Sixty years of astronomy, astronautics - and UFOlogy!

Recently I commented upon the curious differences between the recollections of the Apollo astronauts: several correspondents have messaged me about this. A couple of questions that appeared more than once were:

* When did you become interested in spaceflight, astronomy and - perhaps surprisingly - UFOs?
* Despite having met so many pilots and astronauts, you have reservations about the Moon landings?   How is this possible?
* You've studied astronomy to degree level and have lectured to all the major astronomical institutions, yet you also write and lecture about UFOs! Isn't this a bit dichotomous? 

The answers to all of these are illustrated by the attached photos!
I was six when the first satellite (Sputnik 1) was launched and ten when Gagarin became the first human to travel in space. Like most kids growing up in post-war Britain, my heroes (in order) were pilots, adventurers and sportsmen. The green book I'm holding below is a diary of space events I started in 1960-ish and maintained until I left home to join the Navy as a pilot! The later format was a typed and better-illustrated version: I hoped I might eventually publish it.

When I was six, I saw the first of perhaps ten truly inexplicable objects in the sky: to me spaceflight and the UFO phenomenon became two sides of the same coin: I read all I could about both, and attended lectures by many famous celebrities. To sum up: my various opinions and theories are based on sixty years of study across the whole area of astronomy, astronautics, ufology and cosmology: they are not the result of a casual reading of some ill-researched paperback! My opinions about the Apollo program are based on a sound understanding of astronautics, lunar astronomy and having met over twenty astronauts and cosmonauts...