WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Friday, December 25, 2009

RICHARD FREEMAN: GET THE BBC TO RELEASE `FABULOUS ANIMALS` IN 2010

One of the most influential things (apart from Dr Who) that sent me on the road to being a cryptozoologist was David Attenborough's 1975 series Fabulous Animals. This was a great six-part children’s series on cryptozoology. Each episode tackled a different subject such as sea monsters, dragons, unicorns and ape men. There was also a BBC book that accompanied the show. I still have mine (albeit in a very poor state of repair) but it turns up on E-BAY sometimes.

The show was studio-bound with Sir Dave surrounded by fossils, paintings and ancient books like Edward Topsell's History of Four Footed Beasts and Serpents. There were great pieces of film such as Dave hunting Komodo dragons in Zoo Quest.

Most of David Attenborough's TV shows have been released. But not so Fabulous Animals. I wrote to the BBC last year to see if there were any plans for a DVD release but apparently there were not.

The British public pay their TV licence and fund the BBC. Ergo those programmes are ours, they belong to us, and we should be able to see them whenever we want! This is ever more acute with the sewage that pollutes our TV screens these days.

I hereby start a campaign to get the BBC to release Fabulous Animals as a DVD in 2010.
I urge all CFZ followers to write to the BBC asking for them to release this excellent show, which has languished for too long in the musty vaults of Television Centre.

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