ONE PAIR OF EYES: CAN YOU SPEAK VENUSIAN? (1969)
"Service is the jewel in the rock of attainment;" George King is possessed by a Venusian Cosmic God on LIFELINE. According to his Aetherius Society, Mother Earth is a living Goddess who is sacrificing her own evolution to provide for humankind, "a backward and often barbaric race." By using Karma Yoga and Dynamic Prayer, followers bring positive change through the development of intuition and psychic ability.
NOT to be confused with the celebrity-based appeal, LIFELINE was also a BBC discussion show. In a May 1959 edition, former fireman and taxi driver George King claims that in 1954 he was spoken to by Saturn's Interplanetary Parliament one Saturday morning, while doing the dishes. Becoming a conduit for aliens from a variety of planets, his new-found friends called him their "Mental Channel Number One." George finishes his contribution to the programme by donning transmission goggles and entering a trance, so that the Venusian Aetherius can give a religious-heavy warning about mankind's future. It's an unintentionally hilarious half-hour, made even more outlandish by the sheer politeness of the participants; even though King introduces the notion of organic metal and that UFOs can travel from Venus to Earth in 2.5 seconds, the resident astronomer and psychiatrists remain constructively dismissive.
According to The Aetherius Society spokesman in a broadcast of ONE PAIR OF EYES, although there is no fixed description of Aetherius's appearance, typically Venusian's take on a very tall humanoid visage, with no pupils but with small feet. He adds that Saturn inhabitants have evolved into forty-foot ovoids, the same development that will bestow man.
One of The Society's "Holy Mountains" - a storing of collective positive energy through prayer - is located at Holdstone Down, on the edge of Exmoor near Combe Martin. King's mother once claimed to have been abducted by aliens on the open moorland, thereby enhancing its importance to the cause. In 1958 King claims to have encountered the arrival of a returning Jesus on a spaceship while at the Down. As George stated, "although he didn't tell me, I knew that he was Jesus and that he had come from the planet Venus - I didn't have to be told, I just knew this." A 1963 gathering was particularly important, as the founder had informed his brethren of an impending "large scale disease," and unless enough goodwill has been accumulated in the Holy Mountain the outcome could be catastrophic.
Patrick Moore has a show-stopping visit to The Aetherius Society during an episode of the BBC documentary strand ONE PAIR OF EYES, called CAN YOU SPEAK VENUSIAN? Moore's stance was to look at "independent" thinkers within an increasingly conventional world, though a more realistic label would be "delusional." One interviewee was a vicar who states that the Sun is not hot, while another claims to write and speak three interplanetary languages (which sound like extra-exciting conclusions to a horse racing commentary). When Patrick visits The Society's offices on the Fulham Road he is greeted by "Mr Roberts," who denounces mankind for the "materialistic trap" it built for itself. He explains that through this subscription to "material science" the human race once inhabited a planet which it blew up (which consequently formed the asteroid belt). Mr Roberts also sheds light on when Mars helped us out by destroying an invasion force of Fish-men, eager to take over Earth for its water content.