Speakers 2012

Rev Lionel Fanthorpe

Lionel’ TV career began way back in the 'fifties when he appeared on Anglia TV and BBC Look East. His speciality in those days was to research a mystery and present it, then sing one of his songs about it -- which is pretty much what he still does on his now famous and popular Fortean TV series for Channel 4 TV in the UK. His other recent highly successful series include Stranger than Fiction for West Country TV and Stations of the Cross for HTV. He also presented a great mystery show called The Real Nostradamus on Channel 4 TV and presented the 20-part Castles of Horror series on Discovery and Horizon. He also presented two series of the history programme Talking Stones. He makes Guest Celebrity appearances on shows such as ITV 1’s This Morning. He's also frequently appeared as a guest on broadcasts for BBC Radio Wales, Real Radio and many other stations including Coast to Coast, and the Joe Salzone Show in the USA.

Lionel is President of ASSAP (The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena) and also the President of BUFORA (the British UFO Research Association).

If all this is not enough Lionel has authored over 250 books, including ‘Mysteries of Templar Treasure and the Holy Grail: The Secrets of Rennes Le Chateau’, pictured above.

Lionel's Talk - The Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Cromlechs of Rennes-les-Bains

No place on Earth holds as much esoteric symbolism as France's Rennes le Chateau. Its location and design are the subjects of countless rumours, myths and legends. In his talk Lionel surveys its arcane history and the secrets of Rennes le Chateau, including its relationship to the Merovingian bloodline of Christ; the Chateau as a possible location of an immense treasure, and also as a possible repository for the alchemical secrets behind the Philosopher's Stone. Lionel was one of the original and leading researchers into this fascinating subject, as long ago as the 1970s.

Those of you who have been initiated into the mystery of Bérenger Saunière and Rennes le Chateau and particularly those who have been on our 'Cathar Country Tour', will be aware of the second priest, Henri Boudet and his enigmatic book 'The True Celtic Language and the Cromlech of Rennes-les-Bains’, which covers amongst other things, the Neolithic sites of the area. In his talk Lionel will also focus on this particular area of the mystery.

Marcus Allen

After a career with a major motor manufacturer, Marcus changed jobs completely to become the UK publisher of NEXUS Magazine, which he and his wife first introduced to this country in 1994. Since then, he has appeared on many TV and radio programmes and given numerous presentations both here and abroad, discussing subjects sometimes considered controversial. These include the Apollo Moon Landings, Hidden History, and Conspiracies, as well as promoting NEXUS Magazine. The continually increasing number of readers evidently like what they read - they have made NEXUS the world’s best selling alternative news magazine. He has found that selling a good magazine is very similar to selling a good car - both should have the ‘Wow!’ factor.

Marcu's Talk - Technology of Ancient Egypt.

In modern times, granite is easily cut and shaped using diamond drills and tungsten-tipped chisels. In Ancient Egypt, 100 ton obelisks and blocks of granite were cut from the bed-rock, and shaped using diorite pounding balls, copper tools and sand: This is the accepted consensus. But these crude methods are so unlikely to have produced the visible results as to be, at best, simply a guess. The elegant and sophisticated artifacts seen across Egypt from Giza to Luxor to Aswan and displayed in the great museums of the world, are testament to whatever techniques were used in their creation.

Today, this technology is a mystery to us. Stylised human/animal statues carved from granite, intricate hieroglyphs cut into granite obelisks and perfectly flat blocks of granite are some of the proof for this technology. The rain forests of South America might be the place to start looking for answers.

In his illustrated presentation, Marcus will show evidence indicating the skills seemingly in use over 4,000 years ago. These results would be virtually impossible to replicate today, using the tools we are told were available in Ancient Egypt. But is the evidence for the actual technology simply ‘hidden in plain sight’?

Kevin Goodman

Kevin has been interested in the UFO phenomenon for almost as long as he can remember, and in particular the "Warminster Mystery." He first visited this Wiltshire town in July, 1976 and has since become a specialist, along with his writing partner Steve Dewey regarding this UFO haunted area of the UK.

In 2007 he published UFO Warminster: Cradle of contact", in which he chronicles his involvement in the Warminster scene. Kevin has made numerous TV and Radio appearances regarding Warminster. He and Steve are currently writing "Warminster-the forgotten mystery" which will hopefully catalogue all the strange events that have happened there. He is the reviewer for "UFO Matrix" magazine, and contributes articles to this and other magazines.

Kevin's Talk - The Warminster Phenomenon

Kevin's talk will be entitled "The Warminster Phenomenon" in which he will tell the fascinating story of a now forgotten slice of British UFO history. Warminster became world famous in the mid 1960s, when at first, the town was subjected to strange noises, which then later manifested themselves into UFO sightings. The Warminster mystery is believed to be the longest sustained UFO "flap" in the world, finally petering out in the early 1980s. Was it all hype or did something strange happen in Wiltshire? Kevin doesn't have the answer, but after you hear of his experiences there, if you have doubts, then possibly you may have a more open mind...

John Turkington

John has degrees in philosophy and education but more importantly a wide ranging interest in cultural matters including a fascination with stone circles and megaliths. He has spoken to many different groups on a variety of subjects from Greek myths to Picasso. Several people have visited the circles of Long Meg and Swinside as a direct result of a talk he gave on stone circles to a museum group last year.

John's Talk - Long Meg from the Antiquarians to Geophysics

This talk concentrates on interpretation of the whole site of Long Meg by the early antiquarians with a particular emphasis on William Stukeley whose ideas were perhaps misguided but very influential. We then move on to look at the latest research and research methods using laser imaging and resistivity readings. The latter have provided fascinating new evidence for a sister for Long Meg herself.

Mary Frankland

Mary Frankland has been interested in ancient monuments for many years since being taken to see Arbor Lowe in Derbyshire and has gained a reputation for giving great presentations across England on the Northern ancient sites. Mary is also a regular on 'Megalithic Tours'.

Mary's Talk - Sacred North: the Nosterfield Ritual Landscape (Yorkshire)

Many of the ancient sacred sites in Yorkshire have been lost under the plough, by quarrying, or even buried beneath a power station. However, several still remain in various stages of preservation. Mary looks at the Nosterfield site, with particular reference to the Thornborough Henges, Ferrybridge Henge and the Devil's Arrows

Mary says, "It's really interesting to find out why people built these monuments in particular places. We all know about the Stonehenge alignments, but what about the Thornfield Henges?"

Duncan Harpur

Duncan's Talk - The prophecies of 2012 and their astrological symbolism

Why is everyone talking about 2012 being the end of the world?

What do the Mayan end calendar and the Hopi prophecies have to say about 2012?

What does the planetary alignment of 2012 indicate?

These and more questions will be explored in this presentation

Lindsey Campbell. BA (oxon) - Earth Energies & the Web of Consciousness

It isn't all about us! How can we think we might be 'alone in the Universe', on a planet with billions of other life forms?

Although Lindsey will be completing her talk from last year, the amazing content will be a talk in it's own right.

Neil McDonald

Neil has run Megalithic Tours for eight years and this Mysterious Earth Conference for four years. He has appeared on Edge Media TV, BBC Radio 4 and Glastonbury Radio's Now That's Weird' and Mysterious West.

Neil's Talk - The Lake District, A Megalithic Journey

Neil's talk will be based on his book on the same name. He will take us on a journey through a selection of some of the most interesting ancient and historical sites in the Lake District. This talk will be of special interest to those of us taking the post conference tour which will follow the same itinerary.