Derren Brown

Brown was born to Chris and Bob Brown[4] in Purley, England, and has a brother n ine years his junior.[5] Brown was privately educated at Whitgift School in Sout h Croydon (where his father coached swimming),[5] and studied Law and German[6] at the University of Bristol.[7] While there, he attended a hypnotist show by Ma rtin S Taylor, which inspired him to turn to illusion and hypnosis as a career.[ 8] Whilst an undergraduate, he started working as a conjuror, performing the tra ditional skills of close-up magic in bars and restaurants. In 1992, he started p erforming stage shows at the University of Bristol under the stage name Darren V . Brown.[1] Brown was an Evangelical Christian in his teens, and became an atheist in his tw enties. This is discussed by Brown in the "Messiah" special, and in his book Tri cks of the Mind.[9] An interview as part of Richard Dawkins' two-part documentar y series The Enemies of Reason, where Brown explained various psychological tech niques used by purported psychics and spiritual mediums to manipulate their audi ences, Brown also said he sought to strengthen his belief and provide answers to common criticisms of religion by reading the Bible and other Christian religiou s texts, but upon doing so found none of the answers he sought and came to the c onclusion that his belief (in Christianity) had no basis.[10] The Big Issue website described Brown as being "playfully mendacious".[11] Altho ugh it has been said that Brown is banned from every casino in Britain,[12] othe r sources report that casinos welcome the publicity from his visits.[11] In an interview with the Independent in 2007 Brown stated that he is gay.[13] 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 l ate without a lot of experience and you have a lot to learn. But that can also b e exciting. Certainly, it s lovely to have somebody love you and it s lovely to love someone else."[14] Since 2004 Brown has been the patron of the registered charity the Parrot Zoo Tr ust at Friskney in eastern Lincolnshire near Boston, England.[15] In an intervie w with LeftLion magazine he said "I m a big fan of parrots I think they re fascinati ng creatures. Many of them live for longer than us humans and it's interesting t o me the way they learn to mimic human voices even though they don't really comp rehend what they're saying."[16] Misdirection[edit] Brown heavily relies on misdirection for his tricks, helped by the audience view ing him as having deep psychological insights. He relies on a wide array of tech niques to prevent audiences from deducing the techniques he has used.[17] In a Daily Telegraph article published in 2003 Simon Singh criticised Brown's ea rly TV appearances, arguing that he presented standard magic and mentalism effec ts such as the classic Ten Card Poker Deal trick as genuine psychological manipulati on.[18] On Brown's television and live shows he often appears to show the audien ce how a particular effect was created claiming to use techniques such as sublimin al suggestion, hypnosis, and body language reading. Singh's suggestion is that t hese explanations are dishonest. Furthermore, Singh took exception to the progra mme's website being categorised under Channel 4's "Science" section. The mini-si te was moved to Entertainment for later series. In an October 2010 interview, Brown conceded that Singh may have had a point, ex plaining 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."[19] In his book Tricks of the Mind, Brow n writes, "I am often dishonest in my techniques, but always honest about my dishonesty. A s I say in each show, 'I mix magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and sho wmanship'. I happily admit cheating, as it's all part of the game. I hope some o f 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 sys

tems." 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 "artisti cally repugnant and simply unnecessary"; furthermore, he "would not want any par ticipant to watch the TV show when it airs and see a different or radically re-e dited version of what he understood to have happened".[9] Suggested methods[edit] Brown uses a variety of methods to achieve his illusions including traditional m agic/conjuring techniques, memory techniques, hypnosis, body language reading, c ognitive psychology, cold reading and psychological, subliminal (specifically th e use of PWA "perception without awareness") and ideomotor suggestion. In an interview in New Scientist in 2005, when asked how he "acquired his psycho logical skills", Brown says that he learnt skills as a hypnotist, which he was n ot sure how to apply until he started performing close-up magic. When asked whet her he is able to detect lies, Brown claimed to be able to read subtle cues such as a micro-muscle movements that indicate to him if someone is lying. Concernin g his apparent success at hypnotizing people, he stated that he can normally spo t a suggestible type of person and chooses that person to be his participant. He believes that the presence of a television camera also increases suggestibility .[20] Several authors have claimed that Brown uses neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in his act which "consists of a range of magical 'tricks', misdirection and, mos t intriguing, setting up audiences to provide the response that he wishes them t o provide by using subtle subliminal cues in his conversation with them."[21] 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 boo k". Brown does have an off-stage curiosity about the system, and discusses it in the larger context of hypnotism and suggestion.[9][22] In his book Tricks of th e Mind, Brown mentions that he attended an NLP course with Richard Bandler, co-c reator of NLP and mentor of Paul McKenna. He also describes the NLP concept of e ye accessing cues as a technique of "limited use" in his book Pure Effect.[23] T he language patterns which he uses to suggest behaviours are very similar in sty le to those used by Richard Bandler and by the hypnotist from whom Bandler learn t his skill, Milton H. Erickson. Brown also mentions in Tricks of the Mind that NLP students were given a certificate after a four-day course, certifying them t o practice NLP as a therapist. A year after Brown attended the class, he receive d 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 certi ficate for NLP in his mailbox, unsolicited.[24]