Air Commodore A. N. Davis:
Banbury Town Hall public meeting 26 Jan 1972
BBC 'Man Alive' TV Programme, 2 Feb 1972

Preview of 'Man Alive' in the Daily Mirror, 2 Feb 1972

Extracts from 'The Hazards of Television' by Charles Bowen, Editor Flying Saucer Review, FSR Vol.18 #2, March-April 1972 pp.18-19

During February, 1972, two television programmes featuring UFOs were broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation, Both went out on the same channel, BBC-2: the first in the Man Alive series on February 2, the second in Horizon on February 7. The first was an unfortunate affair which seemed to many to have been designed to "knock" the subject and those who claim that it is worthy of serious consideration; the second was excellently contrived, and it remains a source of wonder that two so entirely dissimilar features should emerge from the same branch of the BBC in less than a week . . . .

FSR participation

Members of the Review's team took part in the Man Alive programme. There had been meetings and discussions with the researcher, Miss Cherry Farrow, and with producer David Filkin. We learned that the Man Alive outfit had participated in a ludicrous rain-soaked skywatch near Banbury . . . However we were assured that after the topical events at Banbury had been presented, the spotlight would turn to the serious side of the subject, which was where we would be involved. . . .

Many of our readers must have seen the outcome of all this activity on February 2, and the main purpose of this article is to let them know something of the things that were said, but not screened.

Statement of policy omitted

Although we were uneasily aware of events at Banbury, we felt sure we could present a reasonable picture of research into UFO reports and so, hopefully, restore the balance . . . .

Nowhere during the course of the Man Alive programme was [FSR's] statement of policy allowed to appear, and the inference drawn by many is that we are part and parcel of, and publicists for, the hill-top watchers, the purveyors of plutonian gobbledegook, the hawkers of dubious photographs and the waiers for salvation from Venus.

Gordon Creighton was permitted a couple of minutes . . . and we were all greatly relieved to see that the off-the-cuff description . . . of the Bentwaters/Lakenheath case, escaped the film editor's scissors.

Finale at Banbury

The finale, at Banbury Town Hall, on January 26, was a strange affair. Sitting at a table on the platform along with the chairman, Desmond Wilcox, were the three of us from FSR, together with the "Man from the Ministry" (of Defence), Anthony Davies [sic], and psychologist Dr. Christopher Evans.

Messrs. Davies and Evans had given their views: the former that UFOs were the glow from the afterburners of F111 jets, and so on; the latter that UFOs are largely "spots before the eyes", otherwise known as "floaters" (Muscae Volantes) . . . .

For my part, after an uninteresting question had been answered, I challenged the claim of the Man from the Ministry that all reports were subjected to scientific scrutiny. The example quoted was the Exeter airport incident of 1961 witnessed by hundreds . . . . One more question came my way, but it seems that that was after filming had ceased!

Yet another item unfortunately omitted was the reply of the Man from the Ministry, Anthony Davies, when asked by a member of the audience at Banbury what the Ministry had to say about the Bentwaters/Lakenheath case. He said he could say nothing because the papers had been destroyed.

© Flying Saucer Review 1972