David Icke facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Icke
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Icke in 2013
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| Born |
David Vaughan Icke
29 April 1952 Leicester, England
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| Occupation |
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| Political party | Green Party (1980s–1991) |
| Movement | New Age conspiracism |
David Vaughan Icke (born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist. He used to be a footballer and a sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books and given talks in more than 25 countries.
In 1990, Icke met a psychic who told him he had a special purpose on Earth. She said he would get messages from the spirit world. Because of this, in 1991, he claimed to be a "Son of the Godhead." He also said that the world would soon face big tidal waves and earthquakes. He shared these ideas on a TV show called Wogan. After this TV appearance, many people made fun of his claims. Over the next 11 years, Icke wrote books that explained his ideas about a New Age conspiracy.
Icke believes that the universe is made of "vibrational" energy. He thinks there are many different dimensions that share the same space. He claims that a race of reptilian beings, called Archons or Anunnaki, have taken over Earth. He also says that a mixed human-Archon race of reptilian shape-shifters secretly control events. He calls them the "elite" or the Illuminati. Icke believes they try to keep humans scared so the Archons can feed on "negative energy." He claims many famous people are part of this group. He says they are pushing humanity towards a global fascist state, where people lose their freedom. Icke believes the only way to stop this is for people to understand the truth and fill their hearts with love.
Some people have accused Icke of being antisemitic (against Jewish people). They also say he denies the Holocaust. This is because he supported a book called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is a fake document about a Jewish plot. He also linked the Jewish Rothschild family to his reptilian theories. Icke says he is not antisemitic. However, because of these accusations, he has been banned from entering some countries.
Contents
Early Life and Football
David Icke was born in Leicester, England, in 1952. He was the middle of three sons. His family was very poor when he was growing up. He remembers having to hide when the person collecting rent came to their house.
Icke said he did not try hard at school. But when he was nine, he was chosen for his junior school's football team. This was the first time he felt successful. He saw football as a way to escape poverty. He played as a goalkeeper. He liked this position because it made him feel like he was on the edge between being a hero or a villain.
After failing an important exam in 1963, he went to a different type of secondary school. There, he got a chance to try out for the Leicester Boys Under-14 team.
Football Career
Icke left school at 15 when Coventry City signed him in 1967. He played as their youth team goalkeeper. In 1968, he was part of the Coventry City youth team that almost won the F.A. Youth Cup. He also played for Oxford United and Northampton Town.
He had to stop playing football because of Rheumatoid arthritis in his knees and other joints. Even though he was often in pain, he wanted to keep playing. He signed a part-time contract with Hereford United. He played for their first team in the English Football League.
In 1971, Icke left home after arguments with his father. His father was worried about Icke's arthritis affecting his football career. Icke moved into a small rented room and worked at a travel agency. He traveled to Hereford twice a week to play football.
By 1973, when he was 21, the pain in his joints was so bad that he had to stop playing football completely.
From Sports to Spirituality
After leaving football, Icke and his wife had to sell their home. For a while, they lived separately with their parents. In 1973, Icke found a job as a reporter for a local newspaper. He then worked for different radio stations, including BBC Radio Leicester.
In 1976, Icke worked in Saudi Arabia for two months, helping with the national football team. He then returned to the UK and got his job back at BRMB radio. Later, he joined the BBC's Midlands Today show. This job included being on TV.
Becoming a Sports Broadcaster
In 1981, Icke became a sports presenter for the BBC's national show Newsnight. Two years later, in 1983, he appeared on the first episode of Breakfast Time. This was Britain's first national breakfast TV show. He presented sports news there until 1985. In 1983, he also helped host Grandstand, a big BBC sports program. That same year, he published his first book, It's a Tough Game, Son!, about how to become a footballer.
Icke and his family moved to Ryde on the Isle of Wight in 1982. He continued working for BBC Sport until 1990. He often covered sports like bowls and snooker, and he worked at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Icke became a well-known face in Britain. However, he started to dislike working in television. He felt that TV workers were often insecure and not very kind.
In August 1990, his contract with the BBC ended. This happened after he refused to pay a local tax called the "poll tax." He eventually paid it. But his public statement that he would rather go to prison than pay made the BBC distance itself from him.
Green Party and New Ideas
In the 1980s, Icke started looking into alternative medicine and New Age ideas to help his arthritis. This led him to become interested in Green politics. He joined the Green Party and quickly became a national spokesperson. His second book, It Doesn't Have To Be Like This, about his environmental views, came out in 1989.
Icke wrote that 1989 was a very sad time for him. During this period, he said he started to feel a strange presence around him. In March 1990, he felt a strong pull towards some books in a shop. One of them was by Betty Shine, a psychic healer. He visited Shine four times. During their third meeting, on 29 March 1990, Icke claims he felt something like a spider's web on his face. Shine then told him she had a message from the spirit world.
She said Icke was sent to heal the Earth and would become famous, but would face challenges. She claimed the spirit world would give him ideas to share with others. She also predicted earthquakes and new flying machines.
In February 1991, Icke visited an ancient burial ground in Peru. He felt drawn to a circle of stones there. He wrote that his body shook as if plugged into electricity, and new ideas filled his mind. He described this as his kundalini activating his chakras (energy centers), leading to a higher level of consciousness.
The "Turquoise Period"
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After his experience in Peru, Icke entered what he called his "turquoise period." He said he had been receiving messages through "automatic writing." One message told him he was a "Son of the Godhead," which he understood as the "Infinite Mind." He started wearing only turquoise clothes, believing the color helped positive energy flow. He also began writing his third book, The Truth Vibrations.
In March 1991, Icke resigned from the Green Party. He told them he was about to be involved in "tremendous controversy." A week later, Icke and his wife held a press conference. He announced that he was a "son of the Godhead." He told reporters the world would end in 1997. He also predicted many natural disasters. He said this information came from voices and automatic writing.
The Wogan Interview
News about Icke's press conference led to many interview requests. He appeared on Terry Wogan's popular TV show, Wogan, in 1991. Wogan introduced him by saying, "The world as we know it is about to end." The audience laughed a lot. Icke said that Jesus would have been laughed at too. He repeated that Britain would soon be hit by tidal waves and earthquakes. Wogan pointed out that the audience was laughing at him, not with him. The BBC faced criticism for letting the interview happen.
This interview was a very hard time for Icke. In May 1991, police were called to his home because over 100 young people gathered outside. They were chanting things like "We want the Messiah." Icke later said that his biggest fear as a child was being made fun of in public. He said it was a nightmare to be laughed at everywhere he went. His children were also very upset because their dad became a figure of ridicule.
In 2006, Wogan interviewed Icke again. Wogan apologized for how he acted in the 1991 interview.
Writing and Lecturing
Icke wrote that the Wogan interview changed his life. He felt it gave him the courage to develop his ideas without caring what others thought. His book The Truth Vibrations, inspired by his Peru experience, was published in 1991.
Between 1992 and 1994, he wrote five more books. These included Love Changes Everything (1992) and his autobiography, In the Light of Experience (1993).
The Robots' Rebellion
Icke's book The Robots' Rebellion (1994) led to accusations that his work was antisemitic (against Jewish people). This book claimed that a secret plan for world control was laid out in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fake document. It was created around 1897, probably by the Russian secret police. It pretended to show a plot by Jewish people to rule the world. It was proven to be a fake in 1920 and 1921. After that, it was not widely discussed until American groups brought it up again in the 1950s. It also spread through conspiracy groups online.
Icke's book used ideas from another book called Behold a Pale Horse (1991). This book also focused on the Protocols. The Robots' Rebellion often mentioned the Protocols, calling them the Illuminati protocols. Icke said that the Protocols were not written by Jewish people, but by Zionists.
Self-Publishing and Success
Icke's next book, And the Truth Shall Set You Free (1995), had a chapter that questioned parts of the Holocaust. This caused problems with his publisher. In the book, Icke suggested that Jewish people helped fund the Holocaust. He also said that schools "indoctrinate children" with the main story of the Holocaust by using free copies of the film Schindler's List.
Icke then borrowed money from a friend and started his own publishing company. He called it Bridge of Love Publications, later David Icke Books. He published And the Truth Shall Set You Free himself, and all his books after that.
His books became very popular. Between 1998 and 2011, his books sold 140,000 copies. His book The Biggest Secret (1999) was reprinted many times. His 2002 book Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster was a bestseller in South Africa for a long time. By 2006, his website had 600,000 visits a week. By 2011, his books had been translated into 11 languages.
Public Speaking
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Icke has given public talks all over the world. By 2006, he had spoken in at least 25 countries. In 2008, he spoke for seven hours to 2,500 people in London. That same year, he spoke at the University of Oxford's debating society. His book tour for Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More (2010) included a sold-out talk in New York City. In October 2012, he spoke for eleven hours to 6,000 people at London's Wembley Arena.
Politics and Television
Icke ran for parliament in a special election in 2008. He focused on the issue of "Big Brother – The Big Picture." He came 12th out of 26 candidates. He said he was running because people needed to face the idea of a "global fascist state." He felt that saying "I was watching EastEnders" would not be a good enough answer when asked by future generations what they did.
In November 2013, Icke started an Internet TV station called The People's Voice. It broadcast from London. He raised over £300,000 from the public to start it. He worked there as a volunteer until March 2014. The station stopped broadcasting later that year.
Personal Life
Icke met his first wife, Linda Atherton, in May 1971. They married in September 1971. Their daughter Kerry was born in 1975. Their first son, Gareth, was born in 1981. Their second son, Jaymie, was born in 1992.
In March 1991, a psychic named Deborah Shaw lived with Icke and his wife for a short time. Shaw and Icke had a daughter together in December 1991, but their relationship ended by then. Icke wrote in 1993 that he decided not to visit their daughter at Shaw's request.
Icke and Atherton divorced in 2001 but remained friends. Atherton continued to manage Icke's business.
In 1997, he met his second wife, Pamela Leigh Richards, in Jamaica. They married in 2001 after his divorce from Atherton. They separated in 2008 and divorced in 2011.
Icke has lived on the Isle of Wight since 1982.
Ideas on Reality
Icke believes that the universe is made of "vibrational" energy. He thinks it has an endless number of dimensions that share the same space. He compares this to radio and television frequencies. He says that our five senses can only pick up a tiny range of these frequencies. He believes that some people can tune their minds to other wavelengths.
He also thinks that time is not real. He says there is no past or future, only the "infinite now." Icke believes that humans are part of a larger consciousness or infinite awareness. He describes this as "all that there is, has been, and ever can be."
See also
- Chitauri (a fictional race based on Icke's ideas)
- Gnosticism
- The Shadow Kingdom
