UNITED KINGDOM BRITISH BOOKMAKERS WILLIAM HILL SLASH ODDS ON EXISTENCE OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ON MARS

Record ID: 337724

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM BRITISH BOOKMAKERS WILLIAM HILL SLASH ODDS ON EXISTENCE OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ON MARS
  • Date: 7th August 1996
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 7, 1996) 1. SLV CU EXTERIOR WILLIAM HILL BETTING SHOP, WILLIAM HILL SIGN, MEN OPENING DOOR AND LEAVING (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. SMV INTERIOR 0.28 3. SCU BOARD READING: "IS THERE LIFE ON MARS? 500/1" (2 SHOTS) 0.42 4. SMV MAN WRITING 0.46 5. CU MANAGER WIPING BOARD 0.52 6. SCU CU WOMAN ENTERING ODDS OF 25/1 ON BOARD (2 SHOTS) 1.05 7. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "IT'S A BIG JUMP FROM 500-1 TO 25-1 BUT, NO, I WON'T BE BETTING (ENGLISH) 1.17 8. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "I DON'T BELIEVE THERE IS LIFE ON MARS" 1.23 9. SCU UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "MOST PEOPLE THINK BY THAT THEY MEAN LIFE AS WE UNDERSTAND IT BUT IT IS SOME FOSSIL THING, IT'S A LOAD OF NONSENSE, I'D GIVE 58 MILLION TO ONE BECAUSE IT'S TOTAL NONSENSE AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED. I BELIEVE THE UNIVERSE IS A LIVING CREATURE" (ENGLISH) 1.45 10. SMV SCU WOMAN SEATED AT TABLE 1.52 11. SCU PREVIOUS SPEAKER SAYING "I BELIEVE THE UNIVERSE ITSELF IS A LIVING DEVELOPING CREATURE, MAKE WHAT YOU LIKE OF THAT" 1.58 12. SMV GRAHAM SHARPE, SPOKESMAN FOR WILLIAM HILL BOOKMAKERS SPEAKING ON TELEPHONE 2.07 13. CU FRAMED NATIONAL 100 KILOMETRES CHAMPIONSHIPS DIPLOMA 2.10 14. SMV GRAHAM SHARPE, SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 2.58 15. SMV'S BETTING SHOP WITH CUSTOMERS WATCHING GREYHOUND RACING ON SCREENS (2 SHOTS) 3.05 TRANSCRIPT SEQ. 14. SHARPE "WE WERE OFFERING ODDS OF 500-1 ON NASA CONFIRMING THE EXISTENCE OF INTELLIGENT EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL LIFE. WE HAVE BEEN TAKING BETS ON A REGULAR BASIS FROM FIVE TO A HUNDRED POUNDS LEVEL AND SAW NO GOOD REASON TO ADJUST THE ODDS. THE LAST MAJOR MOVE WAS WHEN NASA ANNOUNCED THEIR PROJECT TO SEARCH FOR EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE, SO UNTIL NOW WE HAD NO REASON TO AMEND THE ODDS. NOW THERE IS A VERY GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE THE SITUATION HAS CHANGED. WITH THE MEDIA-POWERED LIABILITY IT WOULD BE CRAZY FOR US TO IGNORE THE EVIDENCE AND KEEP THE ODDS AT THAT LEVEL SO WE HAVE SHORTENED THEM TO 25-1." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA59XKH6XFNCZI2BMC3488EB658
  • Story Text: INTRO - INTRO: British bookmakers William Hill have slashed odds on the existence of intelligent life on Mars from 500/1 to 25/1 after NASA scientists said they had found evidence of simple life on a meteorite believed to have originated on Mars.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration (NASA) said on Tuesday (August 6) they had discovered compelling evidence of ancient, single-celled life forms in a meteorite believed to be from Mars.

    The discovery has provoked a storm of speculation and interest.

    But gamblers in a London betting shop remained sceptical despite the reduced odds on intelligent life being found in a year.

    One man said "It's a big jump from 500-1 to 25-1 but no I won't be betting". Another added "I don't believe there is life on Mars".

    Graham Sharpe, spokesman for British bookmaker William Hill, said "we have been taking bets on a regular basis and this seemed a good reason to adjust the odds".

    "Now this story has come out now there is a very good reason" Sharpe added.

    The discovery that life apparently existed on Mars was hailed on Wednesday as the greatest discovery of this century, one that could have far-reaching effects on philosophy, religion and science.

    Planetary scientists were unusually enthusiastic about the evidence, laboriously put together by electron microscopic analysis of fossils dating back billions of years.

    NASA scientists planned to disclose at a press conference in Washington at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Wednesday more details of their discovery of evidence of single-cell, bacteria-like organisms inside an ancient Martian meteorite that plunged to Earth more than 13,000 years ago.

    The scientists said they expected their startling findings to come under attack by the international scientific community and they welcomed the controversy.

    The possible fossils included egg-shaped and tubular structures so small they can be seen only under an electron microscope.

    The meteorite was probably blasted off the surface of Mars 16 million years ago after a massive comet or asteroid struck the now-dead planet, the NASA researchers said in a draft article of their findings to be published in Science magazine.

    After floating in space for millions of years the meteorite plunged to Earth, where it was discovered in a frozen field in Antarctica in 1984. The make-up of the meteorite known as ALH84001 matches the chemical compositions of the surface of Mars measured by the Viking spacecraft that landed on the planet in 1976, the scientists said.

    The scientists plan to publish their findings in the Aug. 16 issue of Science magazine and will discuss their findings publicly for the first time on Wednesday.


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