This article is from the archive of our partner .

The Church of Scientology forced the British tabloid The Sun to apologize for reporting that UFOs were seen flying over the church's British headquarters — but The Sun apologized to the aliens. It is one of the best newspaper apologies ever. The Sun says it's sorry for the weekend report "Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ" — flat silver discs were seen hovering by three airplane pilots — explaining, "Following a letter from lawyers for the Church, we apologise to any alien lifeforms for linking them to Scientologists."

As Lawrence Wright reported in his book Going Clear, the Church of Scientology is infamous for aggressively suing its critics for libel — something that's all the more dangerous in Britain, where it's a lot easier to win libel suits. It's so easy that Going Clear was not published in Britain.

(Photo by Sky News' Sophy Ridge.)

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.