Much of what Uncle Reggie has told us seems incredible, and quite frankly beyond belief. His tales of the future are obviously preposterous, though at this time we cannot disprove them completely. What is beyond doubt is his past, and the following short boigraphy has been proved by meticulous scientific research.
1912-1932 Childhood
THE EARLY YEARS
Reginald Kenneth Merryweather was born in Bedford on April 14th 1912 to Josiah and Frances Merryweather. His father was a Methodist Minister, historian and noted butterfly expert. Throughout his childhood years, Reginald was a keen student of the sciences, and went on to graduate from Cambridge University and he began his working life as a journalist but the emergent BBC soon beckoned and he secured a place as a presenter right from the outset.
1932-1945 Travelling
CREATIVE PIONEER
He was a very creative producer of programmes and pioneered a series of early 'outside broadcasts' which culminated in the hugely successful programme: "My Gypsy Life" in which he visited the provinces and spoke with 'ordinary' people. When World War Two broke out he enlisted as a radio engineer and mastered the art of not only operating broadcasting equipment, but also repairing and building radio sets from readily available items.
1945-1952 Light Entertainer
POST WAR
After the war he returned to the BBC to present a long running, 'light entertainment' programme called "Missed Your Chance" - a talent show which involved the participants answering questions for an opportunity to perform their act in front of a regional audience. On the back of the success of this programme he re-made the series "My Gypsy Life" at the same time as being involved in a variety of other science, light entertainment and current affairs series.
1952-1961 Time Travel
AFTER WAVE
During the early 1950s he also began experimenting with his radio devices and invented a valve-based component which he called "The Temporal Solenoid Inducer" which allowed his radio to tune in to the minute 'after-wave' phenomenon of all radio signals. With this transceiver he was able to, effectively listen to the past. However, he became obsessed with time travel as a result and started writing a radio series for children, whilst at the same time attempting to communicate with his former self.
1961-1980 Freelance
MAGIC RADIO
The series was called "Uncle Reggie's Magic Radio" and it was a massive success throughout the 1950's, ending suddenly in 1961. A 'long playing' record was released in 1962 which featured highlight episodes from the show, and was called: "...and other stories". This long deleted record, has been remastered and re-released for the first time in 49 years, and in 2008 was a successful download on iTunes. During the 1960's and 70s he worked as a freelance presenter for for many science and arts programmes, but retired in 1980.
1981-Present Schizophrenia
LIFE THREATENING
A series of unfortunate events during the late 50s resulted in a life threatening incident which changed Merryweather's state of mental health and he was diagnosed as schizophrenic in 1954. However, he maintains that he was (and still is) in fine state of mind and continues to experiment and write to this day.
It is interesting to note that Reggie himself makes very little distinction between the past and the future. So when we started listening to his stories, we didn't really believe his tales of the past, any more than we believed his tales of the future. Now, of course, we know that his history is demonstrably true and correct.
So it does make you wonder whether his stories of the future could have a grain of truth in them. But surely, the answer must be no?
