Fortean Times - UnConvention

UnConvention

The magazine has organised an "UnConvention" (or UnCon), most years since 1994 (the "missing" years being 2001, 2005 and 2009), at various venues in London (the University of London Union, the Institute of Education, the Commonwealth Institute and, in recent years, the London Friends Meeting House). Many "hot topics" of the day have been discussed, such as the Ray Santilli "alien autopsy" film at the 1996 UnCon, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales at the 1998 event. On other occasions the organisers are well ahead of the trend, as was the case in 1998 when Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince discussed Templar conspiracies and hidden symbolism in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci years before these were turned into mass media subjects by The Da Vinci Code. Besides the formal lecture programme, UnCon normally features exhibits by organisations such as the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena and the Centre for Fortean Zoology. The event often ends with a panel discussion, as was notoriously the case in 2002 when the subject was "Is Ufology Dead?". This was widely reported in the British media as an "official" statement by Fortean Times that " Ufology is Dead".