Dear friends,

It seems that every time I write one of these, I start off by making apologies for the length of time it has been since I last wrote. I am undecided whether to start this newsletter in a similar fashion. Part of me just wants to sail in with all my guns blazing, secure in the knowledge that whilst I have not actually been very diligent in my writing, I have been doing enough other things to justify my existence. However, I am still the paranoid little fellow that you all know so well, and so - of course - I am going to apologise for having taken so long in writing this.....

KARL SHUKER'S NEW BOOK

A lot has happened since the last met in this corner of cyberspace, and it is difficult to know where to begin in trying to bring you all up-to-date with what has been happening both with me personally, and with the CFZ as a whole. I have not been well over the past few months, and therefore have not achieved as much as I would like to have done. However, I am proud to announce the second CFZ Press Book this year by Dr Karl Shuker.

This one is a total departure from form for both him and us. It is called Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals on Stamps - A Worldwide Catalogue.As Karl writes in the blurb on the back cover:

"There has never been a more popular time for dinosaurs and all things dinosaurian. From blockbuster films packed with breathtaking CGI effects, children's television and video cartoons, computer games, CD-ROMs, animatronic museum exhibitions, and theme parks, to countless books, magazines, toys large and small, ornaments, collectabilia, and even fun lines in confectionery and other edibles, prehistoric paraphernalia continues to scale new heights of desirability worldwide.

But nowhere is this more apparent than within the philatelic world - where the issuing in recent years by an ever-increasing number of countries around the globe of handsome, highly-prized stamp sets depicting a spectacular array of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals is matched only by the corresponding increase of thematic collectors eager to amass an eyecatching, comprehensive menagerie of palaeontological monsters that the custodians of Jurassic Park could only dream about!Today, well over 500 sets of stamps portraying all manner of dinosaurs and also a multifarious assemblage of other prehistoric animals have been issued, with a substantial proportion of these having appeared within the last decade alone - confirming the escalating interest among collectors in this exciting thematic subject. And who can blame them?

After all, where else but in the pages of a stamp album could stegosaurs and plesiosaurs, tyrannosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers, brachiosaurs, mammoths, belemnites, ground sloths, giant birds, and ichthyosaurs jostle for attention with velociraptors and trilobites, dimetrodonts and diplodocuses, mosasaurs, woolly rhinoceroses, Archaeopteryx, titanosaurs, iguanodontids, ammonites, giant sea scorpions, and innumerable other spectacular denizens of our planet's distant past? Now, for the very first time, here is a philatelic catalogue devoted exclusively to these incredible animals. Compiled by zoologist Dr Karl P.N.Shuker, a lifelong, enthusiastic collector of wildlife stamps and with an especial interest in those that portray fossil species, it provides an exhaustive, definitive listing of stamps and miniature sheets depicting dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals issued by countries throughout the world. It also includes sections dealing with cryptozoological stamps, dinosaur stamp superlatives, and unofficial prehistoric animal stamps.

This invaluable book will undoubtedly encourage everyone with a passion for dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures to pursue it not only on screen, in books, or in museums but also via the ever-fascinating world of philately".

The Amazon.co.uk link for the book is here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dinosaurs-Other-Prehistoric-Animals-Stamps/dp/1905723342/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226852557&sr=1-2

THE RUSSIAN EXPEDITION BOOK AND FILM

I am also happy to be able to announce that the long awaited Russian expedition report is practically completed. Richard and I did all that we had to do for the interior this weekend. I have already half designed the cover, and once Graham has done our final proof on it, I shall upload it, and it should be available from Amazon within the next fortnight.

The film, is taking longer than we had hoped, but 15 minutes is now completed, and once Richard and I have finished working on the 2009 Yearbook, and issue 45 of Animals & Men, we will make a concerted effort to finish the film.

MY HEALTH

I know that the Internet rumour machine has been working overtime recently. I would like to take this opportunity to stage once and for all, that I have not had a heart attack. Yes, it is true that I collapsed on the Saturday afternoon of the Weird Weekend. This was due to exhaustion, and complications to do with diabetes. This was not the sort of "exhaustion" in large quotation marks which I used to cite everytime one of my clients used to collapse back in my previous life as a music business PR person. In those days, exhaustion was a useful synonym for overdose or withdrawal symptoms. In my case it is neither. I was simply exhausted.

CFZ OUTREACH - PREPARING FOR WAR?

At the Unconvention in early November, we distributed the following leaflet:

"FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN THE WORLD’S LEADING MYSTERY ANIMAL RESEARCH GROUP. NOW, BECAUSE OF THE WAY THAT THE WORLD HAS CHANGED, WE HAVE BECOME SOMETHING FAR MORE IMPORTANT...

We are the world’s largest cryptozoological organisation, and - or so we like to think - the best. We have been going since 1992, and in the intervening sixteen years we have published nearly fifty books, 45 editions of our journal, several other magazines, and have carried out over a dozen major foreign expeditions.

We have a free multimedia website, a museum, the world’s largest annual cryptozoological convention, and we produce a free monthly webTV show.We are active in community work; carrying out school visits and working with children and vulnerable members of the community at large, and in recent years, without meaning to, we have become synonymous with the spirit of adventure, and love of the natural world, which once defined entire generations of British children.

But in the last few years things have changed. Things have become far more serious.

Not only are we the only professional fortean zoological organisation in the world, but we are the only people consistently pushing back the boundaries of human knowledge in our particular field. But, perhaps most importantly, we are in many cases the only link that the children, with whom we work, have to an ethos that we feel is very important, and furthermore one that successive governments have done their best to suppress within the National Curriculum; the undeniable truth that the universe is a strange, mysterious and beautiful place with myriad mysteries still to explore, and that it is not just a human right, but a human duty to do so.

Come and join us.

Every community and online service that we provide is free, and from where we are sitting, it seems that what we do is valuable. But we are becoming increasingly beleaguered. We are under attack from all sides, and as our activities broaden we find our resources; financial, human, skill-set, and equipment, are increasingly overstretched. This is why we have taken a motto from an ancient Greek philosopher which has not been used in popular parlance for over thirty years, and it is why we are asking for your help. Will you help us?

HELP US CHANGE THE WORLD JUST A LITTLE BIT: JOIN THE CFZ TODAY"

I was quite upset at the response.

Across the Internet people who obviously had no idea what I was talking about, and who furthermore had not bothered to read our statement, accused us of trying to declare war on the rest of the fortean community worldwide.

The disturbing thing is that the leaflet we distributed which basically attacked nobody except for the idiots who wrote the National Curriculum, is pretty well the same as a campaign that we have been carrying out for months through our sister magazine "EXOTIC PETS: the Magazine of the Amateur Naturalist".

We launched this campaign in May at the Briotish Tarantula Society Show, and have carried it on ever since. It has been distributed through the zoo, at several insect shows, reptile shows, and at our own conference. It is only now that anyone has done anything other than pat me on the back and say "Yes, Jon. Modern standards of education and literacy are rubbish!"

I wonder why this is.

As far as I can see, these attacks come mostly from folk who believe that sniping at people on the Internet is actually preferable to be going out and doing research. Sadly there are too many people like this in the fortean community. We have put up with their ill-natured and mealy mouthed criticism for years. We have no intention of putting up with it any longer.

Another thing which for some reason that I find difficult to understand attracts criticism from various quarters is the involvement of my old friend Tim Matthews with the CFZ. It is undeniable that some people believe that Tim's past is a colourful one. Although most of what has been written about him is completely untrue, Tim has a few skeletons in his closet. But so what? Haven't we all? It is not what Tim did in his past that matters, but what he is doing now. He has been involved with us for ten years now, and has never put a foot wrong. He is a trusted friend and a much valued colleague. He actually turned his back upon the fortean community at large about six years ago, and only came back last summer as a personal favour to me.

We will soon be announcing a range of CFZ Outreach programs which will start next year. These will, we hope, be successful in bringing a comprehensive programme of education and consciousness raising to schools and institutions across the UK. Tim Matthews is very much involved in these programmes, and I believe that it is true to say that because of my failing health, we would not be able to carry these community programmes out without him.

AND FINALLY A NEW ARRIVAL

As you all know, Tessie the CFZ dog since 2000 died in September. Being the people that we are, we couldn't exist without a CFZ Dog for very long, so I am overjoyed to announce that my darling wife is now the proud owner of Biggles - a three-month old border collie puppy who now has the entire household in his thrall. Pictures of him can be found on my wife's blog.

TH TH THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Well, that is just about all for this newsletter. The CFZ are not coping with the global recession very well. Sales of books are down, and we would be excessively grateful for any donations of time, money, or expertise. The next few years are going to be hard ones for us all. We believe that what we do is now more important than ever, so please help us in any way that you can.Until next time

God bless you all,
Jon Downes
Director, CFZ

Life is short, but the years are long

I haven't posted anything on this blog in some time for a number of reasons. I have been busy, I have been ill, and I have discovered Facebook. Now, I have mixed feelings about Facebook. It is certainly a wonderful tool; I have made contact with several people that I thought had gone forever, but I have problems with the amount of faux intimacy that it demands of its participants. One gets sucked into a strange ur-space where it is very tempting to behave in a way that - under other circumstances - one would never consider doing.

I know several people who have used Facebook for life changing events like the ending of a relationship, or to get one's own back on a colleague or employer, and I am certain that it is this lamentable faux intimacy that has triggered these events. Whether or not they would have happened without Facebook is a moot point, but it is undeniable that Facebook is the catalyst that propelled these events into happening.

Another thing that I find disturbing is how easy it is to find people that would otherwise have been lost forever. I have made contact with my friend Jane from Derby, with whom I lost contact after her divorce twn years ago. I first met her 20 years back when my ex-wife and I were doing our own inimitable thing alongside Steve Harley and his rebellious cockneys, and I am very pleased to be able to rekindle our friendship.

I also managed to find Jim from `The Amphibians from Outer Space` who left his contact details on my old laptop which gave up the ghost shortly before I left Exeter. So again, on this instance, Facebook has done me a favour. (And yes, you folk hoping for an Amphibs reunion, Dave, Jim and I are up for us, and I am hoping to recruit Marcus, so it is looking on the cards to a certain extent at least, but whether we play live, or release new music, or both, remains undecided at this stage).

However, as an experiment, I amso found that in one half hour period I managed to find four ex-lovers, one ex-fiancee, two people from whom I used to buy drugs, several more with whom I used to take drugs, two of my three ex-managers, several people who owe me money, and at least two to whom I may well owe a few quid! It is as if, with a few clicks of my mouse button (and no, I haven't been stupid enough to do any of them) my entire past could come back to haunt me, like a post modern version of `This is your life` without Michael Aspel.

I have very little interest in meeting up with any of these people again(no, that isn't true: I made contact with the most disreputable of my ex-managers who is now running a brothel in New Zealand), but I can imagine that for some people it would be an immense temptation to do this very thing. I don't actually want to meet up with my ex-wife, because I am perfectly happy with the one I have now, but I have to admit that I looked for her. The fact that (assuming that she is still married to the bloke she left me for) her name is `Alison Smith` means that my search for her would not be an easy one because there are hundreds of people with that name.

I am perfectly secure in my second marriage (my wife is a saint for putting up with me, but that is another story) but I can imagine that this easy instantaneous access to everyone that you have ever been emotionally, or physically, (or both) involved with is going to (if it hasn't already) put the kybosh on quite a few slightly rocky relationships.

Me? I am gonns stick to using it to play tetris!

Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear

I have used this blog, on a number of occasions, to tell the universe that I particularly like a new record or book by someone. This is the first time that I have ever used this blog, which is essentially meant as a way to talk about cryptozoology and my other activities animalwise, to tell the world quite how appalled I am.

Yes, I admit it. There are some albums by Queen in my voluminous music collection. I am particularly fond of the first four albums, but some of the later ones also have their moments. I also have several albums by Free although I always thought Bad Company were pants.

Can you see where this is going?

When it was announced that Free singer Paul Rogers (OK I didn't like anything else he did post-Free) had teamed up with Messrs Meddows-Taylor and May I was mildly intrigued. Paul Rogers at his best was an incredibly soulful rock singer, and had one of the bext voices in late 60s/early 70s music. So I downloaded some live stuff they did.

It was terrible.

I should, I suppose, have been prepared for this by the fact that ex-bassist John Deacon, who was by far the most self-effacing member of the band, had refused to have anything to do with the project.

It turned out that a dear friend of mine (who shall remain nameless cos I won't out him) went to see them live. They were, apparently, dreadful.

So I played some tracks to Richard Freeman.

"What is this shit?" he said

But still, fond as I am of Wishing Well and My Brother Jake, I insisted to all my friends that once the album - with new material that had not been penned for Fred to sing came out, the band would be vindicated. I was sure it would all be alright in the end.

Well it ain't.

This is the nastiest, most cynical, vile piece of capitalist shit that I have ever heard. It is almost pornographic in its insincerity. It sounds great - but then again it would. The lyrics are banal and childish, and the whole thing is executed about as well as a saturday night pub band. There can be no reason for this album to have been made apart from to make three rich men richer.

Ugh

September song

I inherited a lot from my mother. I inheites my love for books, my desire to write books, my love of the natural world, and even a modicum of her explorer's instinct. But I also inherited the bad things: I am a trifle corpulent - no, don't deny it... I have a fondness for the grape and the grain, and I have a tendency to succumb to every head cold going. In this concern I am not as bad as my mum, who would have a cold continually from October to April, but mine are bad enough and I have one or two a year. One of the weirder things is, that although a couple of years ago my colds would last for a couple of weeks, now they only last for two or three days, but while they do they are horrible.

So I have been in bed, being a trial to my nearest and dearest, and feeling appaling (and probably acting and looking worse). But now I am able to sit up and do stuff, even though I am still as weak as a kitten.

Redders wrote: His missus is still unwell, but seems to be a little better - more news when I have it. No more news on Doc, and the administrative problems to which I alluded seem to be retreating somewhat........

Still, September ain't much fun so far....

and our thoughts and prayers go out to.........

Dana Redfern, and `Doc` Shiels, both of whom are unwell, and the family of Pink Floyd keyboard player Rick Wright who died yesterday..........

Thank you.........

Thank you for your kind messages about Tessie. I am sorry that I have once again slipped under the radar, but I have got a cold - nothing at all serious, but my voice has gone and my ears are all blocked up, so I can't hear or speak to any normal degree. It isn't even particularly debilitating - just irritating.

Tessie has been buried at the bottom of the side lawn at the CFZ. There are quite a few other work-related problems that I am not at liberty to talk about at the moment, but the good news is that Richard and I have now done about fifteen minutes of the Russia movie, Exotic Pets #6 is well under way, as is the Russia expedition book, and Dave Penna came round to dinner last night to discuss the possibility of reforming The Amphibians from Outer Space so - recession notwithstanding - all is far from lost.

Onwards and Upwards

Tessie ?1990-2008

Tess was unique among the dogs I have had as she was the only one that I didn’t know since she was a puppy. Her background is hazy. Apparently she had first been owned by a disabled man who could not exercise her as well as he would have like. He passed her onto a friend who later, because of work commitments passed her on to a woman named Tracey Freestone who subsequently became Graham’s girlfriend.

I would often see Tess being walked and stop to make a fuss of her because she was such a delightful little dog. A sheltie, border collie cross she reminded me of my childhood companion `Sandy`, who was a border collie, golden retriever cross. When Tracey and her former boyfriend split up Tess came to stay with us and after Tracey’s death we adopted Tess as the CFZ dog.

Tess was around nine when we had her but was often mistaken for a puppy she was so active and playful. During summer she never tired of diving into the river after balls. She made friends everywhere she went. In particular a lady who worked in the WH Smiths on Exeter train station always enquired after her. Many times her past owners and their friends would stop and make a fuss of her.

When Jon moved up to Woolsery, Tess came along as he had a large garden and there were plenty of country walks to be had. About a year ago, Tess fell victim to a condition where the corneas on her eyes slipped, leaving her blind. Both operations and medicine failed to
save her sight. However she got along quite well, finding her way round the house and garden.
Over the past few months she had become increasingly frail and prone to collapse. This condition worsened until she could not walk. She merely

stood around then violently collapsed when she tried to move. In order to save her any suffering, I had her put to sleep on Tuesday 16th of September 2008.

To me losing a dog is like losing a child. I’ve always preferred dogs to people. There is no duplicity about them. They have no hidden agenda. A dog gives its love totally and truly.

Goodbye, Daddy’s little girl.

Richard Freeman




The Power of the Dog

There is sorrow enough in the natural way

From men and women to fill our day;

But when we are certain of sorrow in store,

Why do we always arrange for more?

Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware

Of giving your hearts to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy

Love unflinching that cannot lie -

Perfect passion and worship fed

By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.

Nevertheless it is hardly fair

To risk you heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years that nature permits,

Are closing in asthma, or tumor, or fits,

And the Vet's unspoken prescription runs

to lethal chambers or loaded guns,

Then you will find - it's your own affair

But - you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way

When it comes to burying Christian clay.

Our loves are not given, but only lent

At compound interest of cent per cent,

For when debts are payable, right or wrong,

A short time loan is as bad as a long -

So why in Heaven (before we are there)

Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

RUDYARD KIPLING