Psychic reader booth at a fair.

A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information with clairvoyance and the resulting statements made during such an attempt.^[1] The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs.^[2][3] Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry,^[4] a popular interest in them persists.^[5] When seeking a psychic reading the choice between a "pseudo-psychic" and a psychic who is considered to be "genuinely gifted" by clients is commonly made based on word of mouth.^{[6][unreliable source?]}

Types of psychic reading[link]

There are many types of psychic readings practiced by those who claim to have psychic abilities. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, a professional psychic may have one or more specialized areas of expertise. Some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings.

Astrology[link]

Astrology readings are a form of divination based on alignments of the sun, moon, planets and fixed stars. Astrology is an ancient practice and pre-dates many scientific methods of astral observation.^[7] Astrology does not require psychic ability.

Aura reading[link]

Aura readings involve the observation and interpretation of auras.^[8] The “aura” is a field of subtle, luminous radiation supposedly surrounding a person.^[9] Psychics have offered aura readings for many years. They claim to have a unique ability to see or sense individual’s auras, however no evidence has ever been provided to substantiate this claim. The only supporting evidence for this claim lies within the logical fallacy that psychics use when they claim they are one of the special few individuals who can see auras, and that they are unable to provide evidence to prove this claim. Psychics suggest auras are made up of “bioelectromagnetic fields” or other such phenomenon that do not have a legitimate, scientific meaning. Individuals such as James Randi have tried to test claims made about aura reading, and when he includes a few simple regulations to the test, all the claimants abilities disappear. Since the ability to read auras has been so publicly debunked, Robert Bruce, in his book Auric Mechanics and Theory, has updated the conditions or variables that need to be in place for a proper aura reading. Bruce stated that auras cannot be seen if any part of the person emitting the aura is obscured. One must wonder why clothing doesn’t seem to inhibit aura readings.

Cartomancy or Playing Card Reading[link]

Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards.^[10] Tarot readings are a form of cartomancy.

Cleromancy[link]

Cleromantic readings usually involve casting small objects and reading them by their position, orientation, and mutual proximity. There are numerous variants used throughout the world.^{[citation needed]}

Distant readings[link]

A distant reading, "traveling clairvoyance", or "remote perception" can be conducted without the reader ever meeting the client.^[11] This includes Letters, Telephone, SMS, Email, Chat and Webcam Readings.

Correspondence readings are usually done via letters, later emails and filling in special forms on Psychic websites. After submitting the question Client usually waits for hours or days for the answer to come. Because of no immediate connection between Psychic and Client this type of readings usually requires some attachment from the client's side, most commonly a portrait or a photograph of a person in question, as the Psychic needs something that would help establish stronger connection.^{[citation needed]}

Telephone readings are live readings where both Psychic and Client hear each other by connecting via Premium Rate telephone line. In the last years, with restrictions on premium rate numbers, more common are pre-paid callbacks, in which case Client leaves his/her credit card details over the phone to an operator, after which gets a call on a specified phone number. Telephone readings became most popular with the growth of live advice TV shows as main means of advertising, and is commonly used by Companies rather than individual Psychics, due to high setup costs.^{[citation needed]}

SMS^{[clarification needed]} and Chat readings is a quick Question-and-Answer format of Reading allowing exchange of basic information between Psychic and Client.

Webcam Reading, or Video Chat Reading is the newest way of Psychic Reading allowing real time live connection between Psychic and Client. Client has possibility to see and hear Psychic, and can choose to be viewed, seen and/or type during the Reading. This means of connection is said to be the best after an offline private reading, as allows Psychic use all channels of connection with Client in real time.^{[citation needed]}

Lithomancy and crystallomancy[link]

Lithomancy readings usually involve especially suitable gems or stones that are emersed in water, or tossed as a set and read by mutual proximity.^[12] Its origins are unknown, and there are numerous different methodologies used by various cultures throughout the world. A recently more common variant is crystallomancy also known as crystal gazing.^[13] Using quartz as a crystal ball^[14] it is stereotypically depicted as gypsy fortune telling.

Numerology[link]

Numerology is defined as the study of the occult meanings of numbers and their influence on human life. It is essentially a reading of an individual based specifically upon numerical values such as their date of birth, letters in their names, etc. Numerology can be used in psychic readings.

Palm reading[link]

Palmistry is another popular method of psychic readings, involving characterization and foretelling of one's future through the study of the lines, shapes, wrinkles and curves on the palm. Palmistry does not require psychic ability.

Psychometry[link]

Psychometry is a form of psychic reading in which the reader claims to obtain details about another through physical contact with their possessions.^[15] Psychometry readers often ask the subject for their favorite and most meaningful objects, such as wedding rings, glasses, car keys, etc., for the reading. The belief is that objects which are in close proximity to a person for extended periods of time hold some of that person's energy; energy which can be detected. This method has been used to try and locate missing persons.^[16]

Rune reading[link]

Runes are an ancient alphabet used for divining the future. The runes are cast on a mat to discern future events or path a problem or issue will take. Runes are also considered magic and are used for spells and incantations by some witches.^{[citation needed]}

Tarot reading[link]

Tarot cards have been greatly popularized. Traditional decks are available in chain bookstores. New decks also frequently appear in New Age bookstores. Though not requiring psychic abilities, Tarot cards can be used as a psychic tool and Tarot readings are common at psychic fairs.^[5][17]

See also[link]

• Cold reading
• List of parapsychology topics
• Mediumship
• Psychic
• Remote viewing

References[link]

John Edward McGee, Jr. (born October 19, 1969) is an American television personality and professional psychic medium. He is best known for his TV shows Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country.

Born in Glen Cove, New York, Edward says he was convinced at a young age that he could become a psychic.^[1] After writing his first book on the subject in 1998, Edward became a well-known and controversial figure in the United States through his shows broadcast on SCI FI Channel beginning in July 2000 and We TV since May 2006.

Biography[link]

The only son of an Irish-American policeman and an Italian-American working mother,^[2] Edward was raised Roman Catholic. Although Edward later stopped practicing that faith, he has said he never stopped feeling connected to God and is still closely connected to his Catholic roots.^[1] Edward once said, "This is something that is driven by a belief in God. It's the energy from that force that I think allows us to create this energy."^[3]

According to Edward, when he was 15 and "a huge doubter" (in psychic abilities), he was "read" by a New Jersey woman who convinced him that he could become a medium.^[4]

"She told me things that there is no way she could have known. And the first part of the reading was that this was the path that I was supposed to be on and that I was supposed to be a teacher and help people and — I thought she was nuts."^[4] Speaking of the same encounter in a 2002 interview, Edward said, "She told me I would one day become internationally known for my psychic abilities through lectures, books, radio and TV. I thought she was full of it until she started to tell me things no one in my life knew about... The details were unbelievable."^[5]

Later, Edward worked as a phlebotomist while pursuing a degree in health care administration at Long Island University.^[6] He met his wife, Sandra McGee, when he was a student in a dance studio, and he became a ballroom dancing instructor before entering his current field of work.^[4] He and his wife had their first child, Justin, on September 25, 2002, and their second child, Olivia, on January 25, 2007.

Television shows[link]

Edward published his first book, One Last Time, in 1998. His related appearance on Larry King Live later in the year prompted enough phone calls to overload the show's switchboard.^[7] The next year, Edward had a show of his own.

[edit] Crossing Over with John Edward

From 1999 to 2004, Edward was the producer and host of the show Crossing Over with John Edward, which has been syndicated and was broadcast on SCI FI Channel in the United States and on LIVINGtv in the UK. In Crossing Over, Edward gave readings to audience members.^[8]

Show format[link]

Readings in Crossing Over involve Edward questioning audience members with what is presented as information being communicated by their deceased friends and relatives. Edward says he receives images and clues from "the other side" which the audience must assist him in interpreting. Aside from questionnaires filled out prior to taping, the audience is not supposed to supply Edward with any prior information about themselves, their family or whom they are trying to connect with "on the other side".^[8] Audience members respond to Edward's statements and questions, adding any details they feel are appropriate. The show often employs a split screen, the view of a reading without sound on one half of the screen while on the other half the subjects of the reading are shown in a later interview as they discuss their experiences. A voiceover by Edward is also implemented at times, sharing further insights and inspirational messages.

In other instances, Edward conducted private sessions away from the studio audience. The subjects of these segments later talked in greater detail about the situation that led to their reading with Edward and the effect the reading had on their lives. Periodically, segments revisit people who have previously appeared on the show.

[edit] John Edward Cross Country

Edward's current show, John Edward Cross Country, has been broadcast on We TV, since March 2006. In this forum, the audience is not supposed to supply Edward with any prior information about themselves, their family or whom they are trying to connect with "on the other side."^[9] According to Edward, he simply "lets his guides draw him to the people that spirits are trying to connect with, and the audience should only validate the information he gives them".^[9] In each episode, after a reading Edward is filmed visiting the person or people whose reading was televised, along with their families, to see how the experience had changed their lives.^[10]

During the first season of Cross Country, Edward traveled across the US,^[11] giving readings to large audiences in public venues. In subsequent seasons, the show has been broadcast from a set similar to that used for Crossing Over.^[12]

Criticism and controversy[link]

Paranormal study[link]

Gary Schwartz, a psychologist and researcher in the controversial field of parapsychology, designed and administered a series of tests for Edward and several other mediums to investigate their paranormal claims and published his belief that Edward's abilities were genuine in his book The Afterlife Experiments.^[13] The study did not undergo scientific peer review, and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Ray Hyman, a psychologist and noted critic of parapsychology, wrote a detailed critique of Schwartz's methodology and conclusions in a 2003 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer.^[14] Schwartz responded to the critique,^[15] leading Hyman to write a rebuttal.^[16]

Critics of Edward assert he performs the mentalist techniques of hot reading and cold reading, in which one respectively uses prior knowledge or a wide array of quick and sometimes general guesses to create the impression of psychic ability.^{[17][18][19][20]} Choosing the first reading from a two hour tape of edited shows as a sample, magician and skeptic James Randi found that just three of twenty three statements made by Edward were confirmed as correct by the audience member being read, and the three statements that were correct were also trivial and nondescript.^[21] In another incident, Edward was said to have used foreknowledge to hot read in an interview on the television show Dateline.^[22] James Underdown of the Independent Investigative Group (IIG) attended a Crossing Over show in November 2002 and said "there were no indications of anyone I saw collecting information... none of his readings contained the kind of specific information that would raise an eyebrow of suspicion. ... John Edward was a bad cold reader. He, too, struggled to get hits, and in one attempt shot off nearly forty guesses before finding any significant targets."^[23]

Another criticism has been that Edward's apparent accuracy on television is inflated by the editing process.^[18] After watching the broadcast version of the show he had attended and recorded, Underdown attributed a great deal of Edward's accuracy on television to editing and wrote, "Edward's editor fine-tuned many of the dead-ends out of a reading riddled with misses."^[23] In 2002, Edward said, "People are in the studio for eight hours, and we have to edit the show for time, not content. We don't try to hide the 'misses'."^[5]

Edward has denied ever using hot or cold reading techniques.^[24]

9/11[link]

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of communicating with those who were killed. According to Edward's autobiography, he did not know that the producers had chosen the victims' families to appear on the show. The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV-station executives on October 25, 2001. Steve Rosenberg, president of domestic television at Studios USA, the company that distributes Edward's program, had tentatively scheduled the program(s) to be broadcast during the November sweeps period, but news of the taping sparked a national outcry. Both SCI FI Channel and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mail, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived as extreme tastelessness in search of ratings. Rosenberg initially ignored the criticism, insisting the programming would go on as scheduled, but within hours he terminated his plans.^[25][26]

The episodes based on the September 11, 2001 attacks are not included on the DVD box set for the respective series.

Appearances in the media[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012)

Edward has appeared or been mentioned in many television shows, including: ABC's 20/20,^[27] The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, The Crier Report, Dateline, The Early Show, Entertainment Tonight,^[28] Family Guy, Fox and Friends, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Larry King Live, the HBO Special, Life After Life: America Undercover, Live with Regis & Kelly, Maury, Oprah, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, The 7pm Project, South Park ("The Biggest Douche in the Universe"), The Tony Danza Show, The View, The Wayne Brady Show, Will & Grace, Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Dr. Phil.^[29] He has also had numerous radio appearances, including The Howard Stern Show.

Books[link]

• One Last Time: A Psychic Medium Speaks to Those We Have Loved and Lost (1998) ISBN 0-425-16908-1
• What If God Were the Sun? (2000) ISBN 1-58872-003-9
• Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories (2001) ISBN 1-58872-002-0
• After Life: Answers From the Other Side (2003) ISBN 1-932128-06-9
• Final Beginnings: The Tunnel (2004) ISBN 1-932128-02-6
• Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to Enhance Your Life (2005) ISBN 1-932128-12-3
• Infinite Quest: Develop Your Psychic Intuition to Take Charge of Your Life (2010) ISBN 978-1-4027-7893-3

Audio books[link]

• Developing Your Own Psychic Powers
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-762-7
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-932128-03-4
• Understanding Your Angels and Meeting Your Guides
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-763-5
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-4019-0133-6
• Unleashing Your Psychic Potential
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-764-3
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-4019-0136-0

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about John Edward on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Official website
• John Edward Presents InfiniteQuest
• John Edward at the Internet Movie Database
• John Edward at the Open Directory Project
• Crossing Over at TV.com
• John Edward Cross Country at TV.com
• John Edward Tunes in to the Afterlife, an interview with Wendy Schuman
• "Can John Edward Speak to the Dead?". Larry King Live. 2001-09-10. CNN. 

Critical articles[link]

• Deconstructing The Dead Michael Shermer reports on Edward and an ABC-TV profile.
• "How come TV psychics seem so convincing?"
• Greatest Hits and Misses of John Edward
• Shooting Crap: Alleged psychic John Edward actually gambles on hope and basic laws of statistics
• Daily Variety review of "John Edward Cross Country"
• Talking to Heaven Through Television at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Lisa Williams (born 19 June 1973 in Birmingham, England) is a claimed psychic and healer who has starred in two shows on Lifetime TV: Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead (2006–2007) and Lisa Williams: Voices From the Other Side (2008).

Williams is the granddaughter of Frances Glazebrook, a British medium. ^[1]

Williams also appeared on Deal or No Deal when the episode aired on NBC on 31 March 2008. She also made a guest appearance in one of Lifetime's other shows called America's Psychic Challenge.

In 2004, Williams gave a reading to a senior staff member of TV host Merv Griffin. As a result, Griffin worked with her to host a show of her own.^[2] Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead aired for two seasons on the Lifetime network 2006-2007. Her show Lisa Williams: Voices From the Other Side ran for five consecutive nights on the network in October 2008. Her shows are also seen in United Kingdom on three different networks.^{[citation needed]} The shows followed Williams on a typical day, as she claims to communicate with the dead, investigates haunted houses, and conducts other spirit-seeking activities.^[3] She claims she has spoken to Bob Hope, Princess Diana, Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe and Ray Charles after they died.

In March 2009 Williams toured Australia, donating the profits to the Australian bushfire appeal - a total of $65,000.^[4]

On May 22nd, 2012 Williams became an ordained faith-based Minister, as part of ordination through Universal Life Church World Headquarters. ^[5]

Marriage and family[link]

Williams had a long-term relationship with Simon Shore, with whom she had a son, Charles Edward Williams-Shore. They are separated.

On 30 October 2004, Willams married Isaac Garrison. They moved to Los Angeles, California when she was producing her TV shows. As of 2009, they were still living in Los Angeles.^[6] On her Hay House Radio show on 9 December 2009, Garrison announced that he and his wife were separating. Williams is now in a relationship with her female partner, Holly.^[7]

Bibliography[link]

• Life Among the Dead (2009) ISBN 1416596372
• The Survival of the Soul (Do You Want to Know Everything?) (2011) ISBN 978-1401928049

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead at the Internet Movie Database
• Life Among the Dead main page at Lifetime

fr:Lisa Williams

no:Lisa Williams fi:Lisa Williams

Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette after the Penn & Teller show at the Rio in Paradise, Nevada, May 23, 2007
Born	Penn Fraser Jillette (1955-03-05) March 5, 1955 (age 57) Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada
Nationality	American
Occupation	Magician, illusionist, writer, actor, inventor
Years active	1974–present
Known for	Half of the comedy magic duo known as Penn & Teller
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1]
Political party	Libertarian Party
Religion	None (atheist)
Website
Penn and Teller.com

Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American illusionist, comedian, musician, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, scientific skepticism, libertarianism and free market capitalism.

Early life[link]

Jillette was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. His mother, Valda R. Jillette (née Parks) (November 8, 1909 – January 1, 2000),^[2] was a secretary, and his father, Samuel H. Jillette (March 14, 1912 – February 14, 1999),^[2] worked at Greenfield's Franklin County Jail.^[3][4][5] Jillette became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic, such as The Amazing Kreskin on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionist James Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterious supernatural power. Jillette regularly acknowledges Randi as the one person on the planet he loves the most besides members of his family.

Jillette worked with high school classmate Michael Moschen in developing and performing a juggling act during the years immediately following their 1973 graduation.^[5] In 1974, Jillette graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.^[6] That same year, he was introduced to Teller by Weir Chrisemer, a mutual friend.^[7] The three then formed a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played in Amherst, Massachusetts and San Francisco.^[5] In 1981, he and Teller teamed up as Penn & Teller, and went on to do a successful on- and Off Broadway show called "Penn & Teller" that toured nationally.^[5]

Career and showtime[link]

In 1994 Jillette purchased a home in Las Vegas and dubbed it "The Slammer".^[8] It has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles and was designed by his friend Colin Summers. He currently records music there, and previously conducted his radio show at the studio inside "The Slammer".^[9][10]

Jillette was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct PC/Computing magazine in the early 1990s, having a regular back section column between 1990 and 1994. True to form, the columns were often as much about Uma Thurman as actual PC computing issues. Jillette and PC Computing parted ways over a dispute with a new editor. Jillette felt the new editor was trying to tell him how to write his column and what topics he should be covering. Jillette asserts that he is unsure if he was fired or if he actually quit.

Jillette was the primary voice announcer for the U.S.-based cable network Comedy Central in the 1990s.^[11][12]

Starting in 1996, he had a recurring role on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as Drell, the head of the Witches' Council. He and Teller both appeared in the pilot with Debbie Harry as the third member of the Council. The show was created by Jillette's friend Nell Scovell.

For a brief time in 1997, Jillette wrote bi-weekly dispatches for the search engine Excite.com. Each column ended with a pithy comment identifying which of the Penn & Teller duo he was. (For example: "Penn Jillette is the half of Penn & Teller that's detained at airports.") Jillette made a habit of linking many words in his online column to wacky sites that generally had nothing to do with the actual words. The columns are no longer available on the current Excite.com site, but have been republished with permission at PennAndTeller.com.^[13]

Starting in 2003, Jillette, along with his partner Teller, began producing and hosting the show Penn & Teller: Bullshit! In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "bullshit".

In 2005 with actor Paul Provenza, Jillette co-produced and co-directed The Aristocrats (2005), a documentary film tracing the life of a dirty joke known as "The Aristocrats".

From January 3, 2006 to March 2, 2007, Jillette hosted, along with fellow atheist, skeptic, and juggler Michael Goudeau, a live, hour-long radio talk show broadcast on the radio station brand known as Free FM. The show, Penn Radio, broadcast from his Vintage Nudes Studio in Jillette's Las Vegas home. The most notable recurring segment of the show was "Monkey Tuesday" and later "The Pull of the Weasel". On March 2, 2007, Jillette, on Free FM, announced that he would no longer be doing his radio show. He stated that he is a "show biz wimp" and decided to stop doing the show so he could spend more time with his kids Zolten Penn Jillette and Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette.

During the 2006–07 television season, Jillette hosted the prime time game show "Identity" on NBC-TV.

In 2008, Jillette was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. He was the first celebrity to be eliminated. A reference to his large feet as a sign of another large body part was bleeped in the West Coast airing.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Jillette did a spoken guest appearance on a song by Pakistani rapper Adil Omar. The song was titled "Spookshow" and produced by DJ Solo of Soul Assassins. The lyrics condemn religious extremism and encourage skepticism. It is set to be featured on a compilation album by Thick Syrup Records alongside artists like Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Half Japanese and more.^{[citation needed]}

On May 24, 2010, Jillette began a bi-weekly show on Revision3 called Penn Point. It is currently on hiatus. The last update was posted on October 26, 2011.^[14]

On August 16, 2011 Jillette's book God, No! Signs You May Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales was released and made the New York Times Best Sellers in its first week of publication.

An avid upright bassist, Penn frequently accompanies jazz pianist Mike Jones, who opens for the magician's Las Vegas show.^[15]

Jillette was one of the contestants on The Celebrity Apprentice season 5, beginning on February 19, 2012. He was fired from the show by Donald Trump on the April 22 episode of the show. Also on February 19, 2012, along with Michael Goudeau, he started the podcast Penn's Sunday School.

Business ventures[link]

Jill-Jet[link]

In July 1999, Jillette was granted U.S. Patent 5,920,923 for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for a woman's pleasure. He has credited Debbie Harry of Blondie for suggesting the idea, as the two of them were once in a hot-tub and Harry made a remark about changing the jets for a woman's pleasure. Jillette liked the idea enough to pursue patent application at the USPTO under the patent title "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator".^[16] The abstract of the patent explains that a "discharge nozzle is located within the tub and connected to the outlet, mounted to the seat so that the discharged water from the circulation pump automatically aligns with and is directed to stimulation points (i.e., the clitoris) of the female user when the female user sits in the seat." An article in the June 2006 issue of Playboy shed additional light on the invention. Originally, it was to be called the "ClitJet", however he stated that "Jill-Jet" was more suitable because it included his name in the title. Also, "jilling off" is a colloquialism for female masturbation.^{[citation needed]}

On the Penn Radio show, telling the listeners about the photo shoot for the Playboy article, Jillette mentioned that he has a Jill-Jet installed in a tub at "The Slammer", and that several of his female friends and friends' spouses enjoy it a lot, but he is not aware of any other installations of a water jet in such a configuration anywhere else.

Vintage Nudes Studio[link]

Jillette created a private recording studio in his Las Vegas home.^[17] The addition, designed by Outside The Lines Studio and built by Crisci Custom Builders between October 2003 and June 2004 as part of his Las Vegas home,^[18] was named Vintage Nudes Studios by Jillette for playing cards that he had collected. The cards are displayed in the interior design in a manner which is meaningful to magicians.^[19] The studio was home to Free FM's Penn Radio show, and is currently the home of the Penn's Sunday School stream and podcast.^[17][20]

Personal life[link]

Jillette is married to Emily Zolten and has a daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette and a son Zolten Jillette.

He says he has never used recreational drugs or alcohol. He is, however, an advocate of the legalization of all drugs and discontinuing the War on Drugs.^[21]

Jillette is an atheist, libertarian (he has stated that he may consider himself to be an Anarcho-capitalist),^[22] and skeptic, as well as an adherent to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, as stated on his Penn Says podcast. Jillette is a Fellow at the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, and has stated that he "always" votes Libertarian.^[23] In January 2007, Jillette took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by the Rational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of a holy spirit.^[24] His cars' license plates read "atheist", "nogod", and "godless".^[25] "Strangely enough, they wouldn't give me 'Infidel,'" he says.^[25]

In 2005 he wrote and read an essay for National Public Radio claiming that he was "beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God  ... I believe there is no God."^[26] His atheism, he has explained, has informed every aspect of his life and thoughts, and as such is as crucial to him as theistic beliefs are to the devout. Jillette welcomes and even encourages open discussion, debate, and proselytizing on the issue of God's existence, believing that the issue is too important for opinions about it to remain private. Jillette does not, however, dismiss all who do believe in God: A 2008 edition of his Penn Says podcast expresses his appreciation for a fan who brought him the gift of a pocket Gideon Bible after a performance because he realized that this individual sincerely cared enough about him to try to help him.^[27]

Jillette has stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision on global warming, and that it is an emotion versus logic issue.^[28]

Red fingernail[link]

Speculation arises from Jillette's red fingernail on his left hand. From a FAQ from Penn & Teller's official website, there are three common answers:

1. It means he once shot a man for asking personal questions.
2. When Jillette first began performing, his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, he had all of his nails painted red as a joke. The one remaining red fingernail is in honor of his mother.^[29]
3. It's just cool and can also sometimes provide excellent misdirection.^[7]

On the episode of Penn Radio broadcast on November 29, 2006, Jillette related the real story behind his red fingernail. It began as a joke with his mother. When he was 18 years old, his mother advised him to keep his hands looking nice, since he then was working as a magician and his audience would be looking at his hands. Jillette colored the single nail red and showed it to his mother. He has continued to paint that single nail to the present. The color he uses is Jelly Apple Red (#054) by Essie.^[30][29]

Appearances[link]

Filmography[link]

• Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)
• The Growth (2009)
• The Aristocrats (2005)
• Michael Moore Hates America (2004)
• Fantasia 2000 (2000)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Hackers (1995)
• Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
• The Residents: Twenty Twisted Questions (1992)
• Half Japanese – The Band That Would Be King (1991)
• Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)
• Gandahar (1988)
• Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)
• My Chauffeur (1986)
• Off Beat (1985)
• Savage Island (1985)

Television[link]

• Miami Vice
  • "Prodigal Son" (1985) TV episode ... Jimmy Borges
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
  • "Illusions of Grandeur" (1 episode, 1994) ... Romick
• VR 5
  • "Pilot" (1 episode, 1995) ... Mr.Orwell Kravitz
• Friends
  • "The One With the Cuffs" (1 episode, 1997) ... Encyclopedia Salesman
• The Drew Carey Show
  • "See Drew Run" (1997) TV episode ... Archibald Fenn
  • "Drew Meets Lawyers" (1995) TV episode ... Archibald Fenn
• Sabrina The Teenage Witch
  • "First Kiss" (1997) TV episode .... Drell
  • "Jenny's Non-Dream" (1997) TV episode ... Drell
  • "Terrible Things" (1996) TV episode ... Drell
  • "Pilot" (1996) TV episode ... Drell
• Babylon 5
  • "Day of the Dead" (1998) TV episode ... Rebo
• Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular 1998–99
• "Hollywood Squares" (1999–2004) regular
• The Simpsons
  • "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
  • "The Great Simpsina" (2 episodes, 1999, 2011) ... himself
• Dharma & Greg (2001)
• The West Wing
  • "In the Room" (2004) ... himself
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (2003–2010)
• The Moxy Show (original voice of Flea; later replaced by an unidentified actor in some episodes)
• Identity (premiered in December 2006); returned on March 16, 2008 on NBC and will air for seven weeks every Friday at 8 pm ET.^[22]
• Real Time with Bill Maher (2006) TV episode ... himself
• Dancing with the Stars (2008) ... himself^[31]
• Numb3rs
  • "Magic Show" (2008) TV episode ... himself
• "Glenn Beck" (Fox News)
• Handy Manny
  • "Halloween/Squeeze's Magic Show" (2008) TV episode ... Magic Marty
• Penn & Teller Go Public (1985) TV program produced by Community Television of Southern California and aired on Public Television stations.
• The Defenders
  • "Whitten v. Fenlee" (2010) TV episode ... Ruben Charters
• Fetch with Ruff Ruffman
  • "You Can't Teach an Orange Dog New Tricks" (2009) TV episode...Himself
• Penn & Teller: Fool Us (2010–)
• Real Time with Bill Maher (October 14, 2011) TV episode ... himself
• Penn & Teller Tell a Lie (2011–)
• Celebrity Apprentice 5 (2012)

Music videos[link]

• Ramones – "Something to Believe In"
• Run D.M.C. – "It's Tricky"
• Katy Perry – "Waking Up in Vegas"
• Too Much Joy – "Donna Everywhere"
• Rascal Flatts – "Why Wait"

Music[link]

• "The Horse You Rode In On" by Pigface
• "Spookshow" by Adil Omar

Books by Jillette[link]

• Jillette, Penn (2011). God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-1036-9. 
• Jillette, Penn (2004). Sock. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. ISBN 0-312-32805-2. 
• Jillette, Penn (2005). How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-36068-1. 
• Jillette, Penn (1989). Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends. New York: Villard. ISBN 0-394-75351-8. 
• Jillette, Penn and Teller (1992). Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food. New York: Villard. ISBN 0-679-74311-1. 
• Jillette, Penn and Teller (1997). Penn and Teller's How to Play In Traffic. Berkley Trade. ISBN 1-57297-293-9. 

Podcasts[link]

• "Penn Point" on Revision3.com
• "Penn Says" on Crackle.com
• "Penn's Sunday School" at pennsundayschool.com

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (July 2011)

Find more about Penn Jillette on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource

• Penn & Teller's official website
• Penn's old YouTube channel (Available only in the United States, discontinued Apr 23, 2010)
• Penn's new YouTube channel (Available everywhere)
• Penn Jillette at the Internet Broadway Database
• Penn Jillette at the Internet Movie Database
• Penn Point Jillette's video blog on Revision3
• Penn Says Jillette's video blog on Crackle.com
• Penn Jillette columns includes Jillette's PC-Computing columns
• Penn Jillette/The magician-comedian-writer's secrets revealed! – Slate, February 4, 2006
• Penn Jillette/Telling It Like It Is, With Teller – AskMen.com interview
• "Voodoo and Violence", interview in Reason by Steve Kurtz
• Jillette's home "The Slammer"
• "Penn Jillette's 10 Commandments for atheists". USA Today. October 28, 2011. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-10-28/penn-jillette-ten-commandments/50978982/1. 

Derren Victor Brown
Born	Derren Victor Brown (1971-02-27) 27 February 1971 (age 41) Purley, London, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Occupation	Psychological illusionist, mentalist, artist, painter, writer, sceptic, television presenter
Years active	1992-present
Website
www.derrenbrown.co.uk

Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971)^[1] is an English illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions, photographic memory, and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat. Since the first broadcast of his show Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000, Brown has become increasingly well known for his "mind-reading" act. He has written books for magicians as well as the general public. His caricature artwork has received gallery exhibition and is available in a single volume documenting his portrait collection.^[2]

Though his performances of mind-reading and other feats of mentalism may appear to be the result of psychic or paranormal practices, he claims no such abilities and frequently denounces those who do. Brown states at the beginning of his Trick of the Mind programmes that he achieves his results using a combination of "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship". Using his knowledge and skill, he appears to be able to predict and influence people's thoughts with subtle suggestion, manipulate the decision-making process and read the subtle physical and psychological signs or body language that indicate what a person is thinking.

Early life[link]

Brown was born to Bob and Chris Brown^[3] in Purley, South London, England. He has a brother, who is nine years his junior.^[4] Brown was educated at Whitgift School (where his father coached swimming),^[4] and studied Law and German^[5] at the University of Bristol.^[6] While there, he attended a hypnosis show by Martin S Taylor, which inspired him to turn to illusion and hypnosis as a career.^[7] Whilst an undergraduate, he started working as a conjuror, performing the traditional skills of close-up magic in bars and restaurants. In 1992, he started performing stage hypnosis shows at the University of Bristol under the stage name Darren V. Brown.^[8]

Television series[link]

[edit] Mind Control (2000–2003)

Brown began his television work with three sixty-minute specials produced over two years. In 1999 he was asked by Channel 4 to put a mind-reading programme together. The six part series Mind Control incorporated new footage with the best of his hour long shows. Selected highlights from the first series were later made available on DVD as Derren Brown — Inside Your Mind.

Andy Nyman was originally intended to front the programme but he wanted to concentrate on acting so Brown was recommended to the producers by comedian and close-up magician Jerry Sadowitz.^[9]

[edit] Trick of the Mind (2004–2006)

Trick of the Mind was the title for Brown's next series, which ran for three consecutive series. Unlike Mind Control it is all completely new material. The second series started on E4 on 11 April 2005 and was repeated on Channel 4. The third series started on 26 March 2006. Trick of the Mind series 1 and 2 are available on DVD.

[edit] Waking Dead

In an episode first broadcast on Friday 6 May Brown claimed to have created a video game called "Waking Dead" which "is able to put roughly 1/3 of the people who play it into a catatonic trance". The video game is then placed in a pub. Brown then "kidnaps" the catatonic "victim" and places him in a real-life recreation of the video game, having him fire an air gun at actors pretending to be zombies and outfitted with explosive squibs.^[10]

The episode raised considerable controversy. Mick Grierson, credited in the episode as "Zombie Game Designer", put up a website linking to various articles about the episode.^[11]

[edit] Trick or Treat (2007–2008)

Trick or Treat started on Channel 4 in 2007. The focus of the show is on one volunteer who receives either a good experience or a bad experience. The experience the volunteers receive is decided by which card they choose. If they choose the card that says 'Trick' they receive a bad experience, and if they choose the card that says 'Treat' they receive a good experience. In the first series of Trick or Treat, the volunteer had no choice over the matter as the cards were ambigrams; however, in the second series, they were replaced by two more clearly defined cards that were no longer ambigrams.

Episodes of Trick or Treat are not preceded by Brown's usual claim that no actors or stooges were used in the filming of the shows. Indeed, some participants (such as the ambulance crew in the last episode) are declared to be actors.

The second series of Trick or Treat began on 2 May 2008. The third episode showed a slight change from the previous format, as actor David Tennant became the first celebrity to be used for the show. The two had met at a party where Tennant expressed interest in Brown's work. While writing the second season Brown "thought it would be fun if one of the participants was well known".^[12]

The final episode of the second series featured all of the volunteers from the series that had previously received a trick or treat. This episode highlighted belief in superstition and the degree to which it can be applied.

[edit] Mind Control with Derren Brown (2007)

On 26 July 2007, the US based SCI FI Channel began showing six one-hour episodes of a series titled Mind Control with Derren Brown. Andrew O'Connor and Anthony Owen were executive producers, and the show was produced by Simon Mills who had produced the two previous series of Trick Or Treat as well as The Heist and The System for Objective Productions. Journalists in New York at the press announcement were shown preview clips of Brown "manipulating human behaviour" and given the promise of more surprises to come. Sci Fi's press release described the show as an "original US produced version". The show was a mix of new segments filmed in the US and older clips shown in earlier UK TV shows. The first showing release schedule was:

• Episode 1: "Shopping Mall Carpark" 26 July
• Episode 2: "Lying Car Salesman" 2 August
• Episode 3: "Exotic Dancers" 8 August
• Episode 4: "Receptive Children" 15 August (with Simon Pegg as a guest star)
• Episode 5: "Assault Course" 22 August
• Episode 6: "Disappearing Sun" 29 August

[edit] Derren Brown: The Events (2009)

Filmed for Channel 4 in front of a live studio audience, this new series, airing in September 2009^[13] was made up of four one-hour specials, during which Brown attempted what he described as "some of the most incredible feats to date". The show consisted of a mixture of pre-recorded location pieces connected by theatre-based segments, with each of the four one-hour programmes building up to a major stunt performance. The first teasers broadcast were shown backwards. When played forwards, Brown explained that in his new series he would be revealing the "inner workings" of his tricks and showing the viewer "how to get away with it".

The stunts included a live TV broadcast in which Brown suggested that he had successfully predicted the winning National Lottery numbers, and another in which Brown played a subliminal video suggesting that viewers at home would feel that they had become stuck to their sofas. Brown also projected an image into viewers' minds and asked them draw it on paper. The series' final event was an attempt to predict the outcome of a roulette wheel, staking £5,000 of a chosen viewer's money on the outcome. The ball landed in the pocket numbered 30, adjacent to Brown's choice of 8.

[edit] Derren Brown Investigates (2010)

Derren Brown Investigates began a run of three programmes on Channel 4 on 10 May 2010. During the first program, Brown met with British psychic medium Joe Power.^[14] A second programme concerned a Ukrainian system of human development that claims to teach people to see without the use of their eyes, and in a third he met a "ghosthunter" from the United States. With these people he discussed their claims to have evidence of the paranormal.

[edit] Derren Brown: The Experiments (2011)

Derren Brown: The Experiments was announced on 4 October 2011 on his official blog. Described by Brown as a series of "ambitious sociological experiment, in which the unwitting subject is a single person, a crowd, or even an entire town". Brown mentions that 'Three of [the episodes] are relatively dark, looking into the darker side of human behaviour, and one of them is rather positive and jolly' on his blog.

The first episode, entitled "The Assassin", aired on 21 October at 9pm and consists of Brown successfully hypnotising an unwitting member of the public to 'assassinate' a celebrity revealed to be Stephen Fry. This technique was used as a comparison to theories regarding the assassination of Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan, who claims to have no memory of the event.

In the second episode, aired on 28 October at 9pm and called "Gameshow", Brown hosted a game show purportedly called "Remote Control," asking a masked audience to vote for the escalating outcome of the fate of one contestant in an attempt to demonstrate the effect of deindividuation. The theory is that taking away individuality from someone turns them from themselves to just part of a crowd, and makes them act in a way that would sometimes go against their morals.

In the third episode, "The Guilt Trip" aired on 5 November, Brown attempted to find out if he could convince someone through association to admit to a crime they did not commit. He worked through tricking a participant into distrusting their own memory and having excessive feelings of guilt, to the extent where he confessed to the murder of an actor whom he had interacted with and was later told had been murdered.

In the fourth episode, "The Secret of Luck" which aired on 11 November, Brown spreads a rumour of a lucky dog statue throughout an entire town and documents the consequences.

The trailer for "The Experiments" was released on 11 October 2011.

The Experiments won a BAFTA at the 2012 awards in May 2012.

Television specials[link]

[edit] Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live (2003)

On 5 October 2003, Brown performed Russian roulette, live on Channel 4. The stunt was performed at an undisclosed location, supposedly in Jersey, due to laws in mainland Britain restricting the firing of live rounds to qualified armourers. The majority of the episode focused upon the nomination of the final volunteer, James, who was chosen from 12,000 who applied for the task, and whittled down to five by the day of the stunt. As a prize, James was chosen to be the only person in the room when Brown performed the stunt. James was required to load a single shot into a revolver with six numbered chambers. The bullet was located in chamber number 1, which Brown fired at a sand bag hanging on the wall.

The programme was initially condemned by senior British police officers, apparently fearful of copycat acts. In addition Jersey police stated that "There was no live ammunition involved and at no time was anyone at risk" and "There is absolutely no way that the States of Jersey police would allow anybody to put themselves at risk and shoot themselves dead."^[16] When asked about the possible use of blanks in the act Brown responded, "But the frustrating and kind of ironic part of it was that even if it had been a blank that wouldn’t have made it any less dangerous. You shoot a blank next to your head and it will still kill you.”^[17]

Brown himself defended the programme, saying, "It probably sounds odd. But as a magic-related performer, to have that even being asked: Was it real? Was it not real? That lifts it to a level that I'm very comfortable with. What's left is the fact that it was a terrific piece of television."^[18]

[edit] Derren Brown: Séance (2004)

Brown's next project, Derren Brown: Séance, aired on Channel 4 on 31 May 2004. In Séance, he brought students from Roehampton University together for a live séance. He held the event at Elton Hall in east London, claiming the location had a history of paranormal activity after 12 people killed themselves in a suicide pact in 1974. Brown then proceeded to demonstrate the methods used by spiritualists.

The show attempted to involve the television audience with interactive activities, the first being to identify one of the members of the suicide pact by looking at photographs. The 12 pictures were shown on screen in a set pattern, with half of them in colour and half black and white. The viewer was instructed to choose one of the colour images that they "feel a connection with". Brown then directed the viewers in a movement pattern between the photographs (for example, move left or right to one of the adjacent black and white photographs). The positioning and movement instructions were carefully planned to ensure that no matter which photograph was initially chosen the viewer would finish on the picture of "Jane". Ten of the students also chose Jane. During the following Ouija board scene, the "spirit" guided the students to spell the name Jane.

Two of the students, along with the television viewers, were asked to write the name of a city. Both students chose London.

The final scene, the séance itself, saw the group "contact" Jane. One of the students spoke as if she were Jane, giving details of her life. A letter and short film confirmed the accuracy of the details.

Brown went on to explain some of the manipulations he had used, including the photograph positioning/instructions and the use of the ideomotor effect during the Ouija board scene. The suicide pact had not taken place and "Jane" was introduced to the students at the end of the show. In his book, Tricks of the Mind, Brown reveals that, contrary to claims when the show was aired, Séance did not go out live. He said it was necessary to make people believe that it did at the time.^[19]

Channel 4 received 700 complaints, most before the episode was aired. Viewers who felt "something unusual" were invited to call a telephone number, and callers were told that the show was carefully planned, and that no paranormal activities were taking place. Brown also warned viewers about the impending Ouija board scene, advising those who objected for "religious reasons or otherwise" to stop watching the show.^[19]

[edit] Derren Brown: Messiah (2005)

Shown on 7 January 2005, Brown travelled to the United States to try to convince five leading figures that he had powers in their particular field of expertise: Christian evangelism, alien abduction, psychic powers, New Age theories and contacting the dead.

Using a false name each time, he succeeded in convincing all of the "experts" that he had powers, and four openly endorsed him as a true practitioner. The fifth expert, the Christian evangelist Curt Nordhielm, whilst impressed by Brown's performance, asked to meet him again before giving an endorsement. The concept of the show was to highlight the power of suggestion with regard to beliefs and people's abilities, and failure to question them. Brown made it quite clear with each experiment that if any of the subjects accused him of trickery he would immediately come clean about the whole thing, a rule similar to one of the self-imposed rules of the perpetrators of the Project Alpha hoax. His conclusion was that people tend to hear only things that support their own ideas and ignore contradictory evidence; this is known in psychology as confirmation bias. During the section concerned with religious belief, he 'converted' people to Christian belief with a touch. Afterwards, he 'deprogrammed' them of any such belief. During the programme, Brown made it clear that he was not against people holding on to their religious beliefs, and stated that he respected the religious views of people, also making it clear that he had, at one time, been a committed Christian.

[edit] Derren Brown: The Gathering (2005)

The Gathering was a specially recorded as-live show at a secret location (hidden from the audience) with an invited audience of students from Roehampton University, celebrities, psychologists, psychics, taxi drivers and magicians. It was filmed on 18 May 2005 and broadcast on 29 May. As part of the show Brown recalled streets, page numbers and grid references from the Greater London A-Z map. Pseudo-psychic "mind reading" and "remote viewing" activities were also recreated.

During the show, Brown hypnotised the audience as a group and convinced them that for approximately half an hour after leaving the room they would have no memory of the events. Furthermore, the word "forget" was intermittently flashed very briefly on the backdrop throughout the performance. A variety of audience members were interviewed in a vox pop segment afterwards; some could not recollect anything, but were nevertheless impressed. One of the most prominent stunts was asking a London taxi driver to choose a street in London and then choose and mentally drive a random route. This was achieved by drawing a line on a map of London made of stuck together A-Z pages. An envelope, which had been visible on-stage throughout the entire show, was then opened. This contained a card listing the page number and coordinate of the destination, an acetate with the route marked on it and a receipt for £8 (the estimated cost of the journey by the driver). The driver's route started at Buckingham Palace and ended at Shepherd's Bush Green, the street where the secret performance took place.

[edit] Derren Brown: The Heist (2006)

The Heist was shown on 4 January 2006 at 21:00, on Channel 4. In the show, Brown used his skills on selected participants who answered an advertisement. Under the guise of a "motivational seminar" (where they would allegedly learn Brown's skills) Brown recruited a number of participants, eventually manipulating a number of them into robbing a security van in broad daylight. "The Heist" has been described by Brown as one of the stunts of which he is most proud.^[20]

The robbery involved holding up a security van and guard (played by an actor) using a realistic-looking toy pistol that Brown had given the subjects earlier, and stealing a case filled with real money. Four people were selected to carry out the robbery from an initial field of thirteen, with three of them actually carrying out the "robbery". The idea was that, after the conditioning they received, they would voluntarily rob the van of their own accord. There was no mention of the "crime" to the participants, and they were not (directly) instructed to do it. The "robbery" was carried out as a result of the conditioning they received and was their own choice, not because of instructions from any third party, including Brown.

Brown associated colour, music and phrases to build the participants into a highly motivated state, converging all of those psychological empowerment tools into a single set-up. The seminar subliminally anchored freedom, childhood, opportunity and romance into various criminal acts. After having previously been convinced to steal sweets from a shop based in Codicote High Street in Hertfordshire, they experienced the euphoria that could be gained from criminal acts.

This programme also included a re-enactment of the Milgram experiment — originally carried out by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s — with the aim of selecting four of the most obedient of the group. Sixty-five percent of the subjects in this experiment were willing to administer what they believed to be lethal electric shocks to another person on the instruction of an authority figure (unbeknownst to the subjects, no electric shocks were actually administered). These were roughly the same results Milgram himself had observed.

[edit] Derren Brown: The System (2008)

The System, a Channel 4 special in which Brown shared his "100 percent guaranteed" method for winning on the horses, was first shown on 1 February 2008.^[21]

The show was based around the idea that a system could be developed to "guarantee a winner" of horse races. Cameras followed a member of the public, Khadisha, as Brown anonymously sent her correct predictions of five races in a row, before encouraging her to place as much money as she could on the sixth race.

To demonstrate the system to the viewer, Brown tossed a coin showing ten heads in a row to prove it was not impossible, just highly improbable.

After Brown had placed a bet of £4,000 of Khadisha's money on a horse in the final race, he explained that "The System" did not really exist. He had started by contacting 7,776 people and split them into six groups, giving each group a different horse. As each race had taken place ⁵⁄₆ of the people had lost and were dropped from the system. Brown had a different person backing each horse in each race, and one individual, Khadisha, won five times in a row. This was similar to the coin flipping earlier: rather than having a predictive technique, Brown had tossed a coin repeatedly until ten heads had come up in a row, taking over nine hours to produce the required film. Brown expressed the opinion that the principle behind "The System" (essentially confirmation bias or survivorship bias) is what is behind belief in spiritualism or homoeopathic and alternative medicine.

After the selected horse in the final race lost, and Khadisha was convinced that she had lost all her borrowed money, Brown told Khadisha to look again at the betting slip in her hand. The ticket showed the winning horse's name, meaning Khadisha kept her stake and received winnings of £13,000. Brown claimed that he had decided to bet on a different horse when he got to the booth.^[22]

At the end of the show, a title card explained that "at each stage of the process, participants who did not make it to the next round were offered a complete refund of any bets they had placed."^[23]

[edit] Derren Brown: Hero at 30,000 Feet (2010)

On 8 September 2010, Brown presented a new special on Channel 4 entitled "Derren Brown: Hero at 30,000 Feet".^[24] The programme consisted of Brown taking a man called Matt Galley, a normal person stuck in a rut in his life, and throughout the programme coaches him to take control of life and achieve his aspirations. The programme was divided into chapters to introduce different stages in the transformation, many of which were undertaken without the subject knowing of Brown's involvement (via cooperation with Galley's parents and girlfriend to set up cameras in his house). At one stage Brown visits Galley in the middle of the night, but leaves him believing it was a dream.

During the programme Galley is put through a series of challenges, including being the victim of an armed robbery, touching a live crocodile, illicitly entering a policeman's home, and lying on a train track in a straitjacket strapped to the line whilst a train approached (the first challenge when he knew he was awake and that Brown was involved in this). The show culminated in Galley travelling on a plane where the pilot had supposedly been incapacitated.

Galley, who had not been on a plane in 10 years and had a fear of flying, joined a flight travelling from Leeds to Jersey, where he has been told that a fake game-show presented by Brown was to be filmed. The flight crew, stewards and stewardesses were real, but the rest of the passengers were actors. During the flight the cabin crew announced that the captain had been taken ill and asked for a volunteer to land the plane. At the last minute Galley volunteered, whilst walking up to the front of the plane he was placed into a trance by Brown. After landing Galley was placed into a cockpit flight simulator and woken up. He was talked through how to land the plane by a person identifying themselves as air traffic control. Galley completed the challenge successfully and then emerged from the simulator, to meet Brown and all the actors involved in the programme plus his family and friends.

Brown responded to scepticism about the show on his blog, noting that many aspects of the show's production were edited from the televised version due to time constraints. He also confirmed Donnie Darko, Fight Club, The Game and Watchmen as influences for the show. Brown went on to say that "this has been my favourite show to work on – most ambitious, most involved, most demanding and by far the most joyful. I consider it my fondest and best...."^[25]

[edit] Derren Brown: Miracles for Sale (2011)

Derren Brown: Miracles for Sale is a feature length programme about the controversial practice of faith healing. In the show Brown attempted to turn a member of the British public into a "faith healer" and to convincingly give a faith healing show to church goers in Texas.^[26] The show premièred 25 April 2011 on Channel 4.

Other television appearances[link]

An interview with Brown^[27] was featured in Richard Dawkins' two-part documentary series The Enemies of Reason. Brown explained various psychological techniques used by purported psychics and spiritual mediums to manipulate their audiences. The most notable is cold reading, a technique about which Brown talked extensively in his book Tricks of the Mind. Some video footage was also used from Brown's TV special Messiah.

As part of Channel 4's 3D season, Brown presented Derren Brown's 3D Magic Spectacular.^[28][29] The show was not a new special from Brown, rather he was the presenter for a number of other magicians and clips that were shown. However, he did include one clip in which he found an object that had been hidden in the streets of Venice by a volunteer.

In January 2011, to celebrate 10 years since the his first television appearance, Channel 4 held a special Derren Brown Night. Along with re-showing The Heist (which won a recent poll of favourite specials) and one of his Enigma Live shows the channel screened a special documentary; Derren Brown: Behind The Mischief, a personal and candid film about Brown. The documentary included the story of how he met his co-writer (who was featured in Seance), his mother's feelings about his involvement in Russian Roulette, and an emotional visit back to his old school, university and the Bristol bars where he first began his close-up magic. Celebrities contributors included Matt Lucas, Jo Whiley, Stephen Merchant and Simon Pegg.

Stage shows[link]

[edit] Derren Brown Live (2003–2004)

Brown's first live stage show was Derren Brown Live, which he performed in the UK in 2003. The tour was then extended into 2004.

[edit] Something Wicked This Way Comes (2005–2006)

Brown's second live stage show, Something Wicked This Way Comes, toured around the UK following its success in the West End. The tour began in March 2005 at the Cambridge Theatre and finished in May at the Hammersmith Apollo. The run was then once more extended into the following year, being performed and filmed for a final time at the Old Vic Theatre in mid-June 2006.

A 90-minute edit of this show was broadcast on 29 December 2006, 10 June 2007 and 17 June 2008 on Channel 4, on 10 May 2008, 17 Jan 2009 and 6 Jan 2012 on E4; a longer, unedited version was released on DVD in May 2008. The show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment Show 2006. The show was co-written and directed by his long time collaborator Andy Nyman. The title is a direct quote from William Shakespeare's Macbeth; Act 4, scene 1, line 45.

[edit] Mind Reader – An Evening of Wonders (2007–2008)

Brown's third live stage show toured the United Kingdom in 2007 and 2008. "Derren Brown, Mind Reader — An Evening of Wonders", began 29 April 2007 in Blackpool, and ended 17 June in Bristol.

The show toured again from February until April 2008 throughout the UK, and concluded with a West End run at the Garrick Theatre during May and early June. The West End run was a strictly limited season of 32 performances only. A performance from the last week of the tour at the Garrick Theatre was filmed for Channel 4 and aired on 13 January 2009.

[edit] Derren Brown – Enigma (2009–2010)

Enigma is the name of Brown's 2009/10 stage tour, directed by Andy Nyman. It began in Chatham on Friday 17 April 2009, visiting various UK towns before ending in London with a month at the Adelphi Theatre starting Monday 15 June 2009. The show includes Brown attempting to put the entire audience into a trance (he makes it clear this is not hypnotism and will not affect everyone). At the end of the show Brown requests that audience members, particularly reviewers and the press, do not reveal the show's secrets and surprises to others to avoid spoiling the fun. The show toured the UK again during the first half of 2010. Enigma was nominated for an Olivier award on 8 February 2010, Brown's second nomination for an Olivier following his 2006 show Something Wicked This Way Comes.^[30] It was announced on Brown's blog that Enigma will be released on DVD as part of a box set containing three of his live shows Something Wicked This Way Comes, An Evening of Wonders and Enigma ready for a January 2011 release. Enigma was shown on Channel 4 on 6 January 2011 before the release of the box set.^[31] It also aired on both 7 and 8 January 2011, the latter forming a part of 'Derren Brown Night'.

[edit] Svengali

Advertisement for Svengali, Shaftesbury Theatre, London

Derren Brown's 5th tour, entitled Svengali, opened on 9 March 2011 in Brighton and is planned to run until at least August 2012.^[32] It is Brown's first show that is not written in collaboration with Andy Nyman.

Books[link]

Brown has written four books on magic: Absolute Magic, Pure Effect, Tricks of the Mind, and Confessions of a Conjuror. The first two books he penned are intended solely for practitioners of magic and mentalism, whilst his books Tricks of the Mind and Confessions of a Conjuror are aimed at the general public.

Absolute Magic, subtitled A Model for Powerful Close-Up Performance, is not so much about magical methodology as about how magicians can make their performances magical; it is written in a variety of styles: sometimes humorous, sometimes serious. He warns against an act that conveys the feeling of "Here are some tricks I've bought" and urges magicians to make their performances experiential and memorable by involving the audience. In some respects a lot of what he says is evocative of the content of Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic but his book expresses it in the context of his experiences, performance style and theories of how performance should be. (Out of print)

Pure Effect is a more traditional book of trickery and technique and offers an insight into some of the methods that Brown employs, and offers a starting point for development for the reader's own use. (Out of print)

Tricks of the Mind is Brown's first book intended for the general public. It is a wide-ranging book in which Brown reveals some of the techniques he uses in his performances, delves into the structure and psychology of magic and discusses hypnosis. He also applies his insight to the paranormal industry, looking at the structure of beliefs and how psychology can explain why people become 'true believers'. He also offers autobiographical stories about his own experiences as a former Christian, and discusses his scepticism about religion, allegedly 'psychic' mediums and sundry other belief systems.

Confessions of a Conjuror was published by Channel 4 Books in October 2010. (ISBN 978-1-905-02657-9)

Other productions and publications[link]

Brown has recorded some audio extracts from Tricks of the Mind. In them he expounds on the three subjects essential to his performance—Magic, Memory, and Hypnosis. The extracts last around 40 minutes each, disclosing tips and techniques Brown uses in his acts (as well as day-to-day) and narrating the highlights of his book.

The Devil's Picturebook is a near 3 hour home-made video. The first half explains in detail some classic card routines from his earlier career as a conjurer, all of which rely on sleight of hand, misdirection and audience management. The second looks at psychological card routines and shows a distinct move towards mentalism, for which he is now known. It is an instructional video for aspiring magicians and not an entertainment piece. For this reason, it was available only to practitioners through a password-protected "magicians only" area of his website. The clue to the password tells you that the word itself begins with T and is a type of palming trick.^[33]

International Magic Presents: The Derren Brown Lecture is an 80-minute lecture DVD of close-up mentalism and subsequent discussion of various aspects of Brown's performance. Again, this product is not intended for general consumption but is directed at magicians and mentalists only.

In 2007, Brown performed in the short film Medium Rare.^[34]

In 2008, Brown made a guest acting appearance in BBC Four's Crooked House as Sir Roger Widdowson.^[35]

In 2008, Brown provided caricatures for "The QI "F" annual".

In 2009, a book, Portraits, was released containing a selection of Brown's paintings and bizarre caricatures of celebrities.

In 2010, Brown appeared in a special Comedy Gala for Channel four and Great Ormond Street Hospital. He appeared with Kevin Bishop, who played his jealous annoying twin 'Darren'.

DVD releases[link]

Criticism[link]

In a Daily Telegraph article published in 2003 Simon Singh criticised Brown's early TV appearances, arguing that he presented standard magic and mentalism effects—such as the classic Ten Card Poker Deal trick—as genuine psychological manipulation.^[36] On Brown's television and live shows he often appears to show the audience how a particular effect was created—claiming to use techniques such as subliminal suggestion, hypnosis, and body language reading. Singh's suggestion is that these explanations are dishonest. Furthermore, Singh took exception to the programme's website being categorised under Channel 4's "Science" section. The mini-site was moved to Entertainment for later series.

In an October 2010 interview, Brown conceded that Singh may have had a point, explaining that at the start of his television career "I was overstating the case, overstating my skills. I thought there'll only be one show, there'll never be a repeat, so I might as well go for it."^[37] In his book Tricks of the Mind, Brown writes,

"I am often dishonest in my techniques, but always honest about my dishonesty. As I say in each show, 'I mix magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship'. I happily admit cheating, as it's all part of the game. I hope some of the fun for the viewer comes from not knowing what's real and what isn't. I am an entertainer first and foremost, and I am careful not to cross any moral line that would take me into manipulating people's real-life decisions or belief systems."

Brown claims to never use actors or "stooges" in his work without informing the viewers. In Tricks of the Mind, Brown writes that to use such a ploy is "artistically repugnant and simply unnecessary"; furthermore, he "would not want any participant to watch the TV show when it airs and see a different or radically re-edited version of what he understood to have happened".^[19]

Methods[link]

Brown claims to use a variety of methods to achieve his illusions including traditional magic/conjuring techniques, memory techniques, hypnosis, body language reading, cognitive psychology, cold reading and psychological, subliminal (specifically the use of PWA – "perception without awareness") and ideomotor suggestion.

Psychological illusions[link]

In an interview published in New Scientist, Brown says that he first developed many of his "psychological illusion" skills through his training in hypnotherapy before he was involved in learning close-up magic. When asked how he was able to produce various psychological illusions such as apparent mind-reading, lie detection and hypnotic induction, Brown claimed to be able to read on subtle cues such as a micro-muscle movements that indicate to him if someone is lying or holding something back. He also states that his participants are carefully selected based on their suggestibility and responsiveness which is common in stage hypnosis. He believes that the presence of a television camera also increases responsiveness.^[38]

Neuro-linguistic programming[link]

Several authors have claimed that Brown uses neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in his act which "consists of a range of magical 'tricks', misdirection and, most intriguing, setting up audiences to provide the response that he wishes them to provide by using subtle subliminal cues in his conversation with them."^[39] In response to the accusation that he unfairly claims to be using NLP whenever he performs, Brown writes "The truth is I have never mentioned it outside of my book". Brown does have an off-stage curiosity about the system, and discusses it in the larger context of hypnotism and suggestion.^[19][40] In his book "Tricks of the Mind" he mentions that he attended an NLP course with Richard Bandler, co-creator of NLP and mentor of Paul McKenna, but suggests that the rigid systems of body language interpretation employed by NLP are not as reliable as its practitioners imply. He also mentions the NLP concept of eye accessing cues as a technique of "limited use" in his book "Pure Effect".^[41] The language patterns which he uses to suggest behaviours are very similar in style to those used by Richard Bandler and by the hypnotist from whom Bandler learned his skill, Milton H. Erickson. Brown also mentions in his book 'Tricks of the Mind' that NLP students were given a certificate after a four-day course, certifying them to practice NLP as a therapist. A year after Brown attended the class, he received a number of letters saying that he would receive another certificate, not for passing a test (as he discontinued practising NLP following the course), but for keeping in touch. After ignoring their request, he later received the new certificate for NLP in his mailbox, unsolicited.^[42]

Personal life[link]

Brown was an Evangelical Christian in his teens, but became an atheist in his twenties. This is discussed by Brown in the "Messiah" special, and in his book Tricks of the Mind.^[19] In an interview with Professor Richard Dawkins, Brown explained he sought to strengthen his belief and provide answers to common criticisms of religion by reading the Bible and other Christian religious texts, but upon doing so found none of the answers he sought and came to the conclusion that his belief (in Christianity) had no basis.^[43]

The Big Issue website described Brown as being "playfully mendacious".^[44] Although it has been said that Brown is banned from every casino in Britain,^[45] other sources report that casinos welcome the publicity from his visits.^[44]

In an interview with the Independent in 2007 Brown stated that he is gay.^[46] In an interview with the Radio Times in 2011 Brown talked more about his sexuality, stating that he is blissfully happy in a relationship. He said, "I spent a lot of time thinking about me and working on what I wanted to be before I came into a relationship. In some ways, it’s bad because you come into relationship quite late without a lot of experience and you have a lot to learn. But that can also be exciting. Certainly, it’s lovely to have somebody love you and it’s lovely to love someone else." ^[47]

Since 2004 Brown has been the patron of the registered charity the Parrot Zoo Trust at Friskney in eastern Lincolnshire near Boston, England.^[48] In an interview with LeftLion magazine he said "I’m a big fan of parrots – I think they’re fascinating creatures. Many of them live for longer than us humans and it's interesting to me the way they learn to mimic human voices even though they don't really comprehend what they're saying."^[49]

References[link]