Reg Sharpe
| Reg Sharpe | |
|---|---|
| Deceased | Yes |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Org. Affiliation(s) | HASI London, St. Hill |
This beginning of a biography of Reg Sharpe, who was one of many prominent figures in English Scientology in late 50s and early 60s, is written by Antony Phillips. I have put the main data I have on Reg Sharpe, but there is a lot missing, not only date of birth, how he came into Scientology, and more. If you have more data, please enter it here, or write to me, Antony Phillips at ant.phillips@post8.tele.dk.
Reg Sharpe was well off. I understood that he made his money by meeting a need of the time. Television was new, transistor technology was in its infancy and was not used in televisions. The visual readout (image) on a television was on a cathode ray tube and only available in black and white. Television sets were expensive, and while most of the technology was fairly robust, cathode ray tubes of that size (the largest in the beginning was 12 inches) were not. I believe up to that time cathode ray tubes, as a readout were about 5 inches in diameter, round and used for a few scientific instruments. Those who owned television sets were liable to have their cathode ray tube break down, after the end of a short guarantee period, and be faced with a large replacement bill. Reg probably started, and certainly owned and managed the firm Telesurance, which insured peoples television tubes. His office was near the HASI (Scientology) premises in Fitzroy Street, near Tottenham Court Road, London.
Auditor's Associations[edit | edit source]
What I remember was that at the end of the 50s both Reg Sharpe and HASI London ran meetings for field auditors. I remember going to a meeting at the Telesurance offices one evening, and also meetings at the HASI. Once I went to a HASI London auditor's meeting at Fitzroy Street, to find chairs set out for (I think) twenty or so people, and on each chair was a sheet of paper saying that anyone who had been to one of Reg Sharpe's meetings was not allowed to attend. (!)
Saint Hill[edit | edit source]
The next time I was aware of Reg Sharpe was when I worked at Saint Hill. He was administrator of the Saint Hill Briefing Course, and I believe his wife, Jenny Edmunds (?spelling) was an instructor (I think this was before instructors were forbidden, replaced by supervisors). He had a house at Saint Hill Green, a rather typical English village green about 500 meters from Saint Hill Manor. Apparently Ron had two electric organs at Saint Hill, and he played duets with Reg on the other organ, and this is mentioned on a briefing course tape.
This is Life[edit | edit source]
While at Saint Hill Reg wrote a book, entitled This is Life. 100 pages, Published by Hubbard Communications Office Ltd, Saint Hill Manor. My edition has a sticky label in the 2nd page saying it was Published November 1961 and Reprinted July 1962. Chapter headings are: Stable data, Cycle of Action, The Emotional Scale, Understanding, Communication, The Eight Dynamics, Your Mind Your Body and You, More about the Dynamics, Pictures, Games, Conclusion, with a list of Scientology Organisations and a list of some Scientology publications. <gallery> File:RegSharpe TIL cover.jpg|"This is Life" cover File:RegSharpe TIL inside.jpg|"This is Life" inside https://scientolipedia.org/info/File:This_is_LIfe.pdf
Rhodesia[edit | edit source]
According to Tony Hitchman in the LRH Stories DVD ([[1]] Reg Sharpe visited Ron when he was in Rhodesia, and was instrumental in getting Tony Hitchman to interview Ron, an interview that has since been used widely.
Removed from Saint Hill[edit | edit source]
The following is written by Joe van Staden and is taken from http://backincomm.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/birth-of-the-sea-org/#more-981 (search for Reg Sharpe)
- The first SO mission arrives at St Hill
- ...
- During the mission Reg Sharpe was removed from post. Up to then he had been LRH’s right hand man. Reg left and with him his girlfriend, Jenny Edmonds. Were they SP’s? Of course not. It was the missions brief to get rid of anyone who in any way questioned the authority of the Sea Org – there was to be no doubt about the SO’s powers and position at the top of the ladder. And as has been confirmed since, the mission was a success.
The following is a report of Reg leaving Scientology:
- When the first Sea Org Mission was sent to St Hill. Joe & Jill Van Staden and Fred Payer were nice people, pleasant, nothing exceptional to make them stand out in a crowd, but when they were given full Ethics power they were totally out of their "comfort zone" and became a trio of absolute vicious thugs. They arrived at St Hill, no one had any idea what to expect. In the Manor they screamed at everyone to stand up when they entered a room. People looked at them with alarm. Here was Joe, Jill and Fred, everyone knew them from their time at St Hill, All of a sudden they were these demonic bullies.
- Reg Sharpe, Ron's oldest (and probably only) friend remained sitting. He lit a cigarette and just looked at them. Fred stepped over and smacked it out of his mouth. Reg just looked at him, stood up, put his coat on and walked out, never to return. Fred was screaming at him to remain but Reg simply walked away.
- The thing was, Reg was a very wealthy businessman who employed hundreds of people in his insurance business. He was a big being who filled his very big identity very well, was well suited to the position he commanded in life. He saw through the "Sea Org" identities of the missionaires and was not going to be cowed by them.
- DartSmohen
- http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?5355-TAKING-ON-AN-IDENTITY:From post #1
On the same thread in Ex Scientology Message Board, #4 Alan Walter described a bit of background to this:
- I visited with Reg Sharpe in 1980, he told me the full story - it was as you wrote - that incident occured in Oct 1967 - but the earlier story was when he saw LRH flip into the darkside in June of 1964.
- Reg told of how LRH suddenly changed from the somewhat friendly person to a dominator - Reg told me they were at a circus, taking pictures when Ron turned to Reg and said "I have just worked out a way to take over the world and make us the most powerful and richest Organization on earth!"
- Reg said; "The look on Ron's face scared the bejesus out of me! - He was like another person. From that moment on Ron changed dramatically - I knew something bad had taken place - it put a terrible fear in to me in the pit of my stomach!"
- It [was] from that point on that Scio became a different subject.
- Alan
Postscript[edit | edit source]
In about 1975 (when we were both sort of affiliated to the "Church") I visited Joan de Veulle, who, now retired, had previously been HCO Secretary in the London Org. and frequently went down to Saint Hill to report personally to Ron. She was on good terms with Ron. She told me that once she was with Ron, and he told her, in effect, that he chose to keep Reg near him, so he (Ron) could keep a better eye on Reg. It would be interesting to know what happened to Reg and more details about him. This site is open to small contributions (or large!).- Antony Phillips
Appendix[edit | edit source]
--Antony A Phillips On Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:09:03 -0800 Rhona Smit sent me the following:
- Reg Sharpe was the former owner of 37 Fitzroy Street in London. From these premises he conducted his highly successful and lucrative business called Telesurance. An early bird in the business of television insurance he made a lot of money.
- During l956 he sold the Fitzroy Street building to the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International which had previously been located at 83 Palace Gardens Terrace, Notting Hill. He relocated his business to new premises within walking distance of the HASI and remained in close touch with Jack Parkhouse, the local chief executive (Association Secretary) of the British organization.
- Towards the end of 1956 and into 1957 Reg Sharpe was a definite presence in the affairs of 37 Fitzroy Street. Jack Parkhouse had negotiated the purchase of the building and it was evident that they had become firm friends.
- Jack was in the process of getting divorced and had to journey down to his former family home in Devon where his wife and the rest of his family resided. Reg Sharpe loaned Jack his luxury Jaguar car and subsidized him staying in hotels in Devon while he was handling his affairs.
- This relationship, when LRH became aware of it, resulted in an HCO Policy Letter which is still in force. It states that any staff member receiving personal gifts from a member of the public is to report same to HCO.