LONDON // Britain released its X files on Thursday - more than 8,000 pages of reports of UFO sightings and international concerns over the possibility of a close encounter of the third kind.
Ranging from the inexplicable to the absurd, the extra-terrestrial files released by the UK's National Archives illustrate how incidents were discussed at the highest level of government and by security services worldwide, including at the UN and CIA.
The previously classified reports show, for instance, that in 2003, governments internationally discussed a sighting in south-east England when a family captured on film red and white lights zigzagging their way across the sky.
Several police officers, including a helicopter crew, also saw the lights although radar checks revealed nothing unusual in the area.
"A policeman sent to investigate confirmed the sighting," the report reads. "Objects were moving faster than any man-made aircraft."
The files also show that, in 1967, Britain went on a "War of the Worlds" footing for several hours after a half-dozen, beeping and apparently seamless silver saucers were found in a perfect line across southern England.
Calls from the public sparked the mobilisation of army and bomb disposal units, and caused four police forces and the defence ministry's intelligence unit to go on full alert (although a village copper who found one of the saucers in the West Country, simply tucked it under his arm and cycled back to his police station).
In the end, this alien invasion turned out to be a prank, with the craft having been built by engineering students at a technical college in Surrey.
More mysterious were three circular objects reported by an airline pilot - described in the files as "a credible witness" - over East Sussex and the report from an RAF crew in 1990, who were overtaken by an object "the size of a C130 Hercules" as they flew at almost the speed of sound over the North Sea.
A possible explanation was offered by defence officials who said it could have been a Russian rocket booster re-entering the earth's atmosphere.
David Clarke, a university lecturer and author of the book The UFO Files, has been campaigning for several years to have the files "on this perplexing and controversial subject" released under Britain's Freedom of Information Act.
"I'm interested in why people believe in these things - regardless of proof," he told the BBC. "In hundreds of years' time, people will look back at these files and draw conclusions about the kind of people we were and the things we wanted to believe in."
The files - which will be free to download for the next month at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos - also contain photographs and drawings of phenomena.
For the conspiracy theorists, there is the inexplicable disappearance of intelligence reports compiled after the "Rendlesham incident" in 1980 when US servicemen based in Suffolk reported seeing mysterious lights in the sky.
Official reports speak of a "huge hole" in the files but are unable to explain what happened to the intelligence reports.
The documents also refer to US policy files on UFOs, including CIA papers discussing the use of such reports for "psychological warfare", and contain claims that the British government had emergency procedures for dealing with crashed satellites and UFOs.
Files also show that, in 1977, the government used its influence to prevent Sir Eric Gairy, then president of Grenada, from getting a UN agency to formally investigate UFO sightings around the world.
Such an investigation would have probably dismissed the sighting by a man in south-west London in October, 1998, who, late at night as he stood in his garden with a drink, reported "a large, cigar-shaped vehicle with large projectiles on each side like wings" roaring over his house.
Worse, the following morning, as he listened to the nine o'clock news on radio, he noticed his watch said 10 o'clock. "I am now beginning to wonder if I was abducted," he reported.
Very patiently, a ministry official wrote back that the UFO was probably a plane landing at nearby Heathrow and that the "abduction" could be explained by the fact that, that night, the nation's clocks went back an hour in the move from British Summer Time to GMT.
dsapsted@thenational.ae
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Biography
Her family: She has four sons, aged 29, 27, 25 and 24 and is a grandmother-of-nine
Favourite book: Flashes of Thought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Favourite drink: Water
Her hobbies: Reading and volunteer work
Favourite music: Classical music
Her motto: I don't wait, I initiate
Results
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.
4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Fixture and table
UAE finals day: Friday, April 13 at Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
- 3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
- 6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Premiership – final standings
- Dubai Exiles
- Abu Dhabi Harlequins
- Jebel Ali Dragons
- Dubai Hurricanes
- Dubai Sports City Eagles
- Abu Dhabi Saracens
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
