It seems that Sean takes umbrage to the reproduction of this article, in particular a photograph which he denies to be of himself, despite simultaneously claiming to own the copyright thereof. Which - as will transpire later in this post - he most likely does. This article appears to put the wind up dear old Sean so much that within 2 years of becoming a silver surfer (when he wasn’t clogging up the Freeserve servers with reams of abuse about David Farrant) he was already trawling the internet for any signs of it rearing its controversial head: http://www.ntk.net/2001/03/02/. We again find him desperately trying to wriggle out of the full implications of the article in 2005 http://media.insidepulse.com/zones/diehardgamefan/uploads/lucard/alexlucard%20Vampire%20Hunter%20Drama%20Part%203.htm and in 2007 http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=71335&page=9; and again in 2010 http://www.thesupernaturalworld.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25662&st=120 – on a forum where he successfully managed to get an illustration from the article removed through the issuing of a DMCA takedown notice. At various points throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012 he has also managed to get the image removed from Facebook. In order to delay Sean's inevitable attempts to silence Kev and myself, we created a back up blog for hosting images, which some of you may be interested in, here: LINK
Some of the site is still available via Google cache, having been taken down by Wordpress presumably following complaints from Sean, pretending to be a bishop and threatening legal action from his imaginary solicitor Michael Thane, so that people will take him seriously. But we have been working on making as much of the article available as possible, and have managed to do so legally, with no copyright infringement, within this updated post.
So what’s Sean so scared about? Let’s have a delve. The newspaper article in question appeared on Oct. 9th 1977, on the front page of the Sunday People, a UK national paper with a very large distribution. The bold headline runs: “We Unmask Phoney Nazis”. What, one might wonder, could this article have to do with someone who asserts that in 1977 they were already preparing for entry into the priesthood – and subsequent episcopal consecration? Well, I asked Kev what he remembered about this, and he emailed back:
“See if you can track down that Barnet clipping from all those years ago - when he did the Nazi article and was then sacked by Alan Hime from his Finchley lifeguard job.
Wish i had my copy as he had sent me the cutting at the time boasting that he was striking fear into the Jewish community in Barnet, Finchley, Golders Green …”
Well Kev is quite correct about the circulation of the article, which ties in with his recollections of Sean’s pride in his ‘work’. On the James Randi Educational Foundation Forum on 17th Jan 2007 (as usual posting under an alias) he answers a straightforward question as to where the photos in the article were originally published, thus: “The newspaper group was the Westminster Group who own the Finchley Times, Hendon Times, Borehamwood Post etc. The feature was syndicated in all the north London newspapers owned by this group.”
Prior to the initial publication of this article, the main illustration used – a photograph of a clean shaven man, standing on an enclosed flight of stairs, dressed in full Nazi regalia complete with medals and holding a riding crop – had been circulated to the press. A press release accompanied the photograph (along with at least two other images) which led to the publication of an article in the Borehamwood Post on Sept. 27th 1977, ‘ “exposing” a Nazi organisation called The Imperial League of Fascists.’ The Sunday People continues:
‘In his article, likely to shock a wealthy Jewish community, he claimed to have investigated this new Nazi threat, which advocated recruiting children at schoolyard gates. […] More sensational still was a photograph of a man in Nazi officer’s uniform, complete with swastika, Iron cross and sadistic looking riding crop.
In this article Manchester described this somewhat theatrical character as ‘The Commander’ - in charge of a para-military “task force” , and part of an underground national group known as “Column 88.” ’
For the benefit of those lucky enough to not be in the know, Column 88 is a real fascist organisation, which utilises as part of it's name a not very ingenious secret code referring to the eighth letter of the alphabet – i.e. ‘Heil Hitler’. If you’ve got the stomach for it, you can read more about the real Column 88 here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column_88 where you will also discover their alleged links with The League of St George http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_St._George . The League decided in 1974 that the Action Party founded by one of Sean’s fascist heroes, Oswald Mosley, was not quite racist or totalitarian enough for them, and so they went off to form their own gang. I have already referred to Manchester sporting a celtic cross within a circle as early as 1965 when he was photographed supporting the elusive British cell of the Christian Nationalist movement. A symbol he latterly chose to use to represent his phoney ministry, Ordo Sancti Graal.
Is it just me, or does the emblem of the League of St George look a smidgen familiar?
But, granted, not as familiar as this:
Or this ...
Or this:
Or especially THIS:
In fact, the picture above shows the use of the image, accompanied by one of Sean’s favourite fascist symbols, the imperial eagle, in an extremist context – the kind of context which he is by default still advocating from the safety of his south coast ‘retreat’ / ‘shop’ / ‘church’.
- Sean almost 30 years to the day since his Commander photo, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a German Imperial Eagle - a symbol used commonly by the Nazi party. Photo (c) Kev Chesham
Anyone confused about the use of the celtic cross in fascist iconography may wish to get a quick briefing here:
http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/racist_celtic_cross.asp
Cue Sean Manchester quoting my own references back at me: (From the Anti-Defamation League website linked to above) ‘It is important to note that the Celtic Cross is used widely today in many mainstream and cultural contexts. No one should assume that a Celtic Cross, divorced from other trappings of extremism, automatically denotes use as a hate symbol.’ There is much truth in those words, and we should never attribute such vile leanings to people who find the symbol potent and meaningful to them in its original Christian context. However, I think there is no denying that the displaying of the Celtic cross in its roundel form in the picture below, taken at Sean Manchester’s home, is far from divorced from trappings of extremism. Photo (c) Kev Chesham
You may also wish to check out a couple of Sean’s side projects, for example his private members club, The Society of St George, of which he describes himself as Founder Chairman. It has a blog, from which most of the more 'nationalistic' images have, been removed, which can be found here: http://societyofstgeorge.blogspot.co.uk/ His latest foray into Alf Garnett-dom, The English Society, which appeared to be another society consisting of just himself and possibly a few mates, appears to have been removed from Facebook. However, should you wish to read a stream of alarmist articles about the dangers of ‘the gays’, asylum seekers, abuse of the Queen’s English and, bizarrely, decimalisation, you could try checking back later: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-English-Society/227073897386091?sk=wall
BUT – back to the article which Sean Manchester submitted to the Borehamwood Post, some of which – for the benefit of those who do not have access to local studies libraries in London – is reproduced below.
"Within a few miles of Borehamwood, vandals once again paint swastikas on synagogues and public buildings. Who are these neo-Nazis out to prove that the Fuhrer is not dead and his doctrines of racial supremacy are still alive in Britain? Hitler’s body may have long ago crumbled to dust, but his teachings are very much alive as far as a shadowy para-military group known as “Column 88” is concerned.
A cell exists in Barnet calling itself the League of Imperial Fascists – the members of the cell recruit quite openly and carry out their military exercises on Hadley Common. But who are these fanatical members of the LIF, and where do they have their headquarters? After several weeks of enquiries and meetings with members of ‘respectable’ Nationalist organisations, I eventually managed to track them down to a rambling old house in Barnet.
When I got into the league’s HQ I was greeted by a scene reminiscent of some old and unusually bad film script. I was able to talk to several young members of the LIF as Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries blared out in the background, and witnessed a new member being sworn in. I also met the head of this particular cell – an ominous figure simply referred to as the Commander. Everyone except the Commander was dressed head to foot in black with swastika armbands; while their leader wore the uniform of a Nazi officer.
“The Jews painted the swastikas”, he said. “It’s an old ploy – they used to set fire to or damage a synagogue and then conveniently leave a neat stack of Nazi literature nearby.”
“What could we possibly gain from such an act?”
His eyes fell upon a framed colour picture of one of the Nuremberg rallies . . . “Our aim is to protect and promote the Aryan race and its western culture by forming a monolithic international force to combat and utterly destroy Communism and Zionism.”
“All over England, cells like this one exist and the chill North wind flaunts their swastika banners as they wait in eager anticipation of our inevitable victory.”
Suddenly he jumped up from his chair. “From all over the earth, faintly at first, will come the sound of marching boots – louder and louder will they grow”
How eerily Manchester’s own prose here mirrors the following quotes from apparently REAL neo-nazis, published some five months earlier in Martin Walker’s ‘The National Front’, 2nd printing, May 1977.
‘To form a monolithic, combat-efficient, international political aperatus to combat and utterly destroy the international Jew-Communist and Zionist.. To protect and promote the Aryan race and its Western Civilization... the chill North wind flaunting the swastika banner in the sky’” But then given Manchester’s penchant for plagiarism this is no real surprise. For more examples of his inability to express himself without stealing other people’s literary achievements, click here: http://kevchesham.blogspot.co.uk/p/that-sounds-familar.html
Badly written, and terribly illustrated it may be, but had the Borehamwood article remained unchallenged, it would most likely have sunk into obscurity. To find out why it did not, we must return to the Sunday People article, and examine the sole reason why Sean has tried to destroy every digitised, and probably every paper copy, in the entire known universe. I suppose the headline was a bit of a spoiler, and by now you may have guessed – there WAS no League of Imperial Fascists. They were just Sean’s imaginary friends, and some of his real friends in fancy dress.
Please feel free to read the article for yourselves in its entirety . . .
Click Here for the image of John Pope which Manchester does not want you to see
Click here and scroll to page 21 to view the original image. If you have read this far, you will most likely want to read the whole of Don Ecker's report - which was one of the primary influences in Kev's realisation that not only had Sean played down his fascist tendencies to him over the years - but he had been telling porky pies about everything from vampires to Christianity to stalking for decades.
And below:
 |
| Photograph replacing original (c) Kevin Chesham |
Click Here for scans of the entire article - text may be illegible.
Click here and here for Kev Demant's synopsis of the Sunday People / Borehamwood debacle
So, as you can see, there was no proselytising of school children by neo-nazi cults at school gates; no Wagner soundtracked meetings of losers in silly outfits (unless one counts Saturday night round at Sean’s). It was yet ANOTHER publicity scheme. Sean faked the whole thing, as usual.
But there WAS a Commander. Yep, as the Sunday People makes very clear – and the naked eye reveals – that’s ol’ Sean.
What has always confused me about Sean’s decision to send a photograph of himself playing the role of a nazi commanding officer to a syndicate of newspapers is simply – how did he think no one would recognise him? I have batted this question back and forth, and can only conclude that his sheer arrogance, the contempt with which he regards the intellectual capacity of his peers, is the only answer. Because one would needs be suffering from an advanced ocular complaint to not be able to instantly identify the ‘Commander’ as none other than Patrick Sean Manchester. Fascist, phoney and coward.
One thing Sean Manchester can NOT be accused of being, however, is a phoney fascist.
Indeed, Sean admits this himself, in a tape recording, secretly made by his nemesis David Farrant in the early 1980s. Farrant referred to the picture of the Commander when discussing a libel case he (Farrant) then had pending against a Sunday newspaper. Explaining the published image, Sean’s response to Farrant as part of the discussion is … “Anyway, looking at that picture – no one could tell that it’s me.” I have heard this tape, which has been digitised and emailed to Kev who subsequently emailed it to me for safe keeping whilst he is abroad. And I can confirm – Sean Manchester unequivocally states that he is, in fact, the Commander. Not that further proof is even needed, but at some stage I will endeavour to upload this clip, which those readers of a suspicious mind are welcomed to compare to contemporary recordings of Sean which are freely available on the internet, in order to make up their own minds. Personally, I primarily defer to the judgement of my own eyes.
So, as it goes, I couldn’t sleep the other night. You know when something is preying on your mind, and you just can’t put your finger on it? So I got up and turned the computer on, and for some reason found myself staring at that God-awful photograph of Sean. I kept thinking to myself – what have I missed? What IS it I’m staring right at? And then it struck me. Compare this close up of Sean in fancy dress, AD 1977, to this photograph of Sean’s supposed SS memorabilia shop, with his medal case enlarged, taken in 2007: LINK
See what I see? They’re the same frickin’ medals. So I sat on this for a couple of days, a bit concerned that the zoom of the photo taken by Bev in Sean’s nazi shrine was not clear enough for a valid comparison. Then low and behold Sean finally came up with his official response to the gathering consensus of opinion that he is a fake bishop and a neo-nazi sympathiser – a truly pathetic blog describing his bogus militaria trading hobby, which attempts to demonstrate that his Episcopal 'retreat' is full to the brim with weapons and souvenirs of death and destruction from ALL eras, not just 1940s Germany! To be honest I skim read it, as it was so transparently desperate I did not think it worth my time.
However one image caught my eye – that of a young girl with blond hair, who had been posed in the middle of all Sean’s nazi rot. My first impression was how distasteful it was to juxtapose such an image of innocence with symbols of racially motivated torture, degradation, hate and murder. One does get the feeling that had the girl been a dark eyed brunette he would not have thought it would make such a good picture. I concluded that this was perfectly in keeping with Sean’s cold and sick sense of humour, even in the darkest hour of his dreaded inevitable expose, he is being insincere. It actually made me feel a bit ill, and I reproduce it here (although unlike Sean I have disguised the child’s face so as not to smear her with fascist associations) for reasons which will become clear. Perhaps Sean should have taken note of the debacle that ensued over that charming little lullaby which David Irving, the holocaust denying ‘historian’, wrote for his daughter. ‘I’m a baby Aryan’, anyone?
Because then something else caught my eye, something which I would never have noticed had I not been so shocked by his decision to drag a child into his web of deceit.
Yes – they definitely ARE the same medals. Cue Sean Manchester prattling on about how easy those medals are to come by, and how that proves nothing. Even giving links to where to buy them. The very fact that he knows where to buy such filth is inappropriate for a supposed bishop, but then he will never recognise that – or concede that the rest of the world does. And of course there is a difference between provable fact and reasonable assumption. But in the face of the evidence – if anyone IS gullible enough to believe in Sean’s fantasy shop – they might want to ask themselves why the same stock appears to have been sitting there since 1977.
On a personal note, in a week when we have seen the senseless murder of Jewish schoolchildren in France, and felt the panic and anxiety of Jewish communities wondering what awful thing will happen next to a loved one, the perverted article in question seems even more pertinent.
That's it - for now,
Raggety
