The Men Behind Flying Saucer Review

Frida Haziran 13, 2022

From 1955 until the present day, the Flying Saucer Review has been key to chronicling the appearance of Unidentified Flying Objects and the latest theories of why they have been appearing in our skies. A dedicated group of enthusiasts - amongst them an accountant, a publisher's editor, a test pilot, a novelist and a member of the House of Lords - were amongst those who helped put together this remarkable magazine. Who they were and how they came to work together makes for a fascinating tale, some of it as curious as the phenomena the magazine studied.

From the Foreword:

‘The Men Behind the Flying Saucer Review’ arose out of discussions I had with its co-author, Roger Perry, about writer and editor Charles Bowen. Roger had very kindly taken some time to interview his former colleague Dan Lloyd, the results of which were published on my Bear Alley blog in September 2013. Knowing Dan's connections with the Flying Saucer Review, I was interested in learning more about the FSR's former editor, Charles Bowen, who contributed features to Boys' World, a boys’ comic which Roger had worked on and which I was writing about at the time; the resulting book was published in September 2013. Roger also knew Bowen's name from his time on Countdown, where Roger was art editor and Bowen a contributor. It was our successful collaboration on this lengthy feature that led me to writing up the history of Countdown soon after, the finished book appearing in July 2014.
    Information on Bowen proved to be a little elusive but his career provided a fascinating thread through the publishing history of the Flying Saucer Review / FSR, and we used this thread to take a look at some of the other people who helped put together the magazine, the first magazine of its kind to study the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in a serious and objective way.
    So, while we started out with simple intentions, centred around expanding our knowledge of the extraordinarily competent Charles Bowen, we found ourselves exploring the lives of other people key to the creation of Flying Saucer Review until the results of what proved to be a fascinating journey through the magazine’s history were presented in a 12-part serial published between 14 October to 3 November 2013.
    Sadly, Roger passed away in 2016. I miss the critical back-and-forth of our e-mails as we argued over what should and should not be included in the series – a rather odd situation as both of us were of the “everything including the kitchen sink” school of writing. I have made only a few additions where new information has come to light and some minor changes for clarity to the original series and respectfully dedicate this e-book version to Roger’s memory.