1 9 8 0 (UK)
13 x 25 minute episodes
“Mysteries from the files of Arthur C Clarke, author of 2001 and inventor of the communications satellite. Now living in retreat in Sri Lanka after a lifetime of science, space and writing, he ponders the riddles of this and other worlds.”
“Mysteries have intrigued and amused me ever since I was a child,” said our famous bespectacled host as he introduced and closed every episode with some thoughts of his own on the mystery capers in that episode.
He also popped up now and again to comment on the enjoyably weird tales and legends like some wise uncle who seems to know everything, although newsreader Gordon Honeycombe supplied the main narration.
The 13-part series began with an introductory episode about mysteries in general and then each one thereafter focused on a specific theme: Underwater monsters, UFOs, Dinosaurs, megalithic structures, things falling from the sky, ancient artefacts, the missing link, etc.
One episode was devoted to The Great Siberian (or Tunguska) Explosion, the largest meteor impact in the history of the Earth. It happened in 1908 and the blast range was equal to that of a small nuclear explosion although the meteor (or comet) was relatively small.
Another focussed on Bigfoot and the Yeti, interviewing Eric Shipton about the Yeti and Bob Gimlin about Bigfoot. Gimlin was with Roger Patterson in 1967 when they shot the famous film of a Bigfoot at Bluff Creek in California.
