THEREAL-LIFEX-FILESThis has been a momentous summer for
space-related matters – highlighted in
July by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo
missions thatfi rst landed humans on the
Moon. That summer of 69 changed the
world – inspiringexploration and cementing
the fact that we are all on a tiny orb in the
vastness of space. The modern passion for
ecology began with a single photo taken by
the command module pilot as the two men
in the lunar lander docked with him and the
globe of Earth formed a backdrop. That shot
contained every human then alive apart from
the photographer, Mike Collins.
Amidst the media blitz for the anniversary
of these events,World Heritage statuswas
fi ttingly granted to Jodrell Bank – theradio
telescope near Goostrey in Cheshire aptly
now put alongside Stonehenge and the
Pyramids. Jodrell has been involved in the
space programme for over 60years and is
dear to me from both an astronomical and
UFO perspective.
In that summer of 69 Iwas starting my
studies for physics A level. I had my own
telescope and been to Jodrellwatching the
structure rise from thefi elds. I had also just
joined BUFORA. Asyet my involvement in
UFOswas limited to pondering what might
or might not be true, but that changed
dramatically after I passed my A levels,was
accepted to study astrophysics at Edinburgh
just as my lifewas unr avelling in otherways
that would impact my immediate destiny.
Part of those forces (boyfriend related)
involved me going instead to Manchester
University where my astronomy course led
me to Jodrell, as the facilitywas operated
by the Uni. I learned from lecturers such as
Professor ZdnekKopal, whowas pioneering
the quest for planets around other stars
thanks toradio telescopes like Jodrell.
We already knew the Moonwas sterile.
Indeed the University got some of the earliest
rocks brought back by the Apollofl ights to
study because of Jodrell’s help to NASA
proving this true. So itwas an exciting period
for me – though medical issues meant my
scientific life would not go much further and
instead I ended up investigating aliens ina
very differentway. However, as it turned out,
my association with Jodrell Bankwas far from
over. During the next 30years I would be
back there a lot.
By 1980, my medical issues resolved,
and myfi rst book co-written withPeter
Warrington, partly during long weeks in
hospital inLondon, Iwas now coordinating
investigations with BUFORA and writing for the
US group created by Dr J Allen Hynek. Thanks
to Allen’s support as a renowned astronomer
at Northwestern University in Illinois helping
train NASA astronauts – some of whom I met
there – plus my time at Manchester Uni, I by
chance became a UFO consultant for Jodrell.
It was totally unofficial, as they reminded
me more than once. They understandably
preferred not to be perceived as having an
open interest in the subject.
Still, as a result of this link in 1986I
recorded interviews for a documentaryI
wrote for the BBC there. I spoke to them most
weeks for manyyears up to 2003 whenI
fi lmed one of myfi nal media appearances
at Jodrell for a BBC1 programme alongside
Gail Porter and her lovely baby daughter. In
the 1980s I alsoraised money for charity in
the complex with local UFO group MUFORA
as part of an ITVTelethon (pictured above).
At Jodrell we sold UFO memorabilia andPeter
Hough and Igave lectures in the planetarium.
Special dispensationwas required but our
record had paved theway. I did get an odd
question from an ITV reporter, not seemingly
au faitwith local knowledge, who looked
genuinely bemused by my grin when she
asked me: “Why would anyone report a UFO
sighting to a bank?”Yet Jodrell Bank did pass
on dozens of cases to me reported to them
by equally puzzled citizens who assumed
they (not Barclays) were the place to go.
Most observers of something odd would
not realise thatradio telescopes do not
view things optically; they just knew it hada
‘telescope’, and so assumed they must have
watched the‘alien craft’ as they had done.
Of course, virtually every case that came my
way was not remotely to do with aliens. They
were often aircraft heading into Manchester
Airport, or satellites and other IFOs.
One that made me smile in a goodway
involved a man who had seen something
rushing across the skies of Staffordshire
one night. I recognised that itwas probably
just a meteor burning up in the atmosphere
and Jodrell concurred. But the witness,
content with theexplanation, still hadarequest.Aware of the fact that amateurs did
sometimes discover things in the sky, such
as comets, he asked if I could arrange for
Jodrell to name this meteor after his wife.I
did not have the heart to say no, even though
meteors are too common to have names.
Why spoil the romance of this lovely idea?
Sometimes the involvement of Jodrell
scientistswas a little more direct and
required me to be circumspect in what
I said afterward to protect this unofficial
cooperation between science and ufology.
For example, in one case from Lancashire
where police officers were called out to
reports of strange dancing lights that the
officers then saw themselves, we at MUFORA
quickly suspected the cause and I talked
to Jodrell. It seemed localised, as they had
no other reports elsewhere butagreed our
theorywas possible. So Jodrell suggested
they get results from equipment they were
operating that revealed crucial data about the
atmosphere at the time of the sighting. The
results confirmed that the atmosphere had
been conducive to a temperature inversion
layer that would create a mirage with stars.
Not unlike seeing a pool ofwater on the road
ahead whenyou drive on a hot dry day – the
pool really being part of the sky‘relocated’
via this mirage – so too can bright stars or
planets close to the horizon be the source of
a baffling UFO mirage... as happened here.
One of the last cases I worked on with
my contacts at Jodrell before I had to give
up to be a full time carer happened on 2
July 2000 –World UFO Day. A man from
Wythenshawe, Manchester, had called Jodrell
to report being hit on the head by a tiny UFO
whilst in thegarden. It set his baseball cap
on fi re! Considering this might have beena
falling meteorite, I talked to an astronomer
at Jodrell, who after consulting their meteor
specialist offered good reason tofi nd this
unlikely – so we brought in scientists from
Manchester University and UMIST to assess
the evidence and Iagreed to report back to
Jodrell. Sadly, the recovered rockwas not
local nor from space butvery terrestrial. It
also had gum on the back, suggesting itwas
a sample thatwas once stuck on a display
card. It showed no evidence of having been
heated, fallen from the sky and so caused
the fi re. The witnessagreed he just found it
in hisgarden afterward and presumed itwas
what hit him. Therewas local thunderstorm
activity at the time that might be relevant.
His TV set had suffered a power surge and
needing repairing, so that might suggest ball
lightningwas the real culprit. But both Jodrell
and I could only leave this one unresolved.FT383 33UFO FILES / UFO CASEBOOKThe Summer of Sixty-Nine
JENNY RANDLESlooks back on her long involvement with the Jodrell Bankradio telescpopeCOURTESY JENNY RANDLES