Oldies but Goodies

The Mysterious World article [ FT410:32-39] provided a warm nostalgic bear hug. The series led me down the path to a subscription to FT. The article brought to mind the episode of The Goodies from their ITV years where Graeme Garden playing Arthur C Clarke sitting in front of Stonehenge dismissing the ancient astronaut theory while a UFO landed behind him, pulled a petrol pump out from one of the stones and refuelled. A caption then came up saying that the show had been cancelled as it had been proved that Arthur C Clarke didn’t exist.

Darren Floyd

Cardiff

When I received the new FT,

I was delighted to see the feature on Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World. This was a deeply influential television series in my life, and I can vividly recall saving up for the hardback book. Many years later, I tracked down the DVD and it was just as captivating as I remembered. By coincidence, I opened the magazine just as I had sat down with my fouryear-old son in front of another favourite childhood DVD, in this case The Goodies. He was watching his favourite episode, ‘Bigfoot’, a spoof of Mysterious World, in which Bill and Tim set off to prove the existence of Arthur. On the programme they encounter Nessie, a UFO, and a Yeti, and view a version of the Patterson-Gimlin film.

This led me to muse upon how central forteana is to me, and how delighted I am that my son seems to be developing a love of it too. I fervently hope I can help instil good critical thinking skills coupled to a mind that is open to the weird and wonderful of the ‘damned data’. Fortean Times is a joy to receive every month, and I’ve been a subscriber for longer than I can remember. It always manages to strike the right balance of reason and pure wonder. I thank the Gang of Fort for being reliable and rigorous in the face of all the cynical, manipulative misinformation out there, and for entertaining me so much over the years. Simon Ramshaw

Woodham, Surrey