Did Wogan like Icke?
QUESTION What did Terry Wogan say to David Icke that so upset him?
DaviD icke has been through a number of remarkable transformations in his life. He was a professional footballer, playing in goal for coventry city and Hereford United before being forced into retirement in his 20s, suffering pernicious arthritis in his knees. He became a sports reporter and was the anchor on BBc Tv’s Midlands Today before landing a spot on the BBc’s flagship programme Grandstand. However, his Tv career came to a halt in the late eighties after he became national spokesmen for the Green Party, falling foul of the BBc’s non-political affiliation policy.
in 1990, he reinvented himself as a messianic figure, calling himself a ‘Son of the Godhead’ and dressing in turquoise, which he considered a conduit for positive energy. He told the world an inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings called the archons had hijacked the earth and the world would end in 1997.
On april 29, 1991, he made his infamous appearance on the Wogan Tv show. When Sir Terry asked why a former footballer and Tv presenter had been selected by God as the chosen one, icke said: ‘People would have said the same about Jesus. “Who the heck are you? You’re a carpenter’s son.” ’
This provoked laughter from the audience. When icke said laughter was the best way to remove negativity, Wogan replied with uncharacteristic sharpness: ‘But they’re laughing at you. They’re not laughing with you.’ icke was devastated.
in a subsequent interview with the radio presenter Jon Ronson, he said: ‘One of my very greatest fears as a child was being ridiculed in public. and there it was coming true.
‘as a Tv presenter, i’d been respected. People come up to you in the street, shake your hand and talk to you in a respectful way. and suddenly, overnight, this was transformed into “icke’s a nutter.”
‘i couldn’t walk down any street in Britain without being laughed at. it was a nightmare. My children were devastated because their dad was a figure of ridicule.’ in 2006, Wogan re-interviewed icke for a special Now & Then series and apologised for his harsh comment in the 1991 interview. Liam Hudson, Southampton.
QUESTION Where is the world’s longest underground river? Which is the longest in Britain?
THe world’s longest underground river flows deep beneath the Yucatan peninsula. Sistema Sac actun wanders 95 miles through a maze of underground limestone caves.
Sac actun is a Yucatec Mayan word that translates as ‘white cave’. The 198-mile Sac actun cave system is the longest of its kind in Mexico, surpassed only by the 400-mile Mammoth system in the U.S. Paula Tilley, Chipping Warden, Northants. cHeDDaR GORGe is one of Britain’s natural wonders. an area of outstanding natural beauty and site of special scientific interest, it’s a spectacular area of steep-sided valleys along the south edge of the Mendip Hills in Somerset.
Below 450ft limestone cliffs is Britain’s most extensive cave and river system.
Just north-west of the village of charterhouse are a series of springs that feed a short stream before the water sinks below ground, re-emerging at the lower end of the gorge as the cheddar Yeo, a short river impounded to form a reservoir on the far side of cheddar village.
cheddar Yeo flows through one of several caverns in Gough’s cave in the lower reaches of the gorge, and is the largest underground river system in the Uk. Just how long is uncertain — it is a diffuse network of waterways over a 21 sq mile catchment area. Dye tests have shown some water travels underground for up to ten miles, taking 14 days to reach the village of cheddar. Ed Biggs, Bath, Somerset.
QUESTION Is it true that Pope Gregory IX hated cats so much that he had thousands of them exterminated?
POPe Gregory iX became head of the catholic church in 1227, a time when cats were widely unpopular. Medieval society saw them as spies for the devil.
Feline-human relations hit a new low in 1233 after Gregory issued the papal bull (formal proclamation) Vox In Rama. This condemned a supposed form of devil worship linked to cats that had appeared in the Rhineland.
it described in detail the initiation rites of ‘Luciferianism’ and, in one paragraph, claimed after members of the sect met for a meal, the statue of a black cat (referred to as ‘Master’) would come to life. The new initiate and other members would kiss the cat’s backside then engage in orgies, incest and homosexuality.
Though the Pope never ordered the mass extermination of cats, the papal bull is believed by Medieval writers to have resulted in persecution, such as the burning of 962 cats in Metz, France, and cats being hurled from bell towers in Ypres, Belgium.
in his book classical cats: The Rise and Fall Of The Sacred cat, Donald engels calls a ‘death warrant for the (cat), which would continue to be slaughtered without mercy until the early 19th century’.
However, some are sceptical about Gregory iX’s influence. in Roman era traditions, cats were seen as holy figures of liberty, but early christians were suspicious of an animal that didn’t behave subserviently towards people, which violated the biblical view that humans should have dominion over all other creatures. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts.