<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Master mentalist Derren Brown has been dumbfounding U.K. audiences for seven years with his apparent ability to read and control people's minds.

And yet he doesn't claim to be a magician. Instead, Brown says he uses his understanding of human psychology and nature to get ordinary people to, for instance, rob an armored-car driver. It doesn't matter that the situation is a set-up—the would-be felons don't know that. It's that Brown methodically convinces people to do the unthinkable or the just plain silly.

Born in Croydon, Southest London, in 1971, Derren studied law and German at the University of Bristol. After graduation, Derren began his career as a mentalist, performing in cafes and bars. He broke into TV in 2000 with Derren Brown: Mind Control, the first of three Mind Control series for the U.K.'s Channel Four.

Mind Control was followed by several popular series and specials, including Trick of the Mind, Messiah, and Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live. Derren Brown: Séance introduced Derren’s skepticism regarding spiritualism and psychic abilities, further adding to his maverick reputation.

Derren is the author of Tricks of the Mind and is currently at work on a new series to air in the U.K. in 2008.

External Links

• Derren Brown interview with SCI FI Weekly
• Official Mind Control with Derren Brown site at SCIFI.COM
• Official Derren Brown site
• Contact Mind Reading Expanded - Dariel Fitzkee, 1945