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ridicule that has become associated with the flying saucer subject, and the widespread belief that people who take an interest in UFOs are members of the lunatic fringe. In trying to make the subject respectable, Adamski has been pilloried by some ufologists as the main culprit responsible for the mockery of what should be studied in all seriousness. Although not necessarily accepting his story, many ufologists on the other hand concede that Adamski has been invaluable in bringing the flying saucers to the public's attention. | would agree with them myself. He has done much to capture the imagination of people all over the globe and draw them into a lifelong interest in these alien craft. | must admit that | was one of them, for prior to 1953 | had scarcely heard of flying saucers. | had been told that they were things Americans had seen from aeroplanes occasionally, and anything that came out of America was highly suspect! My introduction to them really came when | chanced to see the review of Flying Saucers Have Landed in the Observer of 4 October, 1953. The review was a very fair one and the accompanying photograph of the scout ship imprinted itself on my mind. Later, | discovered an article in a back copy of the now defunct magazine Illustrated, and | confess that it was the artist's impression of the handsome, blonde-haired Venusian with enigmatic smile which really captivated the romantic young thirteen-year-old | then was. | bought the book shortly afterwards and | thought then, as | do now, that Adamski's story was convincingly told. From that time on I had to pursue the truth about the flying saucers. Because of the excellent photographs and the support of six witnesses as evidence, many people either believed Adamski's remarkable story or were at least prepared to retain an open mind. But Adamski did not stop there. He subsequently went on to describe further contacts. Inside the Space Ships, published in 1955, was an even more sensational book than its predecessor. He tells how, in February 1953, he felt a strong urge to visit Los Angeles. After booking in at a small hotel where he was fairly well known he mooched around waiting for—he knew not what. Suddenly he was approached by two strange men who addressed him by name. Though he had no idea as to their identity he trusted them instinctively and accompanied them to a car park where their Pontiac was waiting. They drove him into desert country during which time one identified himself as a Saturnian and his companion as a Martian. They turned off on to a dirt road along which they drove for some time. On alighting, Adamski noticed a glowing saucer parked on the ground and saw his friend of the first meeting servicing the craft. They all four climbed into the saucer which brought them to a Venusian mothership lying at about the height of forty thousand feet in the earth's stratosphere. Here Adamski met and talked with many space people and had a chance to inspect the interior of the ship. From one of the portholes he was able to take a look at outer space and found that against the totally dark background innumerable flickering lights were to be seen. The next contact was brought about in similar manner but this time he was brought to a much larger scout ship. It was over one hundred feet in diameter and he was informed that it came from Saturn. The mother ship to which he was taken, a huge seven-decker affair, belonged to no one planet. It was a universal ship manned by people of many planets and on this particular trip there were men and women from Venus, Saturn and Mars. They worked in a spacious laboratory from which small remote controlled monitoring discs were sent out to gather data. The book tells how in the next few months Adamski had more contacts, both with the space people working here on earth and with those in space ships. In one of these meetings he was allegedly taken to the other side of the Moon whose image was reflected by telescope on to a screen. Contrary to what is believed by astronomers, there was enough atmosphere on the hidden side to support life, and he was told that temperatures were not as extreme as supposed. Communities were observed in valleys and on mountain slopes, also trees and a 89 ANGELS IN STARSHIPS www.cosmic-people.com