pro and con positions concerning UFOs, and specifically , Lord Clancarty’s motion that Her Majesty’s initiate an “intra-governmental study” of UFOs, as well as his suggestion to set up a UFO Study Group within the House of Lords to look further into the matter. It was reported that within 48 hours of this debate, every single copy of Hansard—the official Parliamentary Debates records—with the UFO transcript was sold out.

Cover of LePoer book Mysterious Visitors (credit: Stein and Day Pub)

Lords get UFO rundown

With his credentials, then, it wasn’t a very difficult task for Lord Clancarty to give his peers a brief and complete rundown of the UFO story, from ancient times to the 1947 sighting by Kenneth Arnold up to the buzzing over a 13-day period of several Strategic Air Command nuclear bases in the United States. And from the candid declarations of the French Defense Minister, M. Galley, in 1974 to the famous Iranian UFO battle near Teheran two years later, in which all the communications and firing systems of a U.S.-made F-4 phantom jet were immobilized by a UFO. “There are literally vast numbers of these astounding reports,” said Clancarty. “Indeed, my lords, this worldwide UFO invasion of every country’s air space is of growing importance and therefore I suggest that Parliament keeps a continuous watch on the situation.”

Following Clancarty’s 20-minutes presentation, Lord Trefgarne, a young and experienced pilot speaking for the Tories, gave a skeptical view of the UFO problem, only to be followed by a strong denunciation by the Earl of Kimberley, a former chairman of the military committee of NATO, of the international UFO cover-up.

Super-power secrecy pact?

Kimberley’s speech cut straightforwardly through the control of the UFO problem by military establishments everywhere. “It has been reported,” he said, “that the United States and the USSR signed a pact in 1971 to swap UFO information, but the pact stated that they were to keep the rest of the world in the dark. I believe that the pact was signed so that neither superpower would make mistakes about UFOs being atomic missiles.”

The debate would still go on for another two hours. Some peers, such as Lord Hewlett, complained the debate had “precious little to do with the facts,” and declared his mission was “to explode the myth” of flying saucers. Others like Lord Gainford, explained that “I saw a UFO a little while ago,” and reassured Lord Clancarty that he would “enjoy volunteering for working in a UFO information centre.” Before Clancarty’s closing remarks for the night at almost 11 p.m., Lord Strabolgi, the peer speaking officially for the Ministry of Defence, sent a clear signal to the effect that Her Majesty’s Government would not start an official UFO investigation, nor would the government open its UFO files to the public because of Britain’s tight Official Secrets Act. An annotated, illustrated full transcript of The House of Lords UFO Debate, edited by John Michell, was later published by Open Head Press in London.

Study Group keeps going

Lord Clancarty and Major von Keviczky in 1980 (credit: ICUFON Archives)

Major von Keviczky, for instance, presented substantial evidences both in terms of photographic analysis and declassified U.S. military and intelligence documents on UFOs, to justify the establishment of a World Authority for Spatial Affairs (WASA Project) to deal with the “endangered international situation” posed by UFOs. The Study Group supported ICUFON’s motion to call for an end of the UFO secrecy through the release of military documents on the UFO level only, a request that was ignored in Britain and elsewhere.

Raymond Drake, the distinguished historian author of several books on ancient sightings, listed over 50 of such incidents extracted from mankind’s holy books, legends, traditions, historical and mythological records, etc. Antonio Ribera gave some fascinating insights of the work he has done to categorize and classify the UFO phenomenon according to its various manifestations from “daylight discs” and “E M [electromagnetic] Effects on engines, television sets, etc.” to “telepathic ‘messages’ from ‘extraterrestrials’” and “Cultism and Messianism.”

“The trouble arises from the fact that the problem is wider than the yardsticks used to measure it,” he said.

Italian military eyes UFOs

Roberto Pinotti from Italy also gave a well-documented lecture. Pinotti is the founder and president of the Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN) with headquarters in Milano, and his latest and perhaps most interesting contribution to ufology was that he obtained a number of military UFO reports from the Italian Ministry of Defense. Incidentally, NATO’s Italian military forces use standard UFO reporting sheets quite similar to those used by the Pentagon. More about the Italian documents on a future article in these pages.

There were still the lectures of Major Petersen, Charles Bowen and others. Some ufologists were unable to deliver a lecture in person, but they sent it for the record anyway. One case was that of Jerome Eden, president of the Planetary Professional Citizens Committee and a follower of Dr. Wilhelm Reich’s study of UFOs through what he called “orgone energy.”

Admittedly, the House of Lords’ UFO Study Group has been pretty quiet lately. Unfortunately, the initial thrust of the group seems to be slowing down, and the enthusiasm is perhaps drying out by the lack of official response or encouragement from governments around the world. There is also the undeniable fact that most day-to-day State businesses in Britain are discussed next door at the House of Commons, and the Study Group does not represent the full House of Lords, either.

Parallel with U.S. Congress

A somewhat similar parallel exists in the American history of UFOs, when a number of top scientists briefed the House Science and Astronautics Committee in 1968. Although the majority of the scientists urged the Congressmen for more research and an open policy towards UFOs, the official government machinery was preparing then its final blow against the saucers with the University of Colorado’s Condon Report. Just as the Congressional Hearings ended, so did any further interest on UFOs in Capitol Hill up to this day.

Will the same thing happen in the venerable House of Lords, guarded by the Victoria Tower on the side of the Thames? Only time will tell, yet there is a difference. Unlike the U.S. Congress, the House of Lords has among its peers a professional UFO writer and researcher, the Hon. Brinsley LePoer Trench. We are sure that no matter what are the odds against it, this gentleman will keep the subject alive in the House. And since membership in the House is for a lifetime, the Earl doesn’t have to campaign for UFOs at the polls.

* * *

Update

After I sent him a copy of this article, Lord Clancarty responded to let me know that the House of Lords UFO Study Group was still active and it remained so for several years in the 1980s. Eventually it did fade away as the Earl aged and finally passed away in 1995. By that time, however, he had passed the UFO torch to a formidable personality, Lord Peter Hill-Norton, a retired Admiral of the Fleet and former Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee in the late seventies. It was, in fact, after retiring from this top military position that the admiral was made Baron Hill-Norton and joined the House of Lords in 1979. This was right after the debate and there can be little doubt that his ufological apprenticeship took place at the House’s Study Group.

We profiled the exo-political activities of Lord Hill-Norton in the recent article in this site, “British Admiral was tireless UFO advocate at the House of Lords”, based on a significant number of documents recently released by the British Ministry of Defence. Although Lord Clancarty and his allies failed to convince the MOD to release its files back in 1979, the Ministry finally revoked its policy in 2008, and has since declassified thousands of UFO-related documents.

Earl of Kimberley (credit: Phooshot/The Telegraph)

Despite his controversial private life, Lord Kimberley seemed very well informed about the UFO situation. When he mentioned that “a pact” existed between the USA and the USSR to deal with UFOs, this was actually true and not a conspiracy theory. As mentioned in a previous article in this site about UFOs sighted at nuclear weapons installations, “Soviet nukes and UFOs”, an Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was signed on September 30, 1971 by Secretary of State, William Rogers, and Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko. In that article we quoted verbatim the section in this Agreement dealing with “unidentified objects” that could trigger a nuclear reaction and how the parties should notify each other before undertaking any aggressive action.

Most of the players of the House of Lords UFO Debate and those who participated in the Study Group are now gone, but not all. One of the speakers at the all-party UFO study group, the prominent Italian author and researcher Roberto Pinotti, is still very much active and he will be in fact be one of the speakers at our forthcoming International UFO Congress next February.

You can download a PDF file of the entire official Hansard transcript of the 1979 House of Lords UFO Debate here.

UFOs over Stevenage (credit: YouTube)

Multiple UFOs were seen flying through the night sky on October 7, 2011 above Stevenage, a town in Hertfordshire, England. News website The Comet describes the four bright objects as “moving fast in a shifting formation against a star-lit sky.”

The witness who captured the UFOs on camera provided this description:

I watched these objects for about 20 seconds but unfortunately the recording was only nine seconds due to the battery running out. It was a clear star-lit night. The time on the recording is wrong it was actually recorded at roughly 10.30pm. The objects travelled in a north-westerly direction, these could not be seen with the naked eye. The objects must have been very high and traversed the sky very fast as you can see by the fixed stars.

The witness captured this footage using a Yukon Ranger night vision monocular paired with the Yukon MPR mobile player/recorder. Flocks of birds have been to blame for some night vision UFO videos showing multiple objects flying in formation. That could explain the objects in this night vision video as well. But the video could also show something else entirely.

What do you think these strange lights are? Birds? Jets? Extraterrestrial craft?