how to convert text file with unknown 16 bit encoding to 8 bit as cii

[Joe Smith]

Lancashire, Pete wrote:
> how do I convert a file (or output to stdont) with an unknown 16 encoding
> into plain ol' ASCII aka 8 BIT ?
> 
> Example of files contents...

This seems to work with your sample:

$ recode utf16 <sample | od -bc
0000000 074 110 124 115 114 076 012 040 040 074 102 117 104 131 076 012
           <   H   T   M   L   >  \n           <   B   O   D   Y   >  \n
0000020