From: Ari Sarkar

The newspaper - The Mail on Sunday
The date - July 2 1995

Big Headline - ET LIVES, SAYS MAN FROM THE MINISTRY
Litte headline - WHITEHALL SHOCK AS ITS CHIEF ALIEN-WATCHER ADMITS : I BELIEVE IN UFOS

Journalist - Nick Fielding

Begin article -


It was the week when John Redwood's earthly origins were called into doubt and Mr.Spock pointy ears were given away by the thousand.

So it will come as no surprise that one of Whitehall's finest has succumbed to the power of aliens.

Nick Pope headed the Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a office, with a brief to deal with inquiries about flying saucers and other unexplained phenomena.

It was his calm voice which reassured the many members of the public who called to report strange lights in the sky or little green men on the lawn.

But, in possibly the most embarrassing turnaround in Ministry of Defence history, Mr.Pope has gone over to the other side.

To the horror of his employers, the 29-year old civil servant, who now works in another part of the Ministry, has become a convert.

"I think it is fair to say that in my three years as the Government expert on UFOs, I was regarded as a bit of a maverick," said Mr.Pope.

MENACE

"I came into that job as an open-minded sceptic and I came out a believer."

As if that were not enough, the errant ufologist is to publish a book based on his experiences as Britain's first line of defence in the undeclared war against the alien menace.

Provisionally titled OPEN SKIES, CLOSED MINDS : OFFICIAL REACTION TO THE UFO PHENOMENON the book is unlikely to win him many friends at the Ministry.

In fact, his bosses have already expressed their displeasure at his manuscript, for which he must get permission before publication.

The book examines all the available records in the Whitehall archives and talks about a number of new cases.

But Mr.Pope offers little comfort for UFO buffs seeking proof of a Government cover-up.

"We don't throw open our files en bloc, but eventually most of them filter down to the Public Record Office."

Mr.Pope cannot pinpoint the moment of his conversion, but he rules out an alien plot.

He says he was convinced by the details of a small number of British sightings which have so far defied conventional explanation.

"Probably the best example is the Rendlesham Forest case in December 1980 where some kind of object came down in Suffolk near the RAF bases at Woodbridge and Bentwaters. This is now regarded as the best attested case of a UFO crash outside the US."

Mr.Pope's conversion is likely to cause a sensation among committed ufologists.

Graham Birdsall, editor of UFO Magazine, said : "I welcome the bravery of a man who must have experienced tremendous pressure from his superiors, but who stuck to his views."

The MOD refused to comment on Mr.Pope.

But surely the men from the Ministry are wishing that someone, somewhere, would beam him up.


end article.

Notes - 1/ The first paragraph is a jokey reference to domestic political matters.

2/ The last paragraph is in italics, indicating a stab at humour from the hack.

3/The Mail on Sunday newspaper is the Sunday edition of The Daily Mail, a semi-reputable UK tabloid. It seems to be the only UK paper that covered this story.