Reg Presley: the 1960s songwriter who spent his fortune researching alchemy
In my mind, being a songwriter in the background of the music industry seems like the perfect job. Millions of people get to hear your lyrics, you have all the insider scoop of the industry at your disposal, and the royalties will keep rolling in as long as you have a hit. Plus, the rest of your life can be lived in relative anonymity. Well, at least some people choose to take that path, but for 1960s songwriter Reg Presley, he decided to dedicate the rest of his days to exploring a paranormal world.
In fairness, Presley hadn’t lived a life in total obscurity prior to this either, so it was unlikely that he was ever going to become a wallflower. Although he is perhaps not one of the most well-versed names on the block, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard one of his songs. As a member of the beat music band The Troggs throughout the 1960s, he kept up an unsuspecting job as a bricklayer and only gave it up once his group reached number one, with a defining hit of the decade, ‘Wild Thing’, no less.
With one smash record under his belt, it was only fitting that Presley continued on this trajectory, penning a selection of other successful tunes for the band throughout their tenure. But the real royalties didn’t start rolling in until much later, because although his song ‘Love is All Around’ had been golden for The Troggs, it became even more stratospheric in 1994, when Wet Wet Wet covered it for the soundtrack of Four Weddings and a Funeral and it subsequently spent a mind-blowing 15 weeks at number one.
It’s fair to say that, from there, the rest of Presley’s life was set in a financial sense, and he could spend the rest of his time kicking back and relaxing. But something niggled inside him. Four years before Wet Wet Wet had sealed his monetary fate, the writer had happened to wander into a crop circle in Wiltshire, and from that moment forward, his life was forever changed.
Becoming obsessed with the possibility of the paranormal and the potential of extraterrestrial life forms, when the Wet Wet Wet wealth landed at his door, Presley decided to dedicate the rest of his life and earnings to exploring this otherworldly realm. Subsequently, he became a well-known researcher of alchemy, to the point where thousands around the world would flock to hear his opines, discussing alien magic and the chance that there could be a much vaster galaxy out there than just us mere mortals.
Naturally, having come from a rock and roll background, Presley was adept at the art of embellishment and keeping his audience rapt in the palm of his hand. Between publishing a book called Wild Things They Don’t Tell Us in 2002 and claiming that he had seen no less than 14 different UFOs in his lifetime, some could have easily cast Presley off as having lost the plot. But the former songwriter truly became compelled in his cause, and woe betide anyone who tried to tell him it was all just hearsay.
After Presley passed away in early 2013, it seemed the very narrow Venn diagram between chart hits and alchemy had forever lost its most excitable spark. But his influence remains everywhere – whenever you hear a classic ‘60s hit on the radio, or have your annual Christmas rewatch of Love Actually, all of it is sprinkled with a little bit of magic and intrigue from Presley’s legacy. It certainly was a ‘Wild Thing’.
