(176) Suspect gurus, criminals, bogus identities. And Jesuses
"I happen to believe that elevating a human being into a "higher power" who possesses spiritual insight not given to ordinary mortals is dangerous and misguided, but I can envisage circumstances in which I might succumb."
Prof. Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay
"I believe that we are at the end of the guru system and that its current abuses disqualify it from the business of serious spiritual transformation. The next five years will see a blizzard of financial and sexual scandals which I am certain will make this point painfully clear even to those who now believe implicitly in the guru system and are prepared to fight dirty to preserve it."
In Being There the inanities of the simpleton, Chance, are misinterpreted as profound. The film ends with Chance finding himself, quite unintentionally, walking on water, whilst plutocrats discuss backing him as a Presidential candidate. Being There was Sellers ́ penultimate film and the last to be released whilst he was still alive.
In the first week of November 2007, whilst adding some addenda to this entry, I was moved through curiosity to enter Katz ́s name into a search engine.
The hits surprised me - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1101356,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/file_on_4/4149813.stm
... ... ...
In Autumn 1996 I asked directory inquiries for Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch's telephone number. This was despite my having tried to obtain it in the late 1980s and being told that it was ex-directory. The operator put me through to his brother by mistake- his identical twin. The brother then put me through to Jeremy. Thus we became acquainted.
It later emerged that the day before I rang, Jeremy had written in his diary that he wanted nothing more to do with a self proclaimed guru.
Who would subsequently claim he was Christ!
... ... ... ...
On the evening of February 7th, 2001 my wife suggested we watch a recording, which I had asked her to make two days earlier of a documentary on the dubious figure of Erich von Däniken, Erich von Däniken - Wikipedia
The cassette was already in and so she asked me to just press 'Play'. I did, and it began with a sketch which I recognised from the end of an episode of a BBC comedy programme called Goodness Gracious Me (TV series) - Wikipedia
It had been recorded by my wife at least a year earlier, and was a musical spoof where Maharishi types had formed a pop group called The Gurus. They were singing of themselves as financially and sexually ripping off their hapless acolytes ("Free for ladies, if you touch my...") and it ended with them all being arrested. That was the only sketch of that show that she had recorded, and I think that she had done so because I had thought it hilarious and apposite.
There then followed the von Däniken recording. After about ten minutes I decided that it was not for me, and left the room.
At 9 p.m. Fiona called me back to see the opening scenes of a programme on Channel 4. It was a social history of the Karma Sutra called Position Impossible.
The presenter was Sanjeev Bhaskar, better known then as one of the cast of Goodness Gracious Me. Mr Bhaskar wrote a lot of the music for the Asian comedy show and indeed he had written the song for, and also been a member of, their band; The Gurus.
It began with a Tantric workshop in Penzance where couples were being shown how to prolong sexual matters for supposed spiritual benefit. Then it cut to Bhaskar doing a stand up routine where he was making mild fun of the workshop to his audience.
... ... ...
In 1997 I heard that our friend, Pepita de Foote, had a star named in honour of a sick friend of hers. To do this she had used the services of an agency which advertised that, for a fee, they would name a star after someone for you. Not long afterwards I saw Sir Patrick Moore Patrick Moore - Wikipedia on a TV programme called Serves You Right saying that this sort of business was invalid, and that only an object such as a crater could have a name conferred on it in that way.
Prof. Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay
"I believe that we are at the end of the guru system and that its current abuses disqualify it from the business of serious spiritual transformation. The next five years will see a blizzard of financial and sexual scandals which I am certain will make this point painfully clear even to those who now believe implicitly in the guru system and are prepared to fight dirty to preserve it."
Andrew Harvey, The Return of the Mother 1994
In August of 1980, Jeff Katz of Bedfordshire on Sunday interviewed me and then a week or two later we met up again at a lecture given by a self-proclaimed spiritual authority in the Bedford Corn Exchange.
"It's interesting, isn't it?".
"No," he replied.
"There's no way you're ever going to get me to believe in a load of shit like that!
What a character!
The mendacity! The mendacity!".
"Well; audacity," I suggested.
"Mendacity!", he insisted.
Katz then wrote a withering review of it all for the same paper.
The lecturer would later tell me that Sellers had consulted him on spiritual matters too.
Incidentally, when we had a drink together afterwards, Katz told me how impressed he was with Peter Seller's Peter Sellers - Wikipedia most recent film, Being There. Being There - Wikipedia
In August of 1980, Jeff Katz of Bedfordshire on Sunday interviewed me and then a week or two later we met up again at a lecture given by a self-proclaimed spiritual authority in the Bedford Corn Exchange.
"It's interesting, isn't it?".
"No," he replied.
"There's no way you're ever going to get me to believe in a load of shit like that!
What a character!
The mendacity! The mendacity!".
"Well; audacity," I suggested.
"Mendacity!", he insisted.
Katz then wrote a withering review of it all for the same paper.
The lecturer would later tell me that Sellers had consulted him on spiritual matters too.
Incidentally, when we had a drink together afterwards, Katz told me how impressed he was with Peter Seller's Peter Sellers - Wikipedia most recent film, Being There. Being There - Wikipedia
"That is a great movie!"
In Being There the inanities of the simpleton, Chance, are misinterpreted as profound. The film ends with Chance finding himself, quite unintentionally, walking on water, whilst plutocrats discuss backing him as a Presidential candidate. Being There was Sellers ́ penultimate film and the last to be released whilst he was still alive.
The novel on which it was based Being There (novel) - Wikipedia itself caused controversy as many Polish critics recognised it as a version of The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma , a novel from the interwar period, and so accused the author, Jerzy Kosinski, of plagiarism.
Sellers himself was also sometimes regarded as, you might say, something by way of a fraud. In that, he admitted, he would often identify as much with the characters he played as with himself. If not even more so.
In the first week of November 2007, whilst adding some addenda to this entry, I was moved through curiosity to enter Katz ́s name into a search engine.
The hits surprised me - http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1101356,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/file_on_4/4149813.stm
... ... ...
In Autumn 1996 I asked directory inquiries for Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch's telephone number. This was despite my having tried to obtain it in the late 1980s and being told that it was ex-directory. The operator put me through to his brother by mistake- his identical twin. The brother then put me through to Jeremy. Thus we became acquainted.
It later emerged that the day before I rang, Jeremy had written in his diary that he wanted nothing more to do with a self proclaimed guru.
Who would subsequently claim he was Christ!
... ... ... ...
On the evening of February 7th, 2001 my wife suggested we watch a recording, which I had asked her to make two days earlier of a documentary on the dubious figure of Erich von Däniken, Erich von Däniken - Wikipedia
The cassette was already in and so she asked me to just press 'Play'. I did, and it began with a sketch which I recognised from the end of an episode of a BBC comedy programme called Goodness Gracious Me (TV series) - Wikipedia
It had been recorded by my wife at least a year earlier, and was a musical spoof where Maharishi types had formed a pop group called The Gurus. They were singing of themselves as financially and sexually ripping off their hapless acolytes ("Free for ladies, if you touch my...") and it ended with them all being arrested. That was the only sketch of that show that she had recorded, and I think that she had done so because I had thought it hilarious and apposite.
There then followed the von Däniken recording. After about ten minutes I decided that it was not for me, and left the room.
At 9 p.m. Fiona called me back to see the opening scenes of a programme on Channel 4. It was a social history of the Karma Sutra called Position Impossible.
The presenter was Sanjeev Bhaskar, better known then as one of the cast of Goodness Gracious Me. Mr Bhaskar wrote a lot of the music for the Asian comedy show and indeed he had written the song for, and also been a member of, their band; The Gurus.
It began with a Tantric workshop in Penzance where couples were being shown how to prolong sexual matters for supposed spiritual benefit. Then it cut to Bhaskar doing a stand up routine where he was making mild fun of the workshop to his audience.
... ... ...
In 1997 I heard that our friend, Pepita de Foote, had a star named in honour of a sick friend of hers. To do this she had used the services of an agency which advertised that, for a fee, they would name a star after someone for you. Not long afterwards I saw Sir Patrick Moore Patrick Moore - Wikipedia on a TV programme called Serves You Right saying that this sort of business was invalid, and that only an object such as a crater could have a name conferred on it in that way.
Star names were decided by an official International Astronomical Association, and the people to whom Pepita had paid her money were con men.
... ... ...
Note also this, from Entry (18) -
" At around 5:15 on the evening of December 21st 1998 I alighted from a train that I had boarded at Welwyn Garden City as it arrived at London King's Cross.
Dr. Jonathan Mestel shot past me at King's Cross as he hastened to board a train departing from the adjacent platform. (Harry Potter fans, note the location!) I waved at him through the glass. I had been to Welwyn to research data further to pursuit of a dubious guru, and at the afternoon's end I had, by chance, passed by the offices of The Welwyn and Hatfield Times newspaper. I went in and spoke to Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch's contact there, and she gave me the phone number of a private investigator whom she recommended.
The next day Jeremy made contact with this man. "
Jonathan Mestel - Wikipedia had once reacted with horror at my advancing some ideas of racial intolerance. Ideas which were probably influenced by a spiritual authority.
... ... ...
Note also this, from Entry (18) -
" At around 5:15 on the evening of December 21st 1998 I alighted from a train that I had boarded at Welwyn Garden City as it arrived at London King's Cross.
Dr. Jonathan Mestel shot past me at King's Cross as he hastened to board a train departing from the adjacent platform. (Harry Potter fans, note the location!) I waved at him through the glass. I had been to Welwyn to research data further to pursuit of a dubious guru, and at the afternoon's end I had, by chance, passed by the offices of The Welwyn and Hatfield Times newspaper. I went in and spoke to Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch's contact there, and she gave me the phone number of a private investigator whom she recommended.
The next day Jeremy made contact with this man. "
Jonathan Mestel - Wikipedia had once reacted with horror at my advancing some ideas of racial intolerance. Ideas which were probably influenced by a spiritual authority.
... ... ... ...
On July 5th 2000 two Jehovah's Witnesses knocked at our door and spoke to my wife of the problems our society faced, e.g. declining standards of behaviour amongst the young, and how, for instance, schoolchildren today showed lack of respect towards their teachers.
Fiona responded that that did not bother her at all, and that, indeed, she herself had had little respect for those who taught her.
... ... ... ...
At 11:a.m. on August 4th 2000, the same Jehovah's witnesses called again. Then at 11:45 a.m. Sacha turned on the TV and he and Fiona found themselves watching Whistle Down the Wind (film) - Wikipedia In this film of the early 1960s a group of schoolchildren ask an escaped criminal who he is. "Jesus Christ!" he exclaims. And they therefore take that as his identity.
On July 5th 2000 two Jehovah's Witnesses knocked at our door and spoke to my wife of the problems our society faced, e.g. declining standards of behaviour amongst the young, and how, for instance, schoolchildren today showed lack of respect towards their teachers.
Fiona responded that that did not bother her at all, and that, indeed, she herself had had little respect for those who taught her.
... ... ... ...
At 11:a.m. on August 4th 2000, the same Jehovah's witnesses called again. Then at 11:45 a.m. Sacha turned on the TV and he and Fiona found themselves watching Whistle Down the Wind (film) - Wikipedia In this film of the early 1960s a group of schoolchildren ask an escaped criminal who he is. "Jesus Christ!" he exclaims. And they therefore take that as his identity.
... ... ... ...
On the morning of July 10th 2000 I visited my G.P. concerning back problems. I explained that I had incurred them through typing a book on coincidences. He responded that he had encountered a coincidence many years before when he was being shown some psychiatric patients and on the same day he had met two who claimed that they were Jesus.
I then sold Doctor Chinnery a copy of my book, Coincidences.
On the morning of July 10th 2000 I visited my G.P. concerning back problems. I explained that I had incurred them through typing a book on coincidences. He responded that he had encountered a coincidence many years before when he was being shown some psychiatric patients and on the same day he had met two who claimed that they were Jesus.
I then sold Doctor Chinnery a copy of my book, Coincidences.
... ... ... ...
On May 17th 2006, just after I had been thinking of all of these wacko false claims, Bart Simpson made some remark on The Simpsons cartoon playing in the background on my TV about his being the real Jesus!
... ... ...
In 1992 I bumped into Pete Wood in Luton. He and I had met up some six years previously via esoteric interests. I invited him to visit me at my flat and a day or so later he was present when I received a call from The New Statesman about a reference I had made to fugitive homosexual paedophile Brian Eley (who had, indeed, once made a move on myself) in my chess column for that publication. It was the only time the magazine ever rang me.
... ... ... ...
On November 10th 2003, Bruce Mitchell, whom I had met just once some 16 years or so earlier, called me from Cape Town on the pretext of obtaining Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch ́s number. He informed me that he had bankrupted a "spiritual authority" and was now to receive £7,500 after someone bought the rights to his works.
Bruce said that it does not matter what sort of spiritual status anyone claims. What matters is whether or not one helps people. Later that day I was to access a grateful message left on my ansafone by the mother of someone whom I had begun to try to help: Charles Ingram.
... ... ...
In 1992 I bumped into Pete Wood in Luton. He and I had met up some six years previously via esoteric interests. I invited him to visit me at my flat and a day or so later he was present when I received a call from The New Statesman about a reference I had made to fugitive homosexual paedophile Brian Eley (who had, indeed, once made a move on myself) in my chess column for that publication. It was the only time the magazine ever rang me.
... ... ... ...
On November 10th 2003, Bruce Mitchell, whom I had met just once some 16 years or so earlier, called me from Cape Town on the pretext of obtaining Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch ́s number. He informed me that he had bankrupted a "spiritual authority" and was now to receive £7,500 after someone bought the rights to his works.
Bruce said that it does not matter what sort of spiritual status anyone claims. What matters is whether or not one helps people. Later that day I was to access a grateful message left on my ansafone by the mother of someone whom I had begun to try to help: Charles Ingram.
Mitchell also happened to mention that he had known Tommy Milligan and his wife Helen from Edinburgh chess club and had, perhaps twenty years or so before, lent Tommy 50 Pounds, which was never returned.
On June 2nd 2010 I received this e mail from Chris Jeans –
Date: 2 June, 2010, 12:56
Hi James,
On Friday I was driving north on the A1 on my way to Bedford when noticed a Kestrel hovering at the side of the road. I then looked at the lorry in front of me and the word Kestrel was written on the back of the lorry. Strange but true.
CJ
I immediately responded -
Less than 5 minutes before you sent this I had been looking at a thing on Mary Whitehouse by Joan Bakewell in The Daily Telegraph on line and she mentioned Ken Loach in the 1960s.
I of course thought of "KES" and indeed a notice once put on the school 6th form notice board in 1977 by a Mr Stafford telling us all not to miss it.
I recalled that KES is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_(film)
5 mins later I see your e mail.
J.
And then I wrote to him –
...and you were on your way to Bedford, my town...
what took you there, might one inquire?
J.
He replied –
I was taking a lady to a Ceroc (jive) dance at the Bedford Corn Exchange in St.Paul's Square. She mentioned Kes when I saw the Kestrel . I have been trying to remember someone in the film called Brian something who was a PE teacher.
CJ
I replied –
Probably this guy -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Glover
Bedford Corn Exchange, eh?
I said that I had been there just once, in August 1980...(although, as I would years later recall, I had actually been there another time, in late 1991 to attend a Psychics and Mystics fair.)
He asked –
What happened at the Corn Exchange then?
And I explained.
On June 2nd 2010 I received this e mail from Chris Jeans –
Date: 2 June, 2010, 12:56
Hi James,
On Friday I was driving north on the A1 on my way to Bedford when noticed a Kestrel hovering at the side of the road. I then looked at the lorry in front of me and the word Kestrel was written on the back of the lorry. Strange but true.
CJ
I immediately responded -
Less than 5 minutes before you sent this I had been looking at a thing on Mary Whitehouse by Joan Bakewell in The Daily Telegraph on line and she mentioned Ken Loach in the 1960s.
I of course thought of "KES" and indeed a notice once put on the school 6th form notice board in 1977 by a Mr Stafford telling us all not to miss it.
I recalled that KES is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_(film)
5 mins later I see your e mail.
J.
And then I wrote to him –
...and you were on your way to Bedford, my town...
what took you there, might one inquire?
J.
He replied –
I was taking a lady to a Ceroc (jive) dance at the Bedford Corn Exchange in St.Paul's Square. She mentioned Kes when I saw the Kestrel . I have been trying to remember someone in the film called Brian something who was a PE teacher.
CJ
I replied –
Probably this guy -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Glover
Bedford Corn Exchange, eh?
I said that I had been there just once, in August 1980...(although, as I would years later recall, I had actually been there another time, in late 1991 to attend a Psychics and Mystics fair.)
He asked –
What happened at the Corn Exchange then?
And I explained.
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