Welcome to my website
I am a Research Fellow in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I specialise in teaching media law and investigation skills. Before I entered academia I worked as a news reporter for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. My Ph.D is in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. Since 2008 I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as their consultant for the ongoing release of the UFO files created by Britain's Ministry of Defence. My latest book, How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth, was published in 2015.
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- Magonia Blog
- SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF EXISTENCE March 17, 2019
- COWBOYS AND ALIENS March 14, 2019
- HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE SCIENCE March 10, 2019
- PASSING THROUGH PASCAGOULA March 4, 2019
- HOLY GHOST February 23, 2019
- Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Mirage Men in The Guardian August 18, 2014
- Mirage Men Double Disc DVD June 16, 2014
- UFOs and F-14s over Iran May 2, 2014
- We have lift off! March 27, 2014
- Mirage Men revealed by Greenwald? February 25, 2014
- Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
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- The Skeptic magazine
- Ooops! TWO errors in previous message! October 1, 2015
- October Spookiness! October 1, 2015
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight October 1, 2015
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth September 30, 2015
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15 September 30, 2015
- Charles Fort Institute Blog
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- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- The US Government’s Cash-Landrum UFO Investigations, Part Two March 7, 2019
- The US Government’s Cash-Landrum UFO Investigations March 7, 2019
- Philip Klass on the Cash-Landrum UFO case February 8, 2019
- The Cash-Landrum-McDonald UFO Incident of 1980 December 14, 2018
- Skeptoid Challenges the Cash-Landrum UFO Incident December 7, 2018
- Andrew May’s Forteana blog
- Pseudoscience and Science Fiction October 9, 2016
- Astronomical debunking October 2, 2016
- Contradiction - the All-Video Murder Mystery September 25, 2016
- Sacred Porn September 18, 2016
- Astronomical computers (old ones) September 11, 2016
- Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Project Blue Book - A Review January 28, 2019
- Stan Friedman Retires March 13, 2018
- Halifax gets Haunted! September 29, 2017
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited August 17, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel August 15, 2017
Tag Archives: UFO files
The UFO Files: Our Man in Sheffield
I spent two decades on the trail of the UK Ministry of Defence’s cache of secret UFO papers. But little did I know that my FOI campaign triggered off a mole-hunt among the spooks – and a probe to discover … Continue reading
UFO Files exclusive: Cold War spyplane incident
The release by Britain’s Ministry of Defence of 15 of its last remaining UFO files at the UK’s National Archives has revealed details of a stunning Cold War close encounter witnessed by the entire crew of a US Air Force spy-plane. Formerly secret … Continue reading
Farewell to the ‘mystical astronaut’: Edgar Mitchell 1930-2016
Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon who became a celebrity believer in the UFO myth, has died aged 85. The Guardian newspaper once described the retired NASA astronaut as being an unlikely name on the list … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged A Monstrous Commotion, Alan Shepard, Andrew Smith, Apollo 14, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Dr Edgar Mitchell, Ed Mitchell, epiphany, ESP, Gareth Williams, George W Bush, Gordon Brown, Huffington Post, Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Kerrang!, Lee Spiegel, Loch Ness Monster, Lord Hugh Dowding, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ministry of Defence, MoD, Moondust, NASA, Nick Margerrison, RAF, Richard D. Hall, Roswell UFO crash, sixth man on the moon, The Guardian, The National Archives, The Sun, UFO files
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Portillo’s State Secrets: Mysteries
The BBC2 series Portillo’s State Secrets unearths previously classified documents from The National Archives, revealing fascinating facts from Britain’s past. The episode on 26 March covers ‘Mysteries‘ and I have compiled this blogpost for The National Archives to accompany the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 'Dear Boss' letter, BBC, Britain's Roswell, British UFO Files, First World War, Frank Power, HMS Hampshire, hoax, Jack the Ripper, John Major, Kitchener's coffin hoax, Lord Kitchener, Lt Col Charles Halt, Michael Portillo, Rendlesham forest UFOs, Ripperology, Scotland Yard, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, State Secrets, The National Archives, UFO files, unsolved mysteries
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UFO files – saved!
After six decades of official indifference UFO records have been finally recognised by Britain’s Ministry of Defence as being ‘historically significant’. MoD’s ‘Guidance for Record Reviewers’, lists files on ‘unidentified flying objects‘ alongside those concerning nuclear testing, Special Forces and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged archives, Brussels, Freedom of Information Act, gun camera film, ICA, International Council on Archives, Julian Hennsessy, Merlyn Rees MP, Ministry of Defence, Public Record Acts, Sir Robert Grigg, The Foreign Office, The Guardian, The National Archives, UFO desk, UFO files
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The UFO Files Rebooted
The second edition of The UFO files was published by Bloomsbury on 13 September 2012. You can order the book from Amazon here or via the publisher’s website here. The National Archives press release on the book can be found … Continue reading
