(Picture: Flat Earth Convention UK)

This weekend, 200 believers gathered in a hotel near Birmingham to debate the big question – is the Earth a sphere, as millennia of scientific research have shown it is?

Police officers injured in 'acid attack' during drugs raid

Or is it a sort of magic pancake thing floating in space, as maniacs on weird YouTube channels claim?

Britain’s first-ever Flat Earth Convention was held in a Jury’s Inn hotel in Birmingham – attended by IT and NHS workers as well as ‘off grid’ eco types, the Telegraph reports.

Convention organiser Gary John said, ‘People are waking up. We’re seeing an explosion of interest in flat earth theories and increasing mistrust of governments.’


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In a speech, NHS worker David Marsh claims he has disproved planetary motion, using a Nikon camera and an app from his back garden.



Marsh says, ‘My research destroys big bang cosmology. It supports the idea that gravity doesn’t exist and the only true force in nature is electromagnetism.’

Some Flat Earthers claim that Earth is in fact moving upwards, and that’s what keeps us ‘pinned down’, rather than gravity.

reports of increased police presence at Birmingham airport today as the Flat Earth Convention gathers in the city. I'm concerned delegates don't fully appreciate the gravity of the situation! — Jon Gerlis (@JRGerlis) April 27, 2018

Belief that the Earth is flat has rocketed in recent years, with self-styled experts promoting the theory – along with some celebrities.

In 2015, American rapper B.o.B. – aka Bobby Ray Simmons Jr – revealed on Twitter that he was a Flat Earther.

Simmons said, ‘No matter how high in elevation you are…the horizon is always eye level…sorry cadets…I didn’t wanna believe it either.’

Rapper B.o.B. (Picture: Getty)

‘Don’t believe what I say, research what I say. I’m going up against the greatest liars in history … you’ve been tremendously deceived.’

Simmons has since engaged in online debates with scientists, and attempted to raise funds for a rocket mission to establish whether the Earth is, in fact, flat.

Former England cricketer ‘Freddie’ Flintoff revealed last year that he was obsessed with a podcast called the Flat Earthers – and coming round to their ideas.

Flintoff said, ‘If you’re in a helicopter and you hover why does the Earth not come to you if it’s round?

‘Why, if we’re hurtling through space, why would water stay still? Why is it not wobbling? Also if you fire a laser about 16 miles, if the world was curved, you shouldn’t be able to see it but you can.’

Freddie Flintoff is Flat-Earth curious (Picture: Getty Images)

He even claims to be warming to the idea of a global conspiracy to conceal the truth (something that Flat Earthers are naturally very fond of).

He said, ‘The middle is the North Pole, around the outside is the South Pole which is like a big wall of ice. This is why all governments now have bases on the South Pole.’

Former reality show star and model Tila Tequila is perhaps less of a surprising Flat Earth believer – as she’s known for bizarre and disturbing behaviour.

Tila Tequila (Picture: WireImage)

She was thrown off Celebrity Big Brother after images surfaced of herself dressed as a scantily clad Nazi in front of an image of the Auschwitz death camp.

She also wrote a blog post entitled, ‘Why I sympathise with Hitler.’

She Tweeted questions about the Earth being round – asking why buildings in New York would stand straight up, rather than tilt, if Earth was flat.

In one outburst, she said, ‘I WILL STOP MY #FLATEARTH TALK IF SOMEONE CAN SEND ME A GOD DAMN PHOTO OF THE HORIZON WITH A CURVATURE!’