P. Bailey © 2005

The seismic shift in Icke’s career occurred, bizarrely enough, on the Wogan Show in 1991. Wearing a turquoise tracksuit and appearing distracted, Icke announced to Terry Wogan and the viewing population that he believed he was the Son of God.

The announcement coincided with a turbulent time in Icke’s private life. He has since retracted the contention, referring now to being the son of a godhead. His beliefs, however, have become increasingly extraordinary, and have found a receptive audience, both on his publicity tours and through his website. His on-line biography cites his occupation as being “…since 1990 a full time investigator into who and what is really controlling the world.”

This “who and what”, Icke believes, is The Illuminati, a supposed powerful elite, composed of Fourth Dimension reptilian extra-terrestrial humanoids. In “Children of the Matrix” Icke says that 13 bloodline families have this hybrid DNA, and their agenda is described on his website thus:

He believes these people to be able to shape-shift and to have infiltrated the Masons, The Tri-Lateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group and The Council on Foreign Relations. He further believes them to be guilty of Satanic worship, including blood-drinking and child-sacrifice and claims their number includes, amongst others, George Bush, the Clintons, The Royal Family, the actor Kris Kristofferson and the singer Boxcar Willie.

Icke believes that the Illuminati agenda is to subjugate the masses through a system of mind control. Juxtaposed with this is the claim that the Illuminati want to create a world of fear so the reptilian Illuminati can feed off the “resultant negative energies”. It appears from his website, that this fear is regarded as a food source, and not a metaphor for the pleasure of power. It is difficult to find evidence of any such food chain in existence. Children’s fiction, however, contains many such examples. Pixar’s “Monsters’ Inc” and the dementors in the Harry Potter novels use the imagery of emotions-as-sustainance to good effect.

It is not known whether or not Icke has drawn upon these cultural influences in formulating his hypotheses. He has, however, drawn upon the Hollywood blockbuster “The Matrix”: Writing in 2004, he believes that the microchip agenda is an imminent danger…

Presumably the fact that The Matrix’s inside information was seen by millions was an oversight on the part of the Hollywood Illuminati cabal.

Icke has written on his website that the film industry is a rich source of material for the Illuminati, as celebrity worship and distracting charity events can provide the public with a smokescreen from what is really happening in the world. Some celebrities have apparently been zombified by the Illuminati to fulfil this agenda of mass distraction A “channelled source” has told him that the mind–controlled celebrities do not have cosmetic surgery out of vanity:

In addition to using “channelled” sources, Icke embraces many of the New Age pastimes. He has worked with healers and psychics and has spoken at length about his own spiritual awakening when he heard voices and was physically directed by an unseen force to stop and look at the New Age book section whilst on holiday. This awakening was further developed whilst on a visit to Peru, when Icke’s arms were held aloft at a historical site, by the same unseen force, accompanied by the reassurances of a disembodied voice speaking to him.

Whilst in Australia, Icke visited and was treated by a healer who helped his arthritis. Whilst there, Icke claims to have seen many instances of incredible healing, including cured lung cancer and mended spinal cords:

Icke has set much store by the work of such New Age gurus, and has extrapolated anecdotal evidence from them to fit his own agenda. In meeting Princess Diana’s one-time faith healer, Christine Fitzgerald, he has taken literally the claims that Diana said the Windsors were not human, and that her nickname for them was “The lizards” to tie in with his notion of a reptilian plot.

There is a further, more insidiously damaging instance of where metaphor has been seen to be used inappropriately. Icke’s repeated use of reptilian and alien symbolism was at one stage a cause for concern for ethnic minority groups, particularly Jewish, who believed that Icke was hiding his true anti-Semitic agenda. No action has since been taken when they realised that Icke did really mean reptiles. However, although Icke strongly denies any anti-Semitic inclinations, one should be aware of the company he keeps and the claims he has made. Canadian contacts and tour organisers, including Joseph Duggan, owner of Strong Eagles Productions, and Tom J. Kennedy of “The Preferred Network” have right-wing, anti-Semitic leanings. In his self-published second book, “And the truth shall set you free”, Icke repeated his belief, both in the Tsarist-forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and that a Jewish clique was behind the Two World Wars and the Russian Revolution. In the same book he also denounced the Nuremberg Trials as “a calculated exercise in revenge and manipulation”.

This flirtation with revisionism can still be seen today, with Icke’s support for the Canadian Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel. Icke’s support centres around Zundel’s freedom of expression. One would imagine however that a more worthy symbol could be found than a pro-Nazi propagandist who has appeared at a trial in a concentration camp uniform and who has disseminated stickers such as “Holocaust teaching is Child Abuse”.

Icke’s spiritual enlightenment and revelations have carried on apace, and as luck would have it, provided material for many further books. In 2002 whilst on a visit to Brazil, Icke tried a local psychoactive substance called ayahuasca. The resulting 5 hour drug trip led to him hearing a voice that told him “Infinite love is the only truth, everything else is illusion”.

Like David Irving and Holocaust revisionism, Icke has seen a change in how the public perceive him. Much more high–profile than Irving, he has been openly ridiculed by many. Also, like Irving, Icke has entered into the murky world of Holocaust denial. Both self-taught, they have become embroiled in a need for continuing revealment of cover-ups to sell more books, organise tours and finance their cause.

Icke has no empirical evidence that any of his reptilian agenda or global governance is actual fact. He admits that at school he was bored rigid by mainstream teaching : “He rejected it all with a sort of inner knowing that it was not relevant to him.” He has continued to eschew reality and has set great store by information and prophecies gathered from psychics.

His website is packed with sensationalist claims about censorship, cover-ups and health scares. Icke, and other contributors have looked at such diverse issues as; did the Bush administration commit the World Trade Centre atrocity (and photographic “evidence” of Satan in the billows of smoke) – through to; is the Queen’s black-over-white hat a sign that she is evil?

His style has gained many admirers, who perhaps have confused articulacy with cognitive reasoning, and belligerence towards detractors as a sign that he is thus empowered by having the truth on his side. Icke has gone one step further than most Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists and his “conspiracy of everything” theory has proved to be wildly exciting for those so-inclined.

His website is currently being revamped, with a request to help fight for truth with a paypal donation. Despite knowing many superb healers, he has decided to cut back on touring for health reasons; preferring instead to play the big stadia.

His latest tour has been postponed due to lack of investment money.