Posted by Marc Martin on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Message-From-Chris-Bentley-tp1506442.html

Hi all,

Below is a message I received from Fanderson's Chris Bentley. I must
admit to being rather surprised that there are people who still insist
that this is all a hoax, as the information has now come from several
sources besides Fanderson -- Paolo Malaguti, Helen Weber, Andy Lovie --
people who have kept in contact with Ed Bishop and/or Mike Billington
over the years, and who independently verified the story themselves.

Marc

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From: Chris Bentley
To: Marc Martin
Subject: Re: Ed and Mike

Hi Marc,

It is disheartening, is it not, that at this sad time there are UFO fans who
are not prepared to believe what other fans are telling them, accusing them
instead of perpetrating some sort of sick joke?

Perhaps you might care to inform those people via your forum that myself and
my Fanderson colleagues have been personal friends of Ed Bishop for a great
many years, having come to know him over the course of his frequent
appearances at our conventions (he only missed one event in two decades) and
his tireless assistance with various club projects and publications. Ed's
honourary life membership of the club was bestowed many years ago in
recognition of his close patronage and keen involvement with the club's
activities, and he was still enthusiastically embracing that role only a few
short weeks ago when we discussed his ideas for the forthcoming September
convention in Borehamwood.

Ed also worked closely with me two years ago while I was writing 'The
Complete Book of Gerry Anderson's UFO', selflessly spending many hours with
me going through the details of different aspects of UFO's production and
making many invaluable contributions with information which had not come to
light before. He also jumped at the opportunity to write the foreword for
the book and I was both touched and honoured by his faith in me to write the
book that he felt the series deserved.

Given our relation with Ed, it is unthinkable that any of us who are
involved with Fanderson would ever have dreamed of reporting his death on
the club website (or would ever report anyone else's death for that matter)
if there were any chance that it was not true. Indeed, we did not do so
until after I had personally spoken to Ed's wife Jane on the afternoon of
Wednesday, June 8th.

Although she was clearly very upset, breaking down in tears twice while she
spoke to me, she related the tragic circumstances of earlier in the day -
how Ed had died that morning. I don't know if Helen Weber may have
interpreted Jane's information to indicate that Ed's death took place on the
Tuesday from the perspective of those of you in the US, given the difference
in the timezones (anything between four and eight hours behind the UK) -
here in the UK though, as related to me by Jane, it was Wednesday morning,
June 8th, when Ed passed away.

It was also Jane who informed me that Michael Billington had died on Monday,
just as you had also been told by your own source. I admit that I took
Jane's information in this regard entirely on trust, but it appears now
that, on the detail of which day Mike died, we were all misinformed by a
third party. The Fanderson report was corrected yesterday in reponse to
additional information as it has filtered through, and it will continue to
be updated as further information becomes available.

Frankly, it is entirely immaterial to what extent the dates and times are
accurate and I am appalled that certain people feel inclined to be picky
about this when the rest of us are grieving. Did Fanderson not provide the
correct service to fans by breaking this news on the internet as soon as it
was possible to do so with the information that was available at that time?
Writing that piece for the club website was one of the hardest things I've
ever had to do, coming as it did at a time when I was still in shock myself
at learning the news.

I have to say I really am disgusted at the reaction by some members of this
so-called fan 'community' who have contributed to the SHADO forum in the
last few days with their ridiculous accusations of a hoax perpetrated
entirely by Fanderson. What awful, cynical people they must be.

Thankfully it is heartening to see that those individuals appear to be very
much in the minority, as the vast majority of your correspondents (as well
as those on the Fanderson forum) clearly have the common sense to recognise
that no one in their right mind would have made this news so public were it
not so terribly true.

Kind regards,
Chris

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