PART 1: Testimony
This opening chapter of the website contains the testimony of D&D - their story, as told from their own mouths.
We begin of course with their first public words - the original newspaper story, published in TODAY. The story ran over three days in September 1991, and each day's coverage is included below, both with scans of the pages, and a typed transcript.
We follow this up with all the substantial testimony of D&D on record in the years since. Together, the material in this section comprises the full story as it has been given to us, and which we will dissect in the rest of the site.
Of course, you don't need to read all this unless you want to - it's mainly printed here for reference purposes, as many of the statements from these documents and interviews will be used in our discussion and analysis.
We begin of course with their first public words - the original newspaper story, published in TODAY. The story ran over three days in September 1991, and each day's coverage is included below, both with scans of the pages, and a typed transcript.
We follow this up with all the substantial testimony of D&D on record in the years since. Together, the material in this section comprises the full story as it has been given to us, and which we will dissect in the rest of the site.
Of course, you don't need to read all this unless you want to - it's mainly printed here for reference purposes, as many of the statements from these documents and interviews will be used in our discussion and analysis.
Further testimony
Below are the rest of the claims which D&D have put forward since the original TODAY story. We give a very brief summary of the contents of each interview and media appearance, together with full transcripts (where available). We have included everything we have a record of. If any readers are able to submit further transcripts of D&D's comments from other sources, we will be happy to incorporate them.
The contents of these documents will be referred to repeatedly in the rest of the site, and so the full transcripts will enable readers to check back and judge for themselves the words and contexts which we will be analysing.
The contents of these documents will be referred to repeatedly in the rest of the site, and so the full transcripts will enable readers to check back and judge for themselves the words and contexts which we will be analysing.
Document 1: The TODAY story (September 9, 10, 11, 1991)
We have already looked at these reports in the links above, but so as to bring them into the overall bundle of evidence, we can summarise the main claims, which form the bedrock of their story:
- D&D started making circles in England in 1978.
- The idea was inspired by some circles in Queensland, Australia. (These are the well-known Tully "nests" of 1966, which Bower later confirmed in an interview.)
- Both men are artists.
- Until 1983 (?) they only went out making circles on Fridays.
- They had made about 200 circles to-date.
Document 2: TV news interviews (September 9, 1991)
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FULL TRANSCRIPTS HERE
Following up the TODAY story (day 1) for news media, D&D immediately went out before the cameras to create a dumbbell crop formation, and were interviewed several times during the day by news crews, footage of which was broadcast on television that evening. The link above transcribes a selection that are currently available on YouTube. These all date to 9 September, 1991, and the transcripts are limited to D&D’s words only; I omit on-screen commentary by others.
Document 3: Canadian radio interview with David Chorley (September 9, 1991)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
The same night that the original TODAY story broke (a busy day for D&D), Chorley was interviewed over the telephone for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio show, As It Happens. The interviewer was Michael Enright. This is the only interview done by Chorley without Bower present, to my knowledge. Seemingly unaware of historical circles in Canada, Chorley claims that Canadian circles started in imitation of his UK circles, a point compounded by the fact that Chorley is not now speaking of just inventing UK circles, but of "instigating" the entire phenomenon and claiming overseas circles were the work of imitators.
The same night that the original TODAY story broke (a busy day for D&D), Chorley was interviewed over the telephone for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio show, As It Happens. The interviewer was Michael Enright. This is the only interview done by Chorley without Bower present, to my knowledge. Seemingly unaware of historical circles in Canada, Chorley claims that Canadian circles started in imitation of his UK circles, a point compounded by the fact that Chorley is not now speaking of just inventing UK circles, but of "instigating" the entire phenomenon and claiming overseas circles were the work of imitators.
Document 4: Interview material featured in the video, Crop Circle Communiqué (September, 1991)
Several sections of an outdoor interview with D&D were included in this 1991 video documentary. They appear to be wearing the same shirts as in the September 9 news bulletins, so we assume it was filmed that day. If not, then given the date the video was released, and the fine weather on the day, it was undoubtedly filmed very soon after. Footage of Doug and Dave starts around 50 minutes in. |
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Document 5: Doug Bower and George Wingfield debate (September 10, 1991)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
The day after the D&D story first broke (ie, day two of the ongoing TODAY exposé), Doug Bower was interviewed over the telephone by DJ, Nicky Campbell, for his late show, Into The Night, on BBC Radio 1. Halfway through Bower was joined on another line by researcher, George Wingfield, who engaged in a lively debate with him. |
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Document 6: Appearance on Dutch TV (1991)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This interview took place in 1991, for a programme broadcast on the Dutch television channel, RTL4. The interview was conducted by host Ursul de Geer and featured Bower and Chorley on stage, plus Mrs Bower (Doug's wife) who spoke from the audience. We do not have an accurate date for it, but it was probably in September, given the topicality of the story and the glut of media work the two were undertaking at the time. During the discourse, D&D imply a knowledge of earlier UK circles but explain them away as "storm damage": "[It] don’t matter what people say, about going through the years, they’ve seen them 1940, that was the first one ever in England. The rest were storm damage." |
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Document 7: The Up-front debate (October 20, 1991)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This was a televised debate between D&D on one side, and several well-known crop circle researchers on the other. The format of the debate was such that D&D initially took the floor unchallenged, and presented their version of events. Subsequent to this, other participants were allowed in to challenge the pair. (This format lends D&D credence, since they are allowed to initially state their case to the audience as if it were undisputed fact, with opposition voices only able to challenge the many points they made, subsequently.) D&D claim to have made every formation at Cheesefoot Head, 1990.
This was a televised debate between D&D on one side, and several well-known crop circle researchers on the other. The format of the debate was such that D&D initially took the floor unchallenged, and presented their version of events. Subsequent to this, other participants were allowed in to challenge the pair. (This format lends D&D credence, since they are allowed to initially state their case to the audience as if it were undisputed fact, with opposition voices only able to challenge the many points they made, subsequently.) D&D claim to have made every formation at Cheesefoot Head, 1990.
Document 8: Clas Svahn interview with Doug Bower (August 1992)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This important interview took place at Bower's home, with Swedish UFO researcher, Clas Svahn, asking the questions. It is an excellent piece of journalistic work, and the transcript constitutes one of the best bodies of testimony available. (Acknowledgement is due to Paul Fuller, for publishing it in Crop Watcher volumes 15 and 16.) The interview is full of revelations and includes a number contentious claims, some of which we will return to elsewhere. Bower is more cavalier than he was in 1991, claiming unequivocally that D&D invented the entire phenomenon: "we started the actual circle phenomenon in 1978... there’s no such thing as a genuine crop circle."
This important interview took place at Bower's home, with Swedish UFO researcher, Clas Svahn, asking the questions. It is an excellent piece of journalistic work, and the transcript constitutes one of the best bodies of testimony available. (Acknowledgement is due to Paul Fuller, for publishing it in Crop Watcher volumes 15 and 16.) The interview is full of revelations and includes a number contentious claims, some of which we will return to elsewhere. Bower is more cavalier than he was in 1991, claiming unequivocally that D&D invented the entire phenomenon: "we started the actual circle phenomenon in 1978... there’s no such thing as a genuine crop circle."
Document 9: Interview material included in the video, Crop Circle Communiqué II: Revelations (believed 1992)
As with the earlier Communiqué video, this film includes sections of interview with D&D, presumed to have been shot in 1992, although possibly they were from 1993. The video itself makes the case for hoaxing rigorously throughout, but suprisingly we hear less from D&D that in the first Communiqué film. We do, however see plenty of footage of them in action and further supporting material. The duo claim some sort of mysterious force may have compelled them to make crop circles. Bower also states, "There were no circles at all before 1978". |
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Document 10: Report on public meeting, Marlborough (July 28, 1993)
MEETING DETAILS HERE
In mid-1993, Doug Bower held two public meetings to present his claims and evidence, with assistance from circles sceptic Ken Brown, who clearly supported D&D's story. The first was held at Nafferton Hall, Marlborough, the second in central London (see below). We do not have a transcript of what was said, but there is available a first-hand report of proceedings, again courtesy of Paul Fuller, who carefully itemised all the significant issues which arose - and we also have a video filmed by John Macnish, which contains excerpts of the meeting. The key point arising is that that they began making crop circles not in 1978, as they had constantly claimed, but "several years" before 1976! Another major assertion is that the first non-D&D circle appeared in August 1987, making them responsible for every known formation prior to that date! |
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Document 11: Report on public meeting, London (August 3, 1993)
MEETING DETAILS HERE
This was the second of two public meetings staged by Bower and Ken Brown. It took place at Neal’s Meeting Yard in Covent Garden in central London. The documentary record consists of a summarised report written by Paul Fuller, and based on an audio recording of proceedings. As with the other public meeting (above) the evidence is secondary, and distilled, and so we need to treat it with a certain extra caution.
This was the second of two public meetings staged by Bower and Ken Brown. It took place at Neal’s Meeting Yard in Covent Garden in central London. The documentary record consists of a summarised report written by Paul Fuller, and based on an audio recording of proceedings. As with the other public meeting (above) the evidence is secondary, and distilled, and so we need to treat it with a certain extra caution.
Document 12: Doug Bower on Schofield's Quest (1994)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This edition of the regular TV show featured crop circles, and included much studio broadcast with Reg Presley speaking to host, Phillip Schofield. Also featured was a location interview (and circle-making demonstration) with Doug Bower, who was questioned by Karon Keating standing at the edge of a cornfield. Because of the filmed circle-making, we get a good look at Bower’s stomper board, which he holds over his shoulder throughout the interview. His earlier descriptions of it as a piece of 2-by-1 are largely correct. Bower proceeds to make a neat crop formation single-handedly, showing us his techniques. |
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Document 13: Doug and his wife on Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious Universe (1994)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This brief interview insert into an episode of Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious Universe has Bower making a circle while his wife looks on from the edge of the field. Bower explains his sighting device and how he makes straight lines, which he claims are always four feet wide since he made the straight path first with his feet, then 'stomped' back along the line with his four-foot board. (He doesn't explain why he didn't just stomp it in one pass.) He also claims he wouldn't make straight pathways along the tractor tramlines because it would be too obvious that a human had been at work. Ilene's brief remarks are curious - supposedly having a conversation she makes a clearly scripted statement! |
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Document 14: Appearance on BBC Countryfile (1998)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This episode of the BBC show, Countryfile pre-dates their better-known crop circle special edition by about a year. It features separate interviews with Bower and several speakers including Lucy Pringle. The presenter is Rupert Segar. Bower also demonstrates circle-making in front of the camera, with a 1990-style pictogram with boxes (which sadly we never see from above). The footage of Bower is, of course, from the summer months, and given the vintage of the crop formations visible in the programme, would have been shot in summer 1997. There is nothing much of substance in this programme, except a visual demonstration of Bower in the field. In fact, it is very much like the coverage in Schofield's Quest (see above) and was most likely modelled on that sequence. We include it here just for the record, since it acts as a precursor to Countryfile's special edition of 1999 (below). NB - David Chorley had died in 1996. He had not apparently participated in public interviews and the like since the initial flurry of media coverage of 1991, but it is worth noting that Bower is certainly the lone spokesman from here on. |
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Document 15: BBC Countryfile special (January 3, 1999)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This was a special edition of the BBC TV show, which centred on Doug Bower and his hoaxing activity. Part-documentary and part-spoof adventure story, the show included a few staged sequences in the style of a mystery drama, with Bower playing himself! The show represents, in a way, the acme of Bower’s attempts to court fame. The presenter is Rupert Segar, who had appeared with Bower on an earlier edition of the programme. Since this is a rather long TV show, the content of our transcript is restricted to Bower’s on-screen dialogue, but even then omits one or two matters of no direct relevance to his circle-making - as well as omitting the continuity voice-overs. It is therefore disjointed when reading through, and moreover, some of Bower’s dialogue appears to have been edited by the programme makers, with some of his remarks excised to make the narrative flow better. Everything meaningful has been transcribed however, and there is also some interview material with Bower’s wife, Ilene, which I include, and a little interaction between Bower and hoaxer Rod Dickinson. The show was broadcast at the start of 1999 but the interview material is from summer 1998. The circle-making exercise which closes the show was shot on the night of 25 July running into dawn on 26 July, 1998. |
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Document 16: Filmed interview with Doug Bower (2001)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
Along with several other figures known in the crop circle world, Bower was interviewed in 2001 for the documentary, Circlespeak, which was eventually released on DVD in 2005. The main documentary contained several very brief quotes, while the bonus disc contained much more material, albeit not the whole of the interview. (There is evidence that some of Bower's lines are pre-scripted as he gives one almost verbatim sentence in two different sections, although we should be cautious about reading anything into this.) |
Document 17: Filmed interview with Doug Bower (2002)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
This interview is sourced from a video recording, which appears to be edited together from sections which were filmed non-continuously. The interviewer presumably asked intermittent questions to elicit replies on certain subject areas, but the questions are usually edited out and Bower’s remarks are presented as a near-continuous monologue. The interview was conducted by well-known documentary maker, Grant Wakefield, for a crop circle documentary called Croppies. Despite the considerable amount of dialogue, Bower offers nothing which has not been heard before. |
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Document 18: Interview material with Doug Bower (December 2005)
This document consists of a lengthy interview with Bower, conducted by John Lundberg in December 2005. As always with printed material, there are copyright issues to consider, and since this particular interview is carried across 35 pages in the book, The Field Guide (Rob Irving & John Lundberg, Strange Attractor Press, 2006 edition) I feel it would be too great a violation to reproduce it here. However it does include important reportage, with numerous amazing claims, and so it cannot be ignored; readers wanting to read the whole thing should buy the book, and for cross-referencing, the main points arising are itemised below with the relevant page numbers:
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- Doug heard about the 1966 Tully circles via a report in the Australian newspaper, The Age. Besides remembering the name of the paper, he also recalls specifically that there were "three marks", that experts from Melbourne went to investigate, and that they concluded that the marks were "definitely UFO nests". Doug can offer no explanation for the circles (p213-4).
- Besides visiting the pub, Doug and Dave would wander the countryside on their Friday outings leading up to 1978, "to get a bit of inspiration for our paintings" (p215-6).
- Doug sometimes walked ahead of Dave if the weather was wet, using a blanket to protect his colleague from getting soaked (p218-9).
- During the period Doug and Dave were not speaking (first half of 1989), Doug did seven circles alone in a single night, "from Southampton to Warminster". (From his other testimony, these must have been after the White Crow circle) (p226).
- D&D used a pivot and string to describe a circle on which the quintuplet satellites would be positioned, "when we first started doing [them]" (p232).
- Bower suggests the inspiration for the "laddergrams" (normally called insectograms) came from a painting (p236). He also names (and the book illustrates) a painting which he says inspired the 1990 pictograms, "Young Woman" by George [sic] Ribemont-Dessaignes (p236).
- Bower collected pebbles from Chesil Beach in Dorset to give to Dave, to help him count the rings in the circles (p239).
- D&D "did pole vaulting back in the day". They collected "nice straight sticks" from Usborne Turrant [unclear where this is] and used them as vaulting poles in order to make grapeshot circles without leaving tracks in the standing crop. In order to "sail over the crop" they would "run up the tramline, stick the stick in, [and] jump into the standing corn." From these small (eight-foot) circles they would "take a bit of a leap" and "go over into the crop to make the next circle". Alas, Dave was "putting on weight" and had trouble with it (p241-2).
- Doug drove his wife 100 miles to Alfriston to go and see the circle he had made there, on the pretext that he had read about it and wanted to see it. (In the 1993 meeting in London, it was claimed that this journey, which he must have made alone, alerted Mrs Bower to the fact that her husband was up to something when she saw the mileage in the car - but by this new version, she would have had full knowledge of why the miles were there) (p222).
- Bower implies he shifted his attentions to the Warminster/Cley Hill area after the Sunday Mirror offered a £10,000 prize for a solution to the circles (which was, in fact, in July 1990) (p227).
- Bower implies that he was unaware that his circa-1980 circles in Wiltshire were reported in the press until years later (p227).
- Bower states, "The real reason why we eventually went public in 1991 was because Dave's health was failing" (p239) (conversely, he also says, "I was just a publicity seeker, really" (p240)).
- Bower says, "We didn't get a penny for it" (p242).
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