Meet Norbert Reichart the man behind the £300m Blackpool masterplan

Norbert Reichart found fame in Europe as a successful music producer and entrepreneur.

He broke on to the dance music scene in 1994 as the composer and producer of the Austrian trance band Imperio.

He left in 1997 to found the record label Dance Lab, a joint venture with EMI Austria.

It released 20 records, all of which made the top 20 of the Austrian sales charts. He has written and produced hits for the likes of José Carreras and Andrea Bocelli. Formula, by him and DJ Visage was a number one hit across many European countries.

Mr Reichart, now based in Moncao, owns and controls the rights to the Chariots of the Gods franchise, having met author Erich Von Daniken and becoming friends.

He said “We worked on an album together. Eirch narrated and I produced the songs. It was called World Of Mysteries and was a number two hit. After that I always wanted to develop a project with Erich.

“He is amazing – he is still touring with his writing. The book was a phenomenon, unique, and has so many possibilities for something like this attraction in Blackpool as it touches on ancient history, culture space travel and will appeal to all ages.”

Von Daniken’s book Chariots Of The Gods hypothesised that aliens had visited Earth thousands of years earlier, influencing early civilisations, changing the course of human history and then leaving with the promise to return.

It posed the question of whether some religious texts, cave drawings, stone sculptures, pyramids and monuments of the great ancient civilisations showed evidence of a close encounter with aliens.

Film director Ridley Scott is said to have credited Chariots Of The Gods as an influence for his classic blockbusters Alien and Prometheus.