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.
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…- Graduates Walk Out on Pence at Notre Dame Commencement May 22, 2017
- Not Just ‘Sgt. Pepper’: Many 1967 Musical Firsts Echo Today May 22, 2017
- Was Zomato Hit by Hackers? May 22, 2017
- ‘Costume Jewelry’ Diamond Really Worth Hundreds of Thousands May 22, 2017
- Donald Trump Praises Colonel Sanders for His Service in the Civil War? May 22, 2017
- Magonia Blog
- POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS May 22, 2017
- TOO MUCH INFORMATION? May 18, 2017
- INTO THE MAGIC FOREST May 15, 2017
- ILLUSTRATING MAGIC May 11, 2017
- FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS May 9, 2017
- 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
- Tom DeLonge's "Sixtyish" Days to UFO Disclosure Become "Ninetyish" May 17, 2017
- Satellites Flash and Flare April 7, 2017
- The "Battle of Los Angeles" - A First-Hand Account March 15, 2017
- "Ken's Moon" Comes Crashing Down March 9, 2017
- A Skeptical Look at the 2017 UFO Congress - Part 5 (last) February 28, 2017
- 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
- Exciting news from Mr X August 13, 2016
- The First Forteans: The Light of Other Days August 11, 2015
- Edinburgh Fringe 2015 August 5, 2015
- A Baby Boy! August 5, 2015
- Fortean Approaches to the Study of Religion May 6, 2015
- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- Ray Bradbury's Orbs from Mars May 10, 2017
- UFO Contact: April 1, 1967 from Loco, TX March 31, 2017
- UFO Books 101: Required Reading by Paul Dean March 23, 2017
- UFOs, Kenneth Arnold and the American Bible March 15, 2017
- Flying Saucer Musings March 8, 2017
- 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
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Tag Archives: UFO
UFO? = UAV
Chinese lanterns are the source of many ‘UFO‘ sightings – but the role played by remote-controlled drones should not be overlooked. UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicles) are used extensively, and controversially, by both the USAF and RAF in combat operations … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Afghanistan, BAE systems, Bromley, BUFORA, Chief Scientific Advisor, drones, Matt Lyons, Ministry of Defence, RAF, Raven, Royal Navy, ScanEagle, Sir Ronald Mason, The National Archives, The Times, UAVs, UCAVs, UFO, UFOs, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned combat air vehicles, Woomera, Yemen
2 Comments
Silly Season Survey
Yes folks it’s August and we have officially entered the period of the summer that journalists have traditionally called ‘the Silly Season’. If you are a journalist please fill out a questionnaire to take part in my research into the origins … Continue reading
Fireball lights up northern sky
Hundreds of people reported seeing a fireball meteor that lit up the night sky across parts of northern England at 9.40 p.m. on Saturday, 3 March. Some excellent footage of the fireball has been posted on YouTube and can be … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, Cosford incident, meteor, Meteorwatch, Ministry of Defence, Rendlesham, UFO
17 Comments
If you go down to the woods (again)
The Rendlesham forest UFO mystery is back in the headlines, after the Sunday Telegraph published a summary of my exclusive interview with the former Bentwaters Base Commander, Ted Conrad. Col Conrad, now retired to his native Texas, has broken a quarter … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Blair Witch Project, Conrad, folklore, Halt, Ian Ridpath, Ministry of Defence, RAF Bentwaters, RAF Woodbridge, Rendlesham, Sherlock Holmes, Sunday Telegraph, UFO, USAF
2 Comments
UFOs and the Vietnam War
Just occasionally we learn about a genuinely baffling UFO incident from a reliable primary source, such as a military memoir or pilot’s logbook. One such gem was discovered hiding in a collection of journals covering daily events during the Vietnam … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Da Nang, Joe Gillette, UFO, US National Archives, Vietnam War
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Churchill did not ‘order a UFO cover-up’
In Bad Science this week Ben Goldacre asked “Why don’t journalists link to primary sources?”. He opined that if readers were directed to the original sources of headlines like ‘wind farms blamed for the stranding of whales’ (Daily Telegraph), they … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bad Science, Ben Goldacre, Daily Telegraph, foo fighters, MoD, National Geographic, UFO, V2, Winston Churchill
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