Samuel Shenton
Encyclopedia
Samuel Shenton was the founder in 1956 of the International Flat Earth Research Society, (IFERS) usually known as the Flat Earth Society
, based in Dover, England. He lectured tirelessly on this to youth clubs, political and student groups and during the Space Race
in the 1960s he was frequently seen on television and in newspapers promoting his views.
at Bloomsbury
that Archbishop Stevens, a friend of Lady Blount, the founder of the Universal Zetetic Society, had suggested an aircraft design similar to his own. When he discovered Parallax
's Zetetic Astronomy he was an instant convert. "What the authorities were concealing, Shenton decided, was the 'fact' that the earth was flat".
Shenton soon constructed a cosmology, based partly on his interpretation of Genesis, that the earth was a flat disk centred on the North Pole
with the zetetic notion of the South Pole
being an impenetrable wall of ice, that marked the edge of the pit that is the earth in the endless flat plane forming the universe. The sun cast a narrow beam like a flashlight moving over a table as it traced flat circles that varied over the 365 day cycles. The sun was 32 miles in diameter 3,000 miles above the earth and the moon also 32 miles in diameter but only 2,550 miles above the earth.
In 1956 he founded the International Flat Earth Research Society as a direct descendant of the Universal Zetetic Society but with a less religious emphasis, found a president in William Mills, a relative of one of Lady Blount's followers and held its inaugural meeting in November at Mills' home in London, with Shenton as secretary. One of the attendees, attending out of curiosity, was the Sky at Night
astronomer Patrick Moore
who recounted his experience in his book Can you speak Venusian?.
Despite the fact that in October 1957 the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, Shenton proved a popular speaker to small groups, enjoying particularly talking to children, never declining an invitation. He claimed that satellites simply circled over a flat disc-world: "Would sailing round the Isle of Wight
prove that it were spherical?", he demanded. As manned space flight started in 1961 Shenton began to attract international media attention with his denials, telling the Coshocton Tribune
on May 10 that the astronauts could never travel into orbit.
When John Glenn orbited the world, he was sent an IFERS membership with the message "Ok Wise Guy" added to it. Shenton continued to lecture largely at his own expense but he suffered two strokes in 1963 probably as a result of his exertions. In January 1964 the New York Times carried a piece about the IFERS and during a parliamentary debate, Enoch Powell
likened his opponents to "flat-earthers" and Harold Wilson
reportedly slung back the insult in turn. Shenton was outraged and wrote letters of complaint.
The Gemini 4
mission marked a change of pace for his campaign and he was to receive letters from across the world for the next few years. In 1966 he produced a pamphlet, The Plane Truth which included a circular to members in which he informed them "that modern astronomy and space flight were insults to God and divine punishment for humankind's arrogance was a mere matter of time". But the Lunar Orbiter program
led to a sharp decline in membership. "Visual images, whether they were globes, photographs or television pictures, were clearly critical to how people perceived the earth's shape..and pre-school children could know that it was round even if they had no grasp of the words 'mathematics', 'geography', 'astronomy' and 'science'".
By 1968 his health had deteriorated further and his signwriting business had collapsed although the media attention continued. But he stuck to his principles of 'zetetic enquiry' in which only personally acquired facts were permissible. In 1969 he found the successor he had been looking for: Ellis Hillman, a lecturer and member of the Greater London Council
agreed to be president of the IFERS, with the encouragement of Patrick Moore. Lillian Shenton was suspicious of his motives (he was developing a post-graduate course on the development of ideas about the shape of the earth) and in the event he did little for the society. Eighteen months later, Shenton had died.
Flat Earth Society
The Flat Earth Society is an organization that seeks to further the belief that the Earth is flat instead of an oblate spheroid. The modern organization was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956 and was later led by Charles K...
, based in Dover, England. He lectured tirelessly on this to youth clubs, political and student groups and during the Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
in the 1960s he was frequently seen on television and in newspapers promoting his views.
Life
Samuel Shenton was a signwriter, who lived with his wife Lillian in a ginger-brick terrace in suburban Dover. He was son of an army sergeant major, born in Great Yarmouth and by the 1920s claimed to have invented an airship that would rise into the atmosphere and remain stationary until the earth spun westwards at 1000 kph to the desired destination at the same latitude. Shenton couldn't understand why nobody else had hit on this simple idea until he discovered, in the reading room of the British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
at Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
that Archbishop Stevens, a friend of Lady Blount, the founder of the Universal Zetetic Society, had suggested an aircraft design similar to his own. When he discovered Parallax
Samuel Rowbotham
Samuel Birley Rowbotham was an English inventor and writer who wrote Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe under the pseudonym "Parallax". His work was based on his decade-long studies of the earth and was originally published as a 16-page pamphlet , which he later expanded into a 430 page book...
's Zetetic Astronomy he was an instant convert. "What the authorities were concealing, Shenton decided, was the 'fact' that the earth was flat".
Shenton soon constructed a cosmology, based partly on his interpretation of Genesis, that the earth was a flat disk centred on the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
with the zetetic notion of the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
being an impenetrable wall of ice, that marked the edge of the pit that is the earth in the endless flat plane forming the universe. The sun cast a narrow beam like a flashlight moving over a table as it traced flat circles that varied over the 365 day cycles. The sun was 32 miles in diameter 3,000 miles above the earth and the moon also 32 miles in diameter but only 2,550 miles above the earth.
In 1956 he founded the International Flat Earth Research Society as a direct descendant of the Universal Zetetic Society but with a less religious emphasis, found a president in William Mills, a relative of one of Lady Blount's followers and held its inaugural meeting in November at Mills' home in London, with Shenton as secretary. One of the attendees, attending out of curiosity, was the Sky at Night
The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
astronomer Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
who recounted his experience in his book Can you speak Venusian?.
Despite the fact that in October 1957 the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, Shenton proved a popular speaker to small groups, enjoying particularly talking to children, never declining an invitation. He claimed that satellites simply circled over a flat disc-world: "Would sailing round the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
prove that it were spherical?", he demanded. As manned space flight started in 1961 Shenton began to attract international media attention with his denials, telling the Coshocton Tribune
Coshocton Tribune
Coshocton Tribune is a daily newspaper that serves the community of Coshocton, Ohio and the surrounding county of Coshocton.-History:The Coshocton Tribune was founded in 1909 by William J. Bahmer. He was a former teacher. The paper was independently owned until 1960, when it was sold to Thompson...
on May 10 that the astronauts could never travel into orbit.
When John Glenn orbited the world, he was sent an IFERS membership with the message "Ok Wise Guy" added to it. Shenton continued to lecture largely at his own expense but he suffered two strokes in 1963 probably as a result of his exertions. In January 1964 the New York Times carried a piece about the IFERS and during a parliamentary debate, Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
likened his opponents to "flat-earthers" and Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
reportedly slung back the insult in turn. Shenton was outraged and wrote letters of complaint.
The Gemini 4
Gemini 4
Gemini 4 was the second manned space flight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth manned American spaceflight . Astronauts James McDivitt and Edward H. White, II circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of...
mission marked a change of pace for his campaign and he was to receive letters from across the world for the next few years. In 1966 he produced a pamphlet, The Plane Truth which included a circular to members in which he informed them "that modern astronomy and space flight were insults to God and divine punishment for humankind's arrogance was a mere matter of time". But the Lunar Orbiter program
Lunar Orbiter program
The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five unmanned lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States from 1966 through 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon's surface, they provided the first photographs from lunar orbit.All five missions were successful,...
led to a sharp decline in membership. "Visual images, whether they were globes, photographs or television pictures, were clearly critical to how people perceived the earth's shape..and pre-school children could know that it was round even if they had no grasp of the words 'mathematics', 'geography', 'astronomy' and 'science'".
By 1968 his health had deteriorated further and his signwriting business had collapsed although the media attention continued. But he stuck to his principles of 'zetetic enquiry' in which only personally acquired facts were permissible. In 1969 he found the successor he had been looking for: Ellis Hillman, a lecturer and member of the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
agreed to be president of the IFERS, with the encouragement of Patrick Moore. Lillian Shenton was suspicious of his motives (he was developing a post-graduate course on the development of ideas about the shape of the earth) and in the event he did little for the society. Eighteen months later, Shenton had died.