Ellis Hillman, International Flat Earth Society, London. "The making of a president" episode.
Back to my friend Sam Shenton - I met him on a number of occasions. And I was very anxious to get access to his (inverted-commas-) 'library'. And he was very keen on meeting 'a scientist' (as he put in inverted commas), and he said: "oh, Mr Hillman, you would do me a great honour if you were to join the Society". Well, I said, "alright". I mean, actually I wanted to join somebody so that I could get access to the literature... so I joined it! And then, in a fit of sort of abandon as it were (he was very ill at the time, poor old Sam) - he said: "Look, Mr Hillman, you probably realise I'm not terribly well, you know" - and he said - "you'll do me a great favour if you would be prepared to be the president of the society". So I just, sort of half-laughed, because, as he said, he was the secretary. I just generously said "alright, alright" - I didn't take it terribly seriously. And to my amazement the poor old bloke died. And I found myself president of the International Flat Earth Society. Now the problem I was immediately facing, of course, was: will I resign or what do I do? I found myself the "custodian" of the society and I had other interests and other public involvement - it really wouldn't do me much good to be the president of FES. So the problem I was facing was: what to do? What I then did was contact Patrick Moore, the famous astronomer, you see him on television. And I have a *lovely* letter from him, in which he said: "Mr Hillman, do *not* dissolve the Society". He said, "For god's sake (small 'g'), please keep the Society going" - or words to that effect. The reason he felt it should be kept going is as a means of, a mechanism of challenging orthodox astronomy - or orthodox anything. And I think, he was absolutely right.
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Date: 2009-02-05 10:53 am (UTC)"The making of a president" episode.
Back to my friend Sam Shenton - I met him on a number of occasions. And I was very anxious to get access to his (inverted-commas-) 'library'. And he was very keen on meeting 'a scientist' (as he put in inverted commas), and he said: "oh, Mr Hillman, you would do me a great honour if you were to join the Society". Well, I said, "alright". I mean, actually I wanted to join somebody so that I could get access to the literature... so I joined it!
And then, in a fit of sort of abandon as it were (he was very ill at the time, poor old Sam) - he said: "Look, Mr Hillman, you probably realise I'm not terribly well, you know" - and he said - "you'll do me a great favour if you would be prepared to be the president of the society".
So I just, sort of half-laughed, because, as he said, he was the secretary.
I just generously said "alright, alright" - I didn't take it terribly seriously.
And to my amazement the poor old bloke died.
And I found myself president of the International Flat Earth Society.
Now the problem I was immediately facing, of course, was: will I resign or what do I do?
I found myself the "custodian" of the society and I had other interests and other public involvement - it really wouldn't do me much good to be the president of FES.
So the problem I was facing was: what to do?
What I then did was contact Patrick Moore, the famous astronomer, you see him on television.
And I have a *lovely* letter from him, in which he said: "Mr Hillman, do *not* dissolve the Society".
He said, "For god's sake (small 'g'), please keep the Society going" - or words to that effect.
The reason he felt it should be kept going is as a means of, a mechanism of challenging orthodox astronomy - or orthodox anything. And I think, he was absolutely right.