JHW here
I am John Harry Watson, ED London Day from 1974 to 1977 when I successfully (but with great difficulty) routed out of my 5-year staff contract. I was still a devoted Scn but had a family to support and that was impossible as a staff member. My replacement was Brian Wingate, FEBC at vast expense. Whatever happened to him?
For my last year or so Ron "Hoppy" Hopkins was ED London Fdn., having been busted from the Flagship to CO FOLOUK then to London Fdn. We shared an office, and much more, on the fifth floor at 68 Tottenham Court Road. He was (and I hope still is) an awesome Flamenco guitar player.
Hoppy was a founding member of Flag's RPF's RPF. He has mind-boggling stories to tell. I wish he would. But he and Pamela (née-Thorne) and Jay Hurwitz have chosen to bury/not-is their past and not speak out--a shame IMO--as they could shed much light for those still entrapped.
At the time of Sibersky's "Battle of Britain" in 1974 I was Qual. Sec. and my main stat was "Success Stories". With staff being insanely driven 24/7 and dropping--literally--in their tracks there was constant demand for "assists", with their required "Success Stories", thus I dodged the hammer...
Prior to this we had been happily rolling along delivering auditing and training, having wins and fun--isolated, it seemed, from the SO and International Management. The org was a little shabby and run-down and on cope most of the time but both staff and public were winning. My sole and devoted concern was to deliver LRH tech to all who asked for it--a huge mistake as it later turned out (my personal war with Jane Kember, GWW, will be a later installment).
I had a 2D with Lesley Farrow (later Simons then Woodcraft) somewhere in there among others, we'll leave those to a later episode if anyone's interested. The 2D was pretty flexible in those days--especially in the S.O. at AOSH UK--oh boy, do I have some stories.
I had some face time with Sibersky. He was/is? one powerfully-driven man and very frightening at first. A white Russian by birth, so jealous of his lost past, he had found an outlet in the S.O. for his fanatical anti-communism and belief in "homo novis". Ayn Rand would have been so proud. Where is he now?
Please excuse this rambling, our of sequence post. Just expressing the memories relevant to this thread as they pop up.
Dave Allington and I were great friends with a shared history of over-the-top LSD use and the hippy trail to India and a thirst for everything Hubbard--especially the space opera stuff. We did the HSDC and Academy Levels together under the supervision of the incomparable Nicky Mendoza, original Cl. VIII. We both fell asleep in a session once where I was auditing him on Dianetics, over-running into the dirt, but after we woke up I recorded a 5 hour session with FN/VGI's at the examiner. Wish they'd all been that easy.
He and I discovered a big old safe in a storage space below the pavement at the front of the building (TCR) and managed to open it. Inside we found ALL the SHSBC AND Cl. VIII lecture tapes! Oh boy, what a treasure trove for two errant academy students. We spent many after-course hours wallowing in GPM, OT3 and implant material way above our case level. It was fantastic stuff--and a withhold missed by Nicky on numerous occasions. Neither of us got pneumonia or "free-wheeled" BTW. We both became auditors and, between us, produced thousands of WDAH.
I reconnected with Dave and Jan in Los Angeles circa 1981. He was actually making a modest living as an auditor at AOSH. Where is Dave now? Anyone know?
Then there was my nemesis Peter Buttery (SP emeritus IMO who became a Cl.XII and was busted by Miscavige over the McPherson death). Then there were the returning FEBC grads with their SRA's, "too gruesomes", etc. Then my battle with Jane Kember. And it all destructed.
PLEASE NOTE this was under LRH's watch and micro-supervision--Miscavige came later--sorry, Marty. LRH and his aides wrote and enforced the mission orders for Sibersky's "Battle of Britain" which very nearly destroyed Scn in the UK.
More ramblings to come.
My humble regards to all of you on ESMB, keep up the good work. The walls are tumbling down,
JHW
