Derren Brown’s Faith Healers

The recent Derren Brown special on Faith Healers was an interesting dip into the murky world of those who exploit people who have religious faith. Anyone who was interested in the program can follow it up by reading James Randi’s book The Faith Healers, published by Prometheus Books. The book gives a history of the subject and an analytical survey of faith healing in modern America.

Something to watch for in the near future is a Channel 5 program called Impossible hosted by Philip Escoffey. The show will be in a reality TV/game show format apparently. This continues the trend that has been present for some time now. BBC’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, BBC’s The Magicians and ITV’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us have all had a reality TV/rise to the challenge aspect to the them. The Derren Brown special on Faith Healers was just that, pushing Nathan, sometimes unwillingly, through his paces to meet the aim set by Brown. The last Derren Brown series, in which people were trained/mentored to tackle challenges, from escapology to being a quiz whiz, is another example.

I, for one, hope this trend fades. It detracts from the real point of interest which is magic and mentalism. I believe that the choice to do that, unfortunately, lies in the hands of those that hold the purse strings to make any of these programs and not with the performers.

Bristol Day of Magic and 'Who Is It?' Answer

This year the 50th Bristol Day of Magic is being held on Sunday the 9th of May at the Winter Gardens and Playhouse Theatre in Weston Super Mare. The performers include Geoffrey Durham, Michael Vincent, Rafael, Pilou, David Stone, Ian Keeble, Etienne Pradier, Ray Davenport, John Kimmons, Graham Jolley and Tony Stevens. During the day, at the Winter Gardens there will a one man show, lectures and close-up shows - as well as a Dealers Exhibition which includes some of the leading magical suppliers in the UK. In the evening the Gala Show takes place at the Playhouse Theatre. For more details and a downloadable application form, please visit the website of The Bristol Society of Magic.  I attended the Bristol Day of Magic last year and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in magic.

On Tuesday I posted a photo of Kong impersonating a famous British magician and asked who is it? The answer was Max Somerset (Kudos to Max Somerset, Sophie Evans, Paul Cooke and everyone else involved in The Sorcerer's Apprentice) and a large bar of chocolate is now on its way to the person who was the first to provide the correct name. For some reason, a lot of people said it was Dumbledore. What are you people like? Eh? If Kong and I get bored next week, we might post another photo of him doing another impersonation.