UFO Landing in London 1989

On March 31, 1989 thousands of motorists driving on the highway outside London looked up in the air to see a glowing flying saucer descending on their city. Many of them pulled to the side of the road to watch the bizarre craft float through the air. The saucer finally landed in a field on the outskirts of London, in a field in Surrey, where local residents immediately called the police to warn them of an alien invasion.

Surrey UFO Hoax

Soon the police arrived on the scene, and several brave officers approached the craft with his truncheon extended before them. As the policemen came close to the craft, a door opened in the bottom of the ship and a small figure wearing a silver space suit walked out. The policemen immediately took off in the opposite direction. The alien turned out to be a midget, and the flying saucer was a hot air balloon that had been specially built to look like a UFO by Richard Branson, the 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records.

Surrey UFO Hoax

Branson had taken off in the balloon the day before, planning to land in London’s Hyde Park on April 1. However, a wind change had blown him down a day early in the Surrey field. The police reported that they received a flood of phone calls from scared motorists using roadside emergency phones as the balloon passed over the highway. One lady reportedly called a radio station to describe the UFO that she was looking at, not realizing that she was standing in front of her window stark naked. One of the policemen who had to approach the craft later admitted that, "I have never been so scared in 20 years of being a policeman."
Additional Reading:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/af_1989.html
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/P10/
http://www.caelestia.be/BA-SS-10.html