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Shell Star Trek: The Game

Shell’s Friends, Foes, and Settlements: The Decades-Long Saga They Accidentally Immortalised

By John Donovan (with AI assistance)

RoyalDutchShellPLC.com Exclusive

Prologue: The Paper Trail That Became a Web Trail

On 19 September 2016, a post on RoyalDutchShellGroup.com quietly listed “links to several hundred articles by a host of different publishers … plus over 60,000 Shell-related articles” hosted across the Donovan websites.

It read like a piece of digital housekeeping.

In reality, it was the master ledger of how one multinational’s attempts at corporate control ended up immortalising the very archive it wanted to erase.

The post linked outward — to Reuters, The Guardian, The Moscow Times, and beyond — forming a living map of Shell’s missteps, litigation, and internal paranoia, all drawn together by a network of persistence that Shell accidentally helped to publicise. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Hakluyt’s Tentacles have reached into 10 Downing Street, the White House, even the Church of England

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Hakluyt is what happens when you build a shadow empire and pray no one turns on the lights. Born from ex-MI6 operatives, this private intelligence outfit has become Shell’s’ go-to for  gathering intel, and keeping critics on a leash. Its tentacles have reached into 10 Downing Street, the White House, and even the Church of England.

What Is Hakluyt, Really?

  • Founded 1995 by Christopher James and Mike Reynolds. Known to hire former spies, journalists, insiders.

    (Wikipedia – Hakluyt & Company)

  • Revenue figure modest as spy-firms go: millions, but influence? Leverage across government, corporations, utilities, and even religious institutions.

    (Wikipedia)

Close Ties: Shell, BP & the Spy Firm

Shell’s relationship with Hakluyt is not “incidental advisory.” Internal sources and whistleblowers (Alfred and John Donovan) collected evidence that Shell directors such as Sir William Purves and Sir Peter Holmes held senior roles in Hakluyt. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

John Donovan vs Shell

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction of John Donovan

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction

Contact email address for the website owner, John Donovan (above): [email protected]

UPDATE ADDED 31 JULY 2021. On or around 22 July 2021, an incompetent cyber Intelligence outfit acting for Shell issued a 5-day ultimatum on behalf of Shell to the company hosting this website. See Shell’s failed blundering attempt to kill my royaldutchshell.website Update ends.

UPDATE ADDED 30 OCTOBER 2021. The most recent television coverage was in the Channel 4 TV controversial film documentary Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant broadcast on 24 Oct 2021. View transcript at Joe Lycett vs The Oil Giant – John Donovan segment.

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The information contained on this website is sourced mainly from the EBook displayed above, authored by John Donovan. It was first published in 2016 and has been updated and expanded with related information.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia articles cover multitudinous subjects including the history and accomplishments of prominent individuals and major businesses, including Royal Dutch Shell.

The information provided is supposedly accurate.

Unfortunately, the integrity of Wikipedia is corrupted by a policy allowing the anonymous editing of articles.

This fundamental flaw allows articles to be potentially sanitized of any facts embarrassing to a featured person or business. 

Decisions are sometimes taken within the Wikipedia community to remove entire articles from the public gaze in the shadiest circumstances.

Participants in such decisions are allowed to hide their identity and their background circumstances.

The flaws in editing credibility are especially important in regards to big business as positive or negative information in a Wikipedia article about a company can potentially have an impact on its reputation and value.  The flaws have been exploited. Negative information has been removed from Wikipedia articles.

For example, Wikipedia articles about Shell Dutch Shell have been covertly edited by Shell employees from Shell offices. This was only discovered as a result of electronic scanning technology.

Entire articles about Royal Dutch Shell controversies, including employee safety issues and environmental concerns, have been deleted by anonymous editors.

This was despite the fact that the information met all Wikipedia requirements, with independent evidence from reputable third-party sources cited to verify all stated facts.

John Donovan was the initiating author of Wikipedia articles that were subsequently cleansed by Wikipedia editors of information deemed embarrassing to Shell. Most Wikipedia editors use aliases so that their identity and background is unknown. 

He was also the author of the deleted Wikipedia articles relating to Shell.

He declared to Wikipedia at the outset of becoming a voluntary editor his background and expertise in relation to Shell.

CONCERN BY SHELL OVER WIKIPEDIA EDITING BY JOHN DONOVAN

As a result of an application to Shell under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, Donovan discovered from Shell internal communications a deep concern by Shell over his Wikipedia editor contributions about Shell.

The tone of one particular internal Shell email was hostile and aggressive to a degree that Reuters published an article about it. Shell put a large team of people on a war footing and John Donovan, his website, and Shell’s own employees became the target of a global spying operation by Shell Corporate Affairs Security.

John Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

At one stage Shell displayed posters at the Shell Centre in London defaming John Donovan and his father.

In response, the Donovan’s sued Shell for libel. One of two libel actions they brought against Shell. Both were settled out of court, as were all of the other court actions. Shell also lost the case decided by the WIPO.

For more than a decade, John Donovan has operated non-profit websites focussed on Shell including royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com, both of which Shell unsuccessfully attempted to seize.

Several hundred mainstream media articles by the FT, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires etc., and over 50 books contain references to either John Donovan, his father, and/or the Shell focussed websites they co-founded.

Shell has a dark history it would prefer to forget and would like to keep hidden. See my ebooks published on Amazon:

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image on each book cover is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

In January 2016, Shell received the dubious distinction of being named as the most hated brand in the world.

VW challenges Shell as world’s ‘most hated’ brand after emissions scandal

(Information from WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: The above Shell logo image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous.)

The world’s most hated company: can NGOs help turn Shell’s reputation around?

Wikipedia is not the only Internet brand name corrupted by the use of unethical people using online aliases. The following Guardian newspaper articles about the fake reviews plaguing Amazon are worth reading.

The same basic fake review problem undermines confidence in the authenticity of customer reviews for all Internet business and all products sold online. The content of all Wikipedia articles having a commercial dimension and all online product reviews are suspect because editors/reviewers can hide their identity. Hence the online businesses springing up offering a service to sanitise/enhance Wikipedia articles and/or mass manufacture fake reviews, sometimes for counterfeit sub-standard products.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Introduction of Don Marketing

John Donovan, a co-founder of promotional games company Don Marketing: Photo taken in 2015.

By John Donovan

In 1979, the company I co-founded, *Don Marketing, created and supplied promotional games that were used to promote petrol sales on the forecourts of all major petrol brands in the UK, including Shell.

In June 1981, we moved into a  direct contractual relationship with Shell as a result of a presentation I made at Shell-Mex House in The Strand, the then London HQ of Shell UK Limited.

I put forward a proposal for Shell to launch a legal version of a promotional game called Make Money that Shell had abandoned in the 1960‘s out of concern that it was in breach of UK lottery laws. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Don Marketing Promotional Posters Online Archive

A small sampling of the thousands of retailers and major global brands that were all clients of the worlds No1 Promotional Games company, Don Marketing.

Whitbread Scoop the Pools promotion.

Approx size: 21 x 30 cm portrait 

Don Marketing co-founder John Donovan photographed in October 2020 with a Whitbread “SCOOP THE POOLS” poster.

Nabisco Shredded Wheat Space Invaders Promotion.

Approx size: 22 x 30 cm portrait.

Don Marketing co-founder John Donovan photographed in October 2020 with a Nabisco Shredded Wheat Space Invaders poster. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Don Marketing Roll Call of Promotional Games

Two decades before co-founding Don Marketing, John Donovan was in the petrol retailing business with his father Alfred Donovan operating a chain of petrol stations and garages in East London and Essex. Their main garage, known initially as East & Donovan and later as A & J Donovan, held  Standard-Triumph and Leyland light commercial franchises.

In 1967, Alfred and John Donovan founded Jackpot Promotions, which launched a Freeline Football petrol sales promotion at garages throughout the UK, including Fina, Cleveland, Amoco and independent petrol stations. The computer-printed football coupons – examples below – were printed by Thomas De La Rue. Each contained a different pre-paid entry on Zetters Pools.  

Freeline Football used Australian football teams in the summer season. 

In 1979, Alfred and John co-founded Don Marketing with Bob Donovan and Don Redhead and launched a modified Freeline Football promotion on “no purchase necessary” basis.

DON MARKETING PROMOTIONAL GAMES FROM 1979 ONWARDS.

(Left to right) Roger Sotherton (Managing Director), John Donovan (Chairman) and Ken Brown (Operations Director).

Some Don Marketing staff including Steven Donovan and Lisa, smiling.

DON MARKETING OCCUPIED THE ENTIRE TOP FLOOR OF CRITERION HOUSE IN CHELMSFORD. 

The Game pieces displayed below are not actual size.

GAMES FOR SHELL

SHELL MAKE MONEY GAME 1984 FOR SHELL UK

Don Marketing supplied the Make Money game on an international basis for Shell, including Shell Singapore – poster immediately below.

RELATED LINKS

Fast flowing Don: Marketing Magazine 16 February 1984

Shell Make Money full page advert: Daily Express 21 February 1984

Shell Make Money full page advert: Evening Standard 21 February 1984

Shell is back making money: Incentive Marketing and Sales Promotion March 1984

London Evening Standard article “the old lady with the right-hand halves” about the “spectacularly” successful Shell Make Money game: 1984

Anatomy of a Shell winner: Campaign Magazine 27 April 1984 read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Star Trek Promotion created and supplied by Don Marketing

The “Every Card Can Win Shell Star Trek scratch card game was invented for Shell by promotional games wizard John Donovan (photo left from a magazine article published at that time).

Donovan was a co-founder of the promotional games company Don Marketing which was responsible for creating a host of innovative forecourt games for Shell on an international basis including Shell Make Money, Shell Mastermind (linked to the BBC), Shell Make Merry (linked to Harrods) Shell Bruce’s Lucky Deal (linked to Bruce Forsyth) and Star Trek the Game linked to the original Star Trek TV series and the follow-up Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Each promotion had a budget of around £4.5 million. Don Marketing games for Shell ran in several countries around the globe. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.