 |
| Kevin Chesham - Triathlete |
However, little has been provided in the way of evidence—no witnesses are named; no photographs shown. Indeed, it's difficult to determine how this rumour began.
About the best 'proof' I've seen for Manchester's Right-wing sympathies was his involvement in the 'phoney Nazi scandal'—covered by Kev Demant—and his plagiarised blog entry about US President, Barack Obama. The subsequent cover-up didn't help Manchester's case, either.
Until recently, it's been slim pickings, evidence-wise. But the ante's been raised by Kevin Chesham—a former friend of Manchester's—with the publication of the first extract from his upcoming autobiography. His allegations are startling, to say the least:
Sean was a fellow lifeguard and we became friendly. The season at Finchley ended in September and the pool closed. Sean went back to his milk round, but he was sacked and reinvented himself as Lord Manchester, attempting to take candid photographs of passers by, and accosting them for money. He was pitched up on Holloway Road next to a newspaper stall run by a friend of his, known locally as the Eggmane.1 Sean was told by the police to cease this behaviour on pain of arrest; he then came to me (I was now working at Hornsey Road Public Baths) asking if I could get him a job as a lifeguard.
And that's the tip of the iceberg. From thereon in, Chesham's recollections become decidedly more sinister:
He [Sean] was a great coach but a hard taskmaster. If I was not training hard enough he used to shout "Schnell, schnell ...dummkopfen English, eggs and bacon Englishman”, and when he really got angry..."You vill be shot at dawn"... At the time, I thought it was just his strange sense of humour, although I did find it somewhat disturbing, and it was certainly embarrassing as he often shouted this sort of thing in public (at that stage).
We're then lead to the 'phoney Nazi scandal', coverage of his Church's membership and his animosity toward Farrant. Chesham claims Manchester 'was always very reluctant to discuss the Highgate Vampire case at group dinners et cetera', but I'm aware of one notorious exception. What's particularly disturbing, however, is the kind of table talk Manchester (allegedly) would make:
but I do remember that often, just when the conversation was being diverted away, he would find some reason to slip in one of his favourite Goebbels quotes; that is: "If you tell a big enough lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." I never had much interest in the vampire business by which Sean made his name, but I do recall that whenever he used this phrase, even in unrelated contexts, he and Eggmanne would smile and exchange knowing looks, which made the rest of the party feel rather left out and uncomfortable through their ignorance.
Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945)—for those not-in-the-know—was the Minister for Propaganda under the Nazi regime and 'one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers'.
It gets worse from there. Chesham claims Manchester implied violent actions should be taken against Farrant, 'as long as there was no actual involvement or come back for him.' There's also a discussion on alleged 'cyber warfare':
At this point, you might be wondering why Chesham still chose to remain friends with Manchester, if these allegations hold water. According to him, the turning point came when he and his wife were visiting Manchester for Christmas dinner in 2007. While there, they were invited to a 'locked room upstairs' and—take a look at the photos in Chesham's extract. You'll see for yourself.
As of this writing, Manchester hasn't commented on Chesham's allegations, but is certainly aware of them. But a blogger named 'Steatoda Nobilis' has risen to the challenge. Previously known for their blog, Friends of David Farrant, a compilation of photographs publicly identifying many of Farrant's alleged friends—many of which have been cribbed from Facebook pages—recently created a blog called Kevin Chesham — Triathlete (not to be confused with Chesham's blog of the same name). It is frequently revised, but clearly intends to give the impression that Chesham, himself, has—or had—fascist sympathies, too.
The anonymous blogger's counter-'evidence', however, is flimsy at best. For instance, one entry states, 'Kevin Chesham paying homage to Adolf Hitler in Berlin, a place he has visited many times', but the only 'homage' shown, is Chesham standing next to a picture of Hitler.
Interestingly, the blogger suggests a personal familiarity with Chesham, even though no such thing is disclosed in their profile or in the blog. Apart from reproducing pictures not found in other online sources, Nobilis is even able to provide dates ('Kevin Chesham posing in a blackshirt alongside Third Reich militaria in 2003') and reproduces a letter allegedly written by Chesham in 1998. Unfortunately, many of the images are tainted by Nobilis's horrible 'photoshop' skills.
Interestingly, Nobilis' profile mentions spiders of their genus are 'have a reputation for biting people, although in truth, this is quite a rare occurrence', adding, 'You would need to be very unlucky, or go out of your way to be bitten. They only bite if mishandled or provoked.' What Chesham—or Farrant's friends, for that matter—have done to 'mishandle' or 'provoke' Nobilis, remains unclear.
Further counter-allegations have been made by a member of the Facebook group I co-admin, The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society. Vebjørn Hästehufvud, despite professing no affinity with Manchester, also makes tends to make claims on his behalf, like the following explanation for the prevalence of Nazi paraphernalia in Manchester's house:
Interestingly, one of the photographs features a portrait of Manchester wearing an armband representing the Christian Nationalist Movement. 'Raggety', a contributor to Chesham's blog suggests the picture was taken 'opposite the house of Br [sic] Sean’s late parents!' This, despite Manchester's claim that 'at no time owed political affiliation to any party', adding 'I have absolutely no faith in the political system and suspect I would be found unacceptable to most parties making an approach today as my allegiance is not to Caesar but to God.'
In that case, you gotta wonder why Manchester's name appears here, especially as he's also the patron of The English Society, which was 'Inspired by a love for English culture, language, history, heritage and Christian Faith with a sense of pride in all that is unique and wonderful about England and the English people', and lined with alarmist articles.
According to Raggety's comments on Chesham's extract, the final work will be 'a free E-Book', although a publication date has not been set.
He boasted about the list of aliases inscribed upon it, and how he used them regularly in a form of cyber warfare, in that, as he described it, he would search the internet for any forum which mentioned himself, David Farrant, or the Highgate Vampire. His modus operandi as he described it was to create an argument, then argue against it under up to 4 or 5 aliases until the conversation got so heated that the forum was closed down.This certainly puts Craig Adams' compilation of usernames in a whole new light. In internet lingo, such 'identities' are called sockpuppets; 'online identit[ies] used for purposes of deception.'
At this point, you might be wondering why Chesham still chose to remain friends with Manchester, if these allegations hold water. According to him, the turning point came when he and his wife were visiting Manchester for Christmas dinner in 2007. While there, they were invited to a 'locked room upstairs' and—take a look at the photos in Chesham's extract. You'll see for yourself.
As of this writing, Manchester hasn't commented on Chesham's allegations, but is certainly aware of them. But a blogger named 'Steatoda Nobilis' has risen to the challenge. Previously known for their blog, Friends of David Farrant, a compilation of photographs publicly identifying many of Farrant's alleged friends—many of which have been cribbed from Facebook pages—recently created a blog called Kevin Chesham — Triathlete (not to be confused with Chesham's blog of the same name). It is frequently revised, but clearly intends to give the impression that Chesham, himself, has—or had—fascist sympathies, too.
The anonymous blogger's counter-'evidence', however, is flimsy at best. For instance, one entry states, 'Kevin Chesham paying homage to Adolf Hitler in Berlin, a place he has visited many times', but the only 'homage' shown, is Chesham standing next to a picture of Hitler.
Interestingly, the blogger suggests a personal familiarity with Chesham, even though no such thing is disclosed in their profile or in the blog. Apart from reproducing pictures not found in other online sources, Nobilis is even able to provide dates ('Kevin Chesham posing in a blackshirt alongside Third Reich militaria in 2003') and reproduces a letter allegedly written by Chesham in 1998. Unfortunately, many of the images are tainted by Nobilis's horrible 'photoshop' skills.
Interestingly, Nobilis' profile mentions spiders of their genus are 'have a reputation for biting people, although in truth, this is quite a rare occurrence', adding, 'You would need to be very unlucky, or go out of your way to be bitten. They only bite if mishandled or provoked.' What Chesham—or Farrant's friends, for that matter—have done to 'mishandle' or 'provoke' Nobilis, remains unclear.
Further counter-allegations have been made by a member of the Facebook group I co-admin, The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society. Vebjørn Hästehufvud, despite professing no affinity with Manchester, also makes tends to make claims on his behalf, like the following explanation for the prevalence of Nazi paraphernalia in Manchester's house:
He has militaria from medieval times right up to the two world wars. From what I can see, there is little space given to 20th century militaria by comparison to previous centuries of similar material. Anyone visiting would obviously know that, and pictures taken in most of the larger rooms (which he has uploaded) show the 19th century predominating.This doesn't explain the silver frames surrounding a picture of Adolf Hitler and an article titled 'One in four Germans admires the Nazis' (Daily Mail, 18 October 2007). Nor does it explain the prevalence of Nazi paraphernalia or books. Hästehufvud's idea of a 'little space' is an entire wall and bookshelf crammed with writings about der Führer; mingled with works on vampirism, horror and the occult, no less.
Interestingly, one of the photographs features a portrait of Manchester wearing an armband representing the Christian Nationalist Movement. 'Raggety', a contributor to Chesham's blog suggests the picture was taken 'opposite the house of Br [sic] Sean’s late parents!' This, despite Manchester's claim that 'at no time owed political affiliation to any party', adding 'I have absolutely no faith in the political system and suspect I would be found unacceptable to most parties making an approach today as my allegiance is not to Caesar but to God.'
In that case, you gotta wonder why Manchester's name appears here, especially as he's also the patron of The English Society, which was 'Inspired by a love for English culture, language, history, heritage and Christian Faith with a sense of pride in all that is unique and wonderful about England and the English people', and lined with alarmist articles.
According to Raggety's comments on Chesham's extract, the final work will be 'a free E-Book', although a publication date has not been set.
1. 'Eggmanne' [sic] is mentioned several times in Chesham's extract. I'm not sure why Chesham sticks to the pseudonym, as 'Eggmanne''s identity was already established in Seán Manchester's The vampire hunter's handbook: a concise vampirological guide, Gothic Press, London, pp. 62–3: Tony Hill [Anthony Arthur Robert Hill]. The book is also cited on Manchester's Holy Grail Church website. See: http://www.holygrail-church.fsnet.co.uk/FarrantFacts.htm.
Demant also discusses the Hill-Eggman connection—see: http://plan9.150m.com/whiteghost.htm—and Farrant refers to 'The Eggmanne' as 'an old friend of mine', see: http://davidfarrant.org/TheHumanTouch/?p=645.↩
No comments:
Post a Comment