Broadlands, England: Bricklayer sees disc lower a figure; Mountbatten records his account

At 8:30 a.m. Frederick S. Briggs, a bricklayer and former army sergeant employed at Broadlands, Romsey, Hampshire, the manor of Lord Mountbatten, was cycling to work when he saw a large disc-shaped object over a nearby meadow. It was shaped like a spinning top, metallic, about 20–30 feet in diameter with portholes around the center, and about 80 feet above the ground less than 100 yards away. He saw a humanoid figure in what looked like overalls and a helmet descend from the craft on a column with a platform at the bottom, was then dazzled by a bright blue light, fell over and could not move; the object flew off at high speed. Mountbatten interviewed Briggs, searched the meadow and had a statement prepared; his signed statement is held in the Broadlands Archive. Desmond Leslie wrote up the story in Flying Saucer Review in 1981. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.