The Civil Servant Who Looked Up

 

Nick said governments know more about UFOs than they are letting on

Nick Pope spent three years on the Ministry of Defence's "UFO desk". In his last interview, recorded shortly before he died of cancer in April, he told Bradley Walsh that the government knows more than it says. "They know there's more to this than just weather balloons and aircraft lights," he said. He also insisted the world's leaders know we are not alone.

Nick spoke to Bradley Walsh before his death

Each year he received hundreds of reports. He could explain roughly 80 per cent of them. The remainder proved harder. "We were not able to find a definitive result. Some of this doesn't quite add up. Objects running rings around the cutting edge of our own aerospace tech. Speeds, manoeuvres, accelerations we can't match." It was enough, he said, to make him take another look.

Pope had no interest in such things until 1991, when he was asked to investigate unidentified flying objects. Over three years he examined about 1,000 unexplained sightings. After the desk closed he moved into the media. The interview formed part of Walsh's Sky History series Out Of This World.

Nick Pope was a leading UFO expert

Asked whether we are alone in the universe, Pope replied, "We are definitely not." The universe is nearly 14 billion years old, he noted. "You've only got to imagine a civilisation with a million year, let alone a billion year headstart on us and all bets are off. So life out there, definitely." He was less sure about visits. "I certainly hope so, because I tell you this, the world with aliens in it is going to be far more interesting and fun than the world with no aliens. So bring them on."

Nick believes there is life out there, he investigated about 1000 unexplained sightings during his three years on the “UFO desk”.

He warned that AI may hinder those seeking proof. "I think the technology, which you would think works for us, works against us. Now with the rise of AI, you don't really know if something is real or not." Whether we are alone, he said, remains one of the biggest questions we can ask. "Are we alone or not in the universe? Are we being visited? If we got an answer to that, it would change the world forever."

Walsh later examines declassified Ministry of Defence files, including a 1952 request from Winston Churchill for a report on flying saucers. He also visits Rendlesham Forest. "If people have seen them, and UFOs or aliens have visited, why haven't people taken notice?" he asks. "Why isn't it on the News at 10? Are the news corporations keeping it from us? What is going on? I have no idea." It is, he adds, "pretty naive of us to imagine that we're the only planet sustainable of life in the entire universe. There's gotta be something out there."

The Ministry of Defence did not respond to a request for comment.