# Lord James of Blackheath: unearthed Illuminati conspiracy or completely nuts?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [November 3, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361 "2010-11-03T18:35:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/21 "2010-11-04T02:21:36Z")
I think Lord James of Blackadder may be on to something here.
Probably he’ll get his hands on the 5 billion pounds, after sends this organization a mere 2 million pounds advance fee for export or insurance fees to help move the money safely to British bank accounts.
Then there might be a further 1 million required for demurrage, storage and release fees by a third party Security Company. Then they’ll get the money. For sure.
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/22 "2010-11-04T02:44:56Z")
That’s the problem with a hereditary aristocracy – they tend to inbreed, with tragic results.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/23 "2010-11-04T02:53:18Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#):
>
> That’s the problem with a hereditary aristocracy – they tend to inbreed, with tragic results.
Lord James’ peerage is not a hereditary one. He was created a life peer. Life peerages don’t get passed from one generation to the next.
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/24 "2010-11-04T09:14:01Z")
[Indeed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath). He was also a high profile and well respected industrialist. He was also the guy who gave MI6 their initial tip off about the Iraqi supergun. A week after he informed MI6, the Canadian designer of the supergun was assassinated.
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### Author:  [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/25 "2010-11-04T09:59:13Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> I think Lord James of Blackadder may be on to something here.
>
> Probably he’ll get his hands on the 5 billion pounds, after sends this organization a mere 2 million pounds advance fee for export or insurance fees to help move the money safely to British bank accounts.
>
> Then there might be a further 1 million required for demurrage, storage and release fees by a third party Security Company. Then they’ll get the money. For sure.
I reckon he’s already sent the advance fee to a PO box in Amsterdam, and is trying to get it back on expenses.
---
### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/26 "2010-11-04T10:57:13Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#):
>
> Re: Billion.
>
> Yep, the old imperial figure for a billion was archaic 20 years ago. If you see ‘One Billion’ being mentioned anywhere in a British context these days it’s the American value, 1000 million.
Considering that this old archaic figure is used by every country in the world but the English speaking ones, I would love to hear how you qualify such things as farenheit degrees or yards and pounds.
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/27 "2010-11-04T11:04:57Z")
😕 Are we discussing any other country but English speaking ones?
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/28 "2010-11-04T11:17:52Z")
The whole thing smells like a Nigerian email scam to me. Hope I’m wrong.
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### Author:  [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/29 "2010-11-04T11:42:54Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#):
>
> [Indeed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath). He was also a high profile and well respected industrialist. He was also the guy who gave MI6 their initial tip off about the Iraqi supergun. A week after he informed MI6, the Canadian designer of the supergun was assassinated.
I wonder if this event is partly underlying his current claims. He’s had one real-life experience which could have come straight from the pages of a Frederick Forsyth novel - is he more willing than most to believe in shadowy organisations and mysterious links to the heart of government?
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### Author:  [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/30 "2010-11-04T12:16:59Z")
From the wikipedia article it’s clear this is a fake organisation. It’s not clear whether it’s genuine self-delusion, artistic japerey (cf. Brass Eye), political protest, or a scam attempt… but it clearly falls into one or more of those categories (i.e. anything except “genuine”).
The same group offered to buy the failing Rover car group some years back, using much the same language… they even provided a £1 deposit to the administrators to seal the deal.
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### Author:  [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/31 "2010-11-04T12:25:01Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> Considering that this old archaic figure is used by every country in the world but the English speaking ones, I would love to hear how you qualify such things as farenheit degrees or yards and pounds.
```
Well we were obviously discussing the English speaking world, but yes the other examples you name are also becoming archaic in Britain. Remember we officially became a metric country decades ago. Weather reports are in centrigrade, weights in shops are all in metric values. A shot of a spirit is 25ml now rather than a gill. Children are taught exclusivly in metric figures, hell we mostly used metric when i was at school back in the 80's. About the only major retention of the old imperial system is that we use miles still in road signs, and i think (I'm not sure about this) all new signs are supposed to show both miles and kilometres.
A child today wouldn't have the faintest idea of how many ounces were in a pound or yards in a mile. In a generation most of the imperial system will seem as strange and odd as measuring in rods and cables.
```
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/32 "2010-11-04T14:21:19Z")
> [@DeptfordX](#):
>
> Well we were obviously discussing the English speaking world, but yes the other examples you name are also becoming archaic in Britain. Remember we officially became a metric country decades ago. Weather reports are in centrigrade, weights in shops are all in metric values. A shot of a spirit is 25ml now rather than a gill. Children are taught exclusivly in metric figures, hell we mostly used metric when i was at school back in the 80’s. About the only major retention of the old imperial system is that we use miles still in road signs, and i think (I’m not sure about this) all new signs are supposed to show both miles and kilometres.
> A child today wouldn’t have the faintest idea of how many ounces were in a pound or yards in a mile. In a generation most of the imperial system will seem as strange and odd as measuring in rods and cables.
I dont want to hijack Ridley’s thread into one about metric vs miles but I lived in England in my teen years, about twenty years ago, and I remember ounces, yards and farenheits being used quite often (I wont even get into the coin system).
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/33 "2010-11-04T14:34:20Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> I dont want to hijack Ridley’s thread into one about metric vs miles but I lived in England in my teen years, about twenty years ago, and I remember ounces, yards and farenheits being used quite often (I wont even get into the coin system).
Yeah, they were more widespread 20 years ago. Transitional period really, they’ve all but gone now. The coin system has been decimal for a lot longer than 20 years though, so not sure what you mean.
On a lighter note, the House of Lords sometimes has interesting discussions that range further than the usual Commons stuff. In this link, it appears that their Lordships are discussing “felching”:
[http://www.parliament.uk/search/results/?q=felching](http://www.parliament.uk/search/results/?q=felching)
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/34 "2010-11-04T14:35:58Z")
Twenty years ago was 1990. What are you talking about with the coin system? We decimalised in the 1970s. British coins are no different to Euros or Franks, and haven’t been for the best part of forty years.
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/35 "2010-11-04T23:28:54Z")
Leaving debates about archaic terminology to one side; [Lord James has repeated his claim in a TV interview](http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Foundation-X-Lord-James-Of-Blackheath-Tells-Sky-News-Group-Could-Pay-Off-Billions-Of-UK-Debt/Article/201011115795267?lpos=Politics_Top_Stories_Header_4&lid=ARTICLE_15795267_Foundation_X%3A_Lord_James_Of_Blackheath_Tells_Sky_News_Group_Could_Pay_Off_Billions_Of_UK_Debt). Except the figures even bigger now - up to 75 Billion (10^9) pounds.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/36 "2010-11-05T01:33:14Z")
Oh, the Wikipedia article on OITC is freakin’ hilarious. At the bottom, they mention a couple of OITC’s officers: H.E. Dr. R. C. Dam, Chairman, and Dr Richard Bentall, “Senior Consultant.”
So, Dick Bentall – funny! And His Eminence – does anyone remember Sinbad’s old nemesis, Dr. Rotcoddam? “Mad doctor” spelled backwards?
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/37 "2010-11-05T03:21:21Z")
[http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/](http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/) He is a middle of the roader. I get this email once a month. It is good to see whats out there.
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### Author:  [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/38 "2010-11-05T14:32:01Z")
Checked the OITC web site when this story broke.
The richest org in the world had:
‘Exceeded its bandwidth’ for the month so i couldn’t check Page 2.
I don’t know about you guys but I’m beginning to think they are not entirely kosher. 😉
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/39 "2010-11-05T15:07:36Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> I think Lord James of Blackadder may be on to something here.
>
> Probably he’ll get his hands on the 5 billion pounds, after sends this organization a mere 2 million pounds advance fee for export or insurance fees to help move the money safely to British bank accounts.
>
> Then there might be a further 1 million required for demurrage, storage and release fees by a third party Security Company. Then they’ll get the money. For sure.
I _knew_ I should never have devised a copyhold interest in Blackacre to that fertile octogenarian!
---
### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-james-of-blackheath-unearthed-illuminati-conspiracy-or-completely-nuts/559361/40 "2010-11-05T15:12:48Z")
I don’t really have any input but I find this story fascinating.
Hijack.
Sorry but I was wondering what the apple thing Lord James has pinned to his jacket is? I’ve seen it for years on the Graham Norton and Jeffery Ross shows but I haven’t been able to find out what it means via google. Thanks.
End hijack.
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