Actor Michael Sheen has claimed his hometown of Port Talbot in Wales is the British ‘Area 51’ – after spotting UFOs flying there.
The famous thespian, 50, grew up in the Welsh town before finding fame in hit films like The Damned United, The Queen and Frost/Nixon.
But despite the town’s sleepy reputation Sheen thinks it actually a hotspot for extra-terrestrial life – calling it the “Little Chef of the galaxy”.
Speaking on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre podcast, he said: “I think Port Talbot, where I come from, is on some weird alien map. It’s like some sort of lay-by.
“The lady who lived next door – who was a very respectable lady and wouldn’t make up stories – told us that one morning she was in the kitchen which overlooked the back garden.
“She said she was standing there making a coffee and a flying saucer came down and hovered over her back garden and then went.
“Of course, you think that’s nonsense but she was a very serious lady.”
Sheen continued by saying both he and his dad had had similar close encounters.
He said: “One day I was coming home from school. I got off the school bus and I was walking up my street.
“I was just about to turn up the path to my house and coming round the mountain [near his house] was a formation of lights.
“I stood there looking at it thinking ‘this is going to be some sort of weird reflection’.
“There was a formation of some things coming round and going out across the sea then disappearing.
“And then years later on New Year’s Eve – not that long ago, about five years ago – my dad, who had not had a drink that night, went up to bed.
“He said he saw a light in the sky. My dad is a character but is not someone who would make this up.
“He said he saw a thing in the sky with lights going around it – it was there for ages then it shot off. I think Port Talbot is some kind of hub.”
Host Richard Herring then quipped: “People in Port Talbot maybe haven’t seen a helicopter before – could it be that?
To which Sheen humorously replied: “That is entirely possible.”
Port Talbot is located seven miles to the east of Swansea and has a population of around 37,000.
The podcast was posted today.