Derren Brown - Subtle skills - Illusion or miracle?

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Anyone watching Derren Brown as he baffles casino croupiers with never-ending winning streaks or inflicts sudden toothache on medical students, asks: 'How does he do it?' The feats Derren performs are not just perplexing, they seem downright impossible. Is he a mind-reader, a miracle-maker or simply a super-sophisticated magician?

'The thing people tend to call me is a psychological illusionist,' he says. 'I suppose I employ a variety of different techniques and approaches to what I do but it's mainly a mix of hypnosis, magic and the power of suggestion. But then I prefer to avoid labels. I started off as a hypnotist but I didn't want to perform it professionally, even though I had a real interest in it ... Then I did some magic for a while but, rather than doing sleight-of-hand things, I became more interested in psychological techniques and veered more and more into that area.'

Watch Derren in action at the Oxford University ball.

Language of the mind
Derren says that there is no real name for what he does, though it has some characteristics of what other performers call 'mentalism'. This draws on the idea that we are all born with basic thought structures in place and are conditioned to rely on intuitive forms of communication – a kind of universal body language, if you like. Derren has referred to this simply as 'thinking inside the box'. He has spent years studying these universal responses, learning their 'secret language' as a way of tuning in to our thoughts, and thereby appearing to read our minds.

Harder than it looks
Sounds easy, doesn't it? But while even Derren would admit that what he does is 'not down to natural talent' and that, in theory, anyone could do it, he is keen to point out that it took years to develop his skills. 'It's all about working at it,' he says. 'It took me 10 years to learn this stuff.' Uri Geller also believes that 'psychic powers' are only an extension of our normal powers, and that everyone has the capability to possess them. For him, it's all about concentration, which is rather like working out in the gym. 'If you lift weights for a day or two,' says Geller, 'nothing happens. But if you lift weights every day for one or two years, then you will see the change.'

But although these performers share certain approaches, each act is unique to the individual. Sheer force of personality is key. 'It's very rewarding to see what one can achieve without any fakery at all,' says Derren, 'but I also have a few things of my own design that I use to help me along the way.' What really matters, he believes is 'how you commit to the material; what you decide to believe you are doing, regardless of what the actual real-life method might be.' Ultimately, he says, the answer is to 'be inspired to go your own way and think originally in line with who you are.'

A long tradition
Performers like Derren and his contemporary David Blaine have undoubtedly been inspired by the likes of Harry Houdini, probably the most famous illusionist of them all, who attracted worldwide attention through his famous public feats of escapology in the early 1900s. Acts of psychic phenomena however, were recorded as early as the 1600s, when they were commonly viewed as witchcraft or sorcery.

By Victorian times, psychology was becoming increasingly significant in medicine, and psychic happenings were often attributed to the subconscious mind. This was thought to be particularly true of people who had experienced some sort of emotional trauma. The Victorians believed that shock resulted in an unconditioned part of the brain – the subconscious – taking over and was thought to explain some people's apparent ability to make crockery fly around a room.

Beyond belief
'There can be no doubt of the fact that when suggestion is actively and intelligently employed, it is always effective ...' said Thomson J Hudson in 1893 in The Law of Psychic Phenomena. The Victorian medium Daniel Dunglas Home seemed to have commanded his subconscious or 'free will' to spectacular effect. He became famous for such mind-boggling acts as washing his face in red-hot coals, and floating in and out of the windows of high buildings. The 19th century physiologist Charles Richet, meanwhile, came up with his own explanation for the phenomenon of 'cryptesthesia' – the act of reproducing drawings in sealed envelopes. He said: 'In certain persons at certain times, there exists a faculty of thought which has no relation to our normal means of knowledge.' He labelled this faculty the 'sixth sense'.

Indefinable magic
Sixth sense? Free will? Mentalism? Psychological illusionism? Call it what you like, talents like Derren's are extremely rare. And while Derren and his contemporaries admit to having laboured long and hard to perfect their art, their amazing ability to entertain, fascinate and even terrify us, remains undiminished because what continues to elude us is their magic touch.

Further information
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Books

	Uri Geller's Little Book of Mind-power by Uri Geller (Robson Books, 1998) Geller encourages his readers to discover how positive thinking can help to overcome obstacles; to find the secret mind switch that turns off stress; and how to supercharge one's will power. Buy this book from Amazon.
	Uri Geller: Magician or mystic? by Jonathan Margolis (Orion, 1998) Margolis's biography of the alleged psychokineticist Uri Geller is that of a reluctant believer; he stresses his credentials as a sceptic before admitting that he has become convinced that Geller is something more than a clever fake. Buy this book from Amazon.
	The Sixth Sense by Laurie Nadel with Judy Haims and Roberts Stempson (Prion Books, 1996) An enquiry into intuition and its relationship to other modes of thought, such as logic. Interviews with celebrities, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Sacks and Roger Speery are included, together with practical exercises for improving intuition. Buy this book from Amazon.
	How to Develop your Sixth Sense by David Lawson (HarperCollins, 2001) We may all have the potential to develop our psychic and intuitive abilities; this book includes exercises to encourage your unique psychic abilities and techniques to develop the powers of your mind. Buy this book from Amazon.
	The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini by Ruth Brandon (Pan, 2001) This biography explains in detail the secrets of Houdini's most celebrated escapes and reveals a man more extraordinary than any of his audience could have imagined. Buy this book from Amazon.
	Mysterious Stranger by David Blaine (Channel 4 Books, 2002) In his long-awaited first book, David Blaine, downtown hipster and extraordinary illusionist, offers a unique exploration of the mysteries and history of the ancient art of magic. Buy this book from Amazon.

Websites

Paranormal Phenomena – The incredible powers of DD Home
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa022403a.htm
Biography of Daniel Dunglas Home, the most celebrated medium of the 19th century.

Harry Houdini – London 1910
www.uelectric.com/houdini/himself.html
Autobiographical piece by the famous showman.

The Memory Expansion Channel
www.brainchannels.com/Memory/history.html
Goes back to 516BC to explain the history of the art of memory.

The International Survivalist Society
www.survivalafterdeath.org/home.htm
Lots of articles and book reviews on the paranormal, including the work of 19th century physiologist Charles Richet, who coined the phrase 'sixth sense'.

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