Conspiracy theorists dare to go where others fear to tread

Last week was the anniversary of the assassination, on November 22, 1963, of the US president John F Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Within days, even hours, of his death there were those who disputed the official line that the shooting was carried out by one man: Lee Harvey Oswald.

In the years since, there has grown what might be called the mother of all conspiracy theories to explain what “really” happened, citing the involvement of everyone from the CIA to the mafia to Fidel Castro. By now, opinion polls in the US suggest most Americans believe that there was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy. In any event, the assassination of JFK has permeated the world’s consciousness so that we all know about the grassy knoll,

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