He was the son of an army sergeant major, born in Great Yarmouth, and by the 1920s claimed to have invented an airship that would rise into the atmosphere and remain stationary until the Earth spun westwards at 1,000 km/h (620 mph) to the desired destination at the same latitude.

Shenton could not understand why someone had not previously thought of this idea until he discovered, in the reading room of the British Museum at Bloomsbury that Archbishop Stevens, a friend of Lady Blount, the founder of the Universal Zetetic Society, had suggested an aircraft design similar to his own.

[2] Despite the launch in October 1957 of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, Shenton proved a popular speaker to small groups, enjoying particularly talking to children, never declining an invitation.

As crewed space flight started in 1961, Shenton began to attract international media attention with his denials, telling the Coshocton Tribune on 10 May that the astronauts could never travel into orbit.

During a parliamentary debate, Enoch Powell likened his opponents to "flat-earthers" and Harold Wilson reportedly slung back the insult in turn.

[2] In 1966 he produced a pamphlet, The Plane Truth, which included a circular informing members "that modern astronomy and space flight were insults to God and divine punishment for humankind's arrogance was a mere matter of time".

"Visual images, whether they were globes, photographs or television pictures, were clearly critical to how people perceived the earth's shape ... and pre-school children could know that it was round even if they had no grasp of the words 'mathematics', 'geography', 'astronomy' and 'science'".

[9] But as his organization was dying, he found the successor he had been looking for: Ellis Hillman, a lecturer and member of the Greater London Council, agreed to be president of the IFERS, with the encouragement of Patrick Moore.