Southend-on-Sea, England: Kung Fu master Tony Anthony and Avanti Ministries

[littleoldme]

In respect of the White Tiger incident which you mention, it can't actually be proved one way or the other. Tony thought he saw a white Tiger so that's what he wrote - if what he saw was not actually a white Tiger but some other animal that does not make him a liar.

LOL

of course!

it's so easy to mistake a domestic cat for a white tiger so I can see how that would have happened!

What a joke

[Chili Pepper]

if what he saw was not actually a white Tiger but some other animal that does not make him a liar.

True, true - could'a been a mongoose, or a house cat or a ferret. It's so very easy to confuse those with a tiger.

Would love to have seen the publisher say that in person while keeping a straight face.

[littleoldme]

With regard to your claims regarding Tony's knowledge of Kung Fu i can only defer to the 'experts' in China. The book has been translated into Chinese and although there were some queries similar to those you have mentioned, Tony has answered all of these now to the publishers satisfaction - if they were in any doubt of the claims he has made i'm sure they would have brought these up already. If, however, you are convinced that there are basic errors in his Kung Fu knowledge we would encourage you to detail what you think these errors are.

I would be interested to hear just who these "experts" in China are.

Can Malcolm forward details of their names? I doubt they exist at all.

[stubbe78]

He actually emphsasizes the fact that they are very rare. Wouldn't it then be better to say that he remembered it as being a white tiger? I don't buy it.
They were/are not rare. Since 1958 they are strongly believed to be extinct in wild life.
The last one seen was in India 1958, btw

[stubbe78]

And then the one seen by Anthony in China........

[stephenprunetti]

My reply to Malcolm Down

Hi Malcolm,

Thank you for your email. Firstly, i have to say that your explanation of the tiger incident is ridiculous. Surely you have read the book. Judging from your answer, maybe not. In Tony's account he just missed being slashed by the tiger's claw. That is close enough to get a positive identification of an animal, surely!? - Maybe Tony was high on hallucinogenic drugs at the time and he mistook an albiino squirrel for a white tiger.

Also, the fact that the book has been translated into Chinese gives no credibility whatsoever to Tony's kung fu claims. When are you going to give some genuine evidence of his claims? This man was, allegedly, a world champ 3 times, his knowledge must surely be vast. The people, myself included, who have spoken to Tony, quickly conclude he has little or no knowledge of kung fu. I asked him two years ago what a 'flat horse stance' (one of many nonsenses in his book) is? His inspired reply was, 'You tell me.'

More importantly, i see that you have failed to answer my question about the murder that Tony freely admits to in his book. I would greatly appreciate an answer to this question.

Sincerely,

Stephen Prunetti.

[CrackFox]

Sorry I'm a little unclear on the time frame of events here. You tried to contact him about two years ago, but heard nothing from him. Then in the past few days there's a bit of activity on the thread, and wham, you get an e-mail?

[stephenprunetti]

Tony Anthony is a liar and a fraud.

Hi Crackfox,
Let me clarify things for you. I indeed did get in touch with Tony Anthony and Malcolm Down two years ago, to see if they could answer my questions. I contacted them both by email and telephone, and also went along to meet Anthony at one of his talks, and introduce myself. None of these communications answered, to any satisfactory degree, any of my questions. I had very little time back then, so had to give up and hope that others would expose him. I thought this likely to happen as his story is so ludicrous. But although many people are onto the fact that he is a total fantasist, unfortunately, Tony Anthony is still touring the world selling his books and telling his rather big fibs.
Recently, i have got more time to pursue this, so i have taken up from where i left off, and started to communicate with Malcolm Down again to see if i can get some reasonable answers to some very valid questions. But as you can no doubt see from Malcolm's reply, this is proving quite difficult.

[stubbe78]

I am so glad that you are confronting Malcolm. It is a way better exposure than I can provide by the information I found

[stephenprunetti]

Malcolm Down's latest fob off.

Hi Stephen,

I read the book in 2004 when the manuscript was first submitted so forgive me if my memory of the exact detail is a little hazy -We don't appear to have a copy around the office either so i could not even look it up! However what i'm trying to say is that if Tony said he saw a white tiger then we've no reason to doubt his explanation. I know some people doubt the existence of white tigers in Southern China but a very basic google search led me to sites which say that is indeed one place where they live.

I'm not a kung fu expert so can't comment on the 'flat horse stance' but did phone Angela and her explanation was that because Tony was taught by his grandfather some of the techniques involved may not be universally known.

Regarding the answer to the other question you raise, Tony (sic) advice was to check out the website in due course.

Regards

Malcolm

[stubbe78]

They couldn't get a copy of their own book? Simple google search will show you that white tigers did live in Southern China, but that is: DID
horse stance is mainly to protect your body from attackers from behind and from the side.
It can be used to attack too.
The various techniques can be verified on the internet, but that only proves that Anthony knows how to use the internet.
I'm not trying to just get Anthony down, but I want to know if he is a liar and I'm getting more and more convinced, eventhough I started out defending him.

[stubbe78]

Okay, white tigers are genetic mutations and as such they can occure from time to time in wild life, so he could have seen one, but it is very unlikely. If he saw it, it would be even more unlikely that he could get near it.
Furthermore, in nature white tigers rarely survive to adults, because of their light colour. It makes them easily seen and therefore easy to hunt down. And they their general health is normally quite bad, due to the mutation.
It is believed that it only occurs in 1 out of 10.000 times(both male and female have to carry the gene) and that only Bengal tigers carry the gene. In China there are 30-35 Bengal tigers.
So he could actually have seen one, but it is very very unlikely

[stubbe78]

In respect of the White Tiger incident which you mention, it can't actually be proved one way or the other. Tony thought he saw a white Tiger so that's what he wrote - if what he saw was not actually a white Tiger but some other animal that does not make him a liar

.

"We had been observing the tiger in close for several weeks" "That day the enourmous animal rested her big head against my body and let me scratch her behind her ears"

"I admired the fine fur"

THOUGHT he saw a white tiger????????????????

And then later this publishing guy begins to talk about google results on white tigers?
Maybe he should think a little before answering, I'm confused

[littleoldme]

FFS

There are no Bengal tiers living in China. Bengal tigers live in India, that's why they are called Bengal tigers.

The only Chinese tigers are the Indochinese tiger and the South China tiger, the latter being one of the 10 most endangered species in the world.

No tiger lives safely in China, as the massive demand for tiger parts for TCM makes a dead tiger a phenomenally valuable thing.

If Tony Anthony claimed to have encountered an ordinary golden tiger in China and that it just chilled out with him and let him scratch its ear the story would have been ludicrous. The claim that it was a white tiger just takes the already incredible story into cloud cuckoo land.

You could contact the people at any one of a number of tiger conservation charities and they would confirm this.

The Big Cat Haven in Florida might be a good place to start as they published this article about white tigers.

http://bigcathaven.org/cats/wild/whi...s_genetics.htm

[stubbe78]

Ok, numerous sites said that the species Bengal tiger originates from China. I will ask my cousin. he is a respected zoologist here in Denmark and also know a lot about tigers or else he knows someone who does.