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Geoff Hurst launches Scientology E-meter
Daily Telegraph, 10 February 2001; Last Updated: 3:55pm BST 19/06/2001
By Victoria Combe
THE 1966 World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst opened an exhibition in London yesterday to promote Scientology, despite having no connections with the controversial movement.
Sir Geoff said he was excited by the drug programmes which Scientologists are running in 21 countries, but not in Britain. He said he knew little about Scientology. "I'm here because of the work they do in drugs." The Narconon drugs programme, designed by the founder of the movement L Ron Hubbard who died in 1986, includes regular saunas to detoxify the body and spiritual "drills".
The movement attracts celebrities and counts John Travolta, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise among its members but none of the Hollywood names were available to cut the ribbon. The free exhibition will be open every day for two weeks in an empty clothing store in Oxford Street.
Visitors will be able to try a machine called the E-meter which is supposed to reveal a person's spiritual problems. Leaflets handed out on Oxford Street advertising the exhibition ask: "How toxic are you?" The Scientology movement claims it can cure people suffering from "severe body pollution".
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