I didn’t know him well, but our paths crossed a few times over the years. At one show, I saw him walk onto the stage wearing two red gloves, remove one, place it into his fist, and then open his hand to reveal that the glove had now shrunk.

Afterwards, I asked Tamariz why he had opened with the glove trick. He explained that he was auditioning the front row, looking for someone with a happy and expressive face. Once he had found the perfect person, he invited them onstage to help with his astonishing act.

I have used a similar idea in my talks for many years. The famous Duck-Rabbit ambiguous image can be interpreted as a duck looking to the left or a rabbit looking to the right. I often show this image at the start of a talk and deliver one of my favourite lines:

“To some people this looks like a duck, to others a rabbit. However, this image has been studied by psychologists for over a century, and the consensus now is that it is actually a rabbit.”

Unbeknownst to the audience, the line acts as a psychological dipstick. A big, quick laugh indicates that the audience is sharp, and so the remainder of the talk is peppered with similar lines. If the joke encounters a rocky silence, then those lines vanish.

In that sense it is like Tamariz’s brilliant glove trick. It looks like a fun start to a talk, but there is something more interesting and useful going on.

Audition your audience!

Update: David Britland has just sent me this great trailer for a film about Juan, made by my pal Paul Wilson. It looks amazing.

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It all started when I was putting together the Edinburgh magic walk and included a line about the famous escapologist Harry Houdini buying 300 pairs of boots for the city’s poorest children in 1910.

A few days ago I was chatting with magician Ian Jones, and he pointed out that obtaining 300 pairs of boots would have been an expensive and complicated endeavour, and questioned the story.

Houdini did indeed carry out many acts of kindness during his life, including performing magic for children in hospital. But was this story true? Curious, I dug deeper.

First, I searched the British Newspaper Archive around the time of Houdini’s Edinburgh performances but couldn’t find any reports about the incident. Next, I searched Houdini’s scrapbooks in Ask Alexander (a huge database of magic literature) and again there was no mention of the tale.

The earliest reference that I could find appears to be in the 1928 book, Houdini: His Life-Story by Harold Kellock:

Playing in Edinburgh, Scotland, in cold weather, Houdini was shocked at the number of boys and girls on the streets without shoes. He bought three hundred pairs at a bootmaker’s and invited all shoeless children to the theater. His fellow performers became infected with his charitable enthusiasm, and the whole cast volunteered as shoe fitters to the children. For a time the theater resembled a settlement house. In the end there remained a considerable surplus of children without shoes. Houdini gathered together the disappointed ones and rushed off with them to the bootmaker, whose children’s stock he quite cleaned out.

The book appeared two years after Houdini’s death, and contains several stories that are more fiction than fact.

Next up, the famous writer Arthur Conan Doyle mentions the boots story in his 1930 book, The Edge Of The Unknown. In a chapter about his relationship with Houdini, Doyle writes:

Another favourable side of his character was his charity…At Edinburgh he was so shocked at the bare feet of the kiddies that he had them all into the theatre, and fitted them then and there with five hundred pairs of boots.

This chapter was first published as the article Houdini the Enigma in The Strand Magazine (August-September 1927). However, that article does not mention the boot story, suggesting that Doyle may have taken the read Kellock’s 1928 book and added it into his own writings in 1930.

After Doyle, we have the tale appearing in William Lindsay Gresham’s 1959 book, Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls. Gresham says:

It was a cold winter and when he [Houdini] hit Edinburgh, he was shocked at the number of children, in the poorer sections of the city, who were barefooted….He put an announcement in the paper that children without shoes should come to the theater. He hurried to a bootery and bought three hundred pairs of shoes and then drafted all the other acts on the bill to help him as shoe fitters. When the three hundred pairs were gone, there was still a crowd of disappointed kids. Houdini herded them all together and led the way to the nearest shoe store. At last every child in the crowd had a new pair. Houdini had the merchant send the bill to him at the theater.

This is the first mention of there being a newspaper announcement (I can’t find any evidence of one in the newspaper archive). From there, lots of people - including myself, Tait, and many others - repeated the story. My magic pal David Britland kindly noted that Ken Silverman’s 1996 biography is more sceptical than most. Silverman writes:

By one story, true in spirit if not in fact, after seeing shoeless children on the streets of Edinburgh, he bought three hundred pairs of shoes at a bootmaker’s and invited the children into the theater to have them fitted.

If you do have any additional information about the event, please drop me a line!

Obtaining 300 pairs of boots or more would have been quite something. Having the cast of the show help to fit them would have been an impressive operation. Marching the children down the road to a bootmaker would have attracted lots of attention. Yet there is nothing in the newspaper archive or Houdini’s scrapbooks to suggest that any of this happened. There is also no advertisement announcing the performance or event. Houdini was the master of publicity and one might have expected him to have organised some journalists and photographers to cover the story. Plus getting hold of 300 pairs of boots in different sizes would have been challenging.

However, this tale first appears two years after Houdini’s death in a book that contains several questionable stories about his life, and is then repeated and inflated from there. So, my guess is that the story is…as we Brits say….a load of cobblers.

Oh, and if you are coming up for the Festival, or are just of a curious disposition, the Edinburgh magic walk is here.

My thanks to Ian Jones, David Britland and John Cox, and Caroline Watt for the final joke.

It began when the British Association for the Advancement of Science asked for a project to celebrate National Science Year. I suggested searching for the world’s funniest joke, they said yes, and we promptly built the LaughLab website where visitors could submit their favorite jokes and rate others. The core team consisted of psychologist Emma Greening, tech guru Jed Everitt, and myself.

Here are a few surreal moments from the project, some of my favourite lines and a free download of 1000 jokes!

The Giant Chicken

To launch the project, we staged a photo-op with me standing next to a giant chicken. One photographer shouted, “Can the guy playing the scientist move to the left?”
“I am the scientist,” I called back, looking sheepishly at the giant chicken.

Did you hear about the man who was proud of finishing a jigsaw puzzle in 30 minutes because it said ‘5 - 6 years on the box?

Freud’s Couch

Sigmund Freud was fascinated by humour, writing Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious in 1905. We asked The Freud Museum in London if we could stage another photo-op by having a clown lay on Freud’s iconic couch. They kindly said yes, and I can still remember sitting in the chair once occupied by history’s most famous psychiatrist while staring at a man in a blue wig, greasepaint, and massive red shoes.

A dog goes into a telegraph office and writes: “Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof.”
The clerk says, “You can send another ‘Woof’ for the same price.”
The dog looks confused: “But that would make no sense at all.”

Weasel Sabotage

Midway through, we noticed a sudden flood of jokes ending with: “There’s a weasel chomping on my privates.”

Humorist Dave Barry had written about LaughLab in The International Herald Tribune and urged his readers to submit weasel punchlines while giving them top ratings.

A guy goes to the doctor for a checkup. At the end, he asks how long he has left to live. The doctor says, “Ten.”
Confused, the man asks, “Ten what? Years? Months? Weeks?”
The doctor replies, “Nine, Eight, Seven...”

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The World’s Funniest Joke
After gathering 40,000 jokes rated by over 350,000 people across 70 countries, we were awarded a Guinness World Record and appeared on the cover of The New Yorker.

The top joke voted by Americans was a nod to Dave Barry’s prank:

At the parade, the Colonel asks: “Major Barry, what the devil’s wrong with Sergeant Jones’ platoon? They seem to be twitching and jumping about.”
“Well sir,” says Major Barry, “there seems to be a weasel chomping on his privates.”

However, the overall winning joke was submitted by psychiatrist Gurpal Gosall:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one collapses. He isn’t breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy calls emergency services: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”
The operator says, “Calm down. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”
There is silence, then a gunshot. Back on the phone, the guy says, “OK, now what?”

To celebrate, my then PhD student Ciaran O’Keeffe put on a chicken suit, and we drove through London with the winning joke printed on a massive banner.

You can download 1000 clean jokes taken from our research archive here!
And read more about the project in my book Quirkology and online here.

What’s your all-time favourite joke?
Drop it in the comments below! Keep it clean!

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Lots of people will be heading up to the Edinburgh Festivals, and so I thought that it would be fun to put together a free, self-guided, magical tour of the city. It’s easy to walk through the streets, not realising you are surrounded by amazing stories about the history of magic and illusion.

There are 13 locations in all (10 in the city centre and 3 at the nearby seaside town of Portobello). Along the way you will meet the famous escapologist Harry Houdini (no jail could hold him), The Great Lafayette (the illusionist who died twice), the amazing Charles Cameron (who helped to create a new genre of magic) and many more interesting characters and tales. Even if you are not coming to Edinburgh, click through and enjoy the stories.

One of my favourite (possibly apocryphal) stories surrounding Houdini apparently happened in a British prison. As the story goes, Houdini was locked in a cell and spent hours trying to pick the lock to no avail. Sweating and exhausted, he eventually collapsed against the door in frustration - only for it to swing wide open. It had never been locked in the first place! The great escapologist had been trapped purely by his own assumptions.

To whet your appetite for the walk, here is a rare photograph of Houdini outside Edinburgh’s Waverley Station!

My hope is that this project inspires others to map out similar walks in their own towns and cities. If you’d like to get involved, or know of any magic history in your area, please drop me a line (details here). Together, we could build a magical map of the entire country!

The link to the walk is here and I hope that you enjoy it.

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1) Talk to one person

No matter whether you are speaking to 30, 300 or 3000 people, they somehow fuse together into a single entity. I have no idea how it happens, but it does. Every single time. The good news is that you can use this social quirk to bond with any audience.

When you chat with one person, you change your tempo, language, and stories to suit them. It’s the same with a large audience – change the words that you say, and the way that you say them, to fit the person they have become.

2) Create the illusion of spontaneity

A live event is like blowing a soap bubble. It’s sort of the same each time, but strangely unique and beautiful. That sense of wonderful uniqueness is key to a talk. For any audience, the talk must feel spontaneous, and live, and special.

You may have given the talk hundreds of times but remember that this is the first time this particular audience have heard it. For me, that means not using a script. I know what I want to say, but change exactly how I say it each time. It’s hard work, but it helps me to stay in the moment and so bond with the audience.

3) Have a script (but only for emergencies)

I have just said that I don’t have a script. That isn’t quite true. I do have one because, in the words of magician Eugene Burger, on a bad night I will need it. If I am tired, or it’s a tricky venue, or the audience aren’t settled, I like to know that I have a script to fall back on.

Those are never good talks, but at least you get through them. Oh and talking of bad nights, we all have them. Sometimes I come off and think: If that was the first time I had spoken, I would never do it again. It happens. Just get back on the horse and try again.

4) Don’t overstay your welcome

No one wants you to go on too long or is paying you for overtime. Brevity is always your friend. My friend and comedy writer Helen Keen once told there’s a saying amonst comedians – If it’s going well, get off. If it is going badly, get off.’ Remember the old theatrical adage – leave them wanting more.

5) Beware of speed bumps

Often you will be asked to speak for 50 minutes. That is a very long time to maintain attention (there is a reason why most television shows have a break every 12 minutes or so). In my experience, there are speed bumps (moments where the audience slows down and starts to lose interest) around the 15, 30, and 45 minute mark.

Try to ensure that you have something at each of these points to grab their attention. - Maybe a change of pace.
- Or a change of texture.
- Or a funny story.
- Or an unexpected twist in the tale.

6) Get out of jail free
If the talk isn’t going well: Cut to Questions and Answers! The talk might not be landing because you aren’t talking about something that interests the audience. With Q and A, you quickly find out where they audience are at and what they want to know.

It’s also a great way of writing a new talk! Cut to Q and A after about 25 minutes and incorporate the answers into your next talk! Let the audience write the show!

7) Dealing with nerves

Every speaker gets nervous, especially before the start of a talk. To help overcome them, try the old actors trick of reinterpreting your nerves as excitement. And remember that people have come along to hear you, not to have a bad time.

An audience will support you if you are authentic, likeable and want them to have a good time. And if that isn’t the case, maybe you shouldn’t be a speaker!

I hope that they are helpful! Enjoy!

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Replication, replication, replication
Researchers try to replicate controversial findings to discover if the effects are genuine. When Daryl published his paper, I teamed up with Chris French and Stuart Ritchie and we all tried to replicate one of the key studies. Alas, we failed to obtain Daryl’s positive results and argued that his original findings might have been due to errors such as selective reporting and fishing around in the data (link to the paper here). This debate about paranormal phenomena has taken place many times over the years, but this time something unusual happened.

Into the mainstream

Some writers pointed out that the criticisms aimed at Bem’s work also applies to much of mainstream psychology. If this is the case, many of these mainstream findings are equally unreliable. Right now, researchers are figuring out ways of spotting, and avoiding, these errors. Interestingly, those researching the paranormal have already paved the way.

Over the years, parapsychologists have written about the problems that can plague research into Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP). However, this work tends to be published in obscure academic journals. A few years ago, Julie Milton and I co-authored a small book that brought all this work together and contained a checklist to help researchers run better studies.

The book was originally published by University of Hertfordshire Press but is now difficult to obtain. However, we have decided to make it publicly available for free! The link is here. Feel free to download and share it. Our guess is that it will be of use to anyone interested in the paranormal, researching ESP, and working in the behavioural sciences. Enjoy!

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The Mind Machine

Born in Germany in 1873, Hans Berger enlisted in the cavalry in his twenties. One day, he was thrown from his horse and nearly trampled to death. At that exact moment, his sister (who was miles away) was overcome by an overwhelming feeling that her brother was in danger.

Convinced this was telepathy in action, Berger dedicated over twenty years of his life to creating a machine that could measure thoughts leaving the brain. He never did prove telepathy existed, but his obsession left us a world-changing legacy. Why? Because Berger attempt to measure thoughts led him to invent the world’s first electroencephalogram (the EEG machine). Today, medics and academic rely on his Berger’s ingenious apparatus to unlock the deepest secrets of the human brain.

The Haunted Wine Glass

Berger isn’t the only scientific pioneer inspired by the paranormal. In the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted his famous experiments into the psychology of conformity. He showed participants lines of obviously differing lengths to see if they would cave to peer pressure when actors deliberately gave the wrong answers. (Spoiler: they did).

Years later, Asch revealed one of the catalysts for his research. As a young boy attending a religious ceremony, adults told him that the spirits would make their presence known by consuming wine from a glass. Staring intensely at the glass under the power of suggestion, the young Asch was convinced that he saw the wine level drop.

Most scientists study the norm. In my talk, I suggested that we foster innovation by encouraging researchers to take a scientific look at phenomena which appear anomalous, strange, and even downright weird.

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The Haunted Laboratory

I liked the study, in part, because it references work conducted by a friend of mine, the late, great, Vic Tandy. Vic was an electrical engineer and in 1998, he worked for a company manufacturing life support equipment. The firm’s laboratory had a reputation for being haunted. One night, Vic was working alone in the lab, had the impression of being watched and saw a grey figure slowly emerge in his peripheral vision. The figure then faded away.

The Vibrating Sword

Vic was a fencer, and the following day brought his foil into the lab for a repair. He clamped it into a vice and saw it starting to vibrate. Vic eventually figured out that the lab’s air extraction system was producing infrasound, and this had made the foil vibrate.

Demystifying the Paranormal

Vic read around and discovered that these low frequency sounds could make people feel uneasy, distort their vision and cause candles to flicker. Putting two and two together, he speculated that some buildings may contain infrasound (perhaps caused by wind blowing across an open window, or the rumble of outside traffic), and that the resulting strange effects might be attributed to ghosts. You can read his paper on the topic here.

I am a big fan of Vic’s idea, and we dedicated a page to his theory in our graphic novel about the paranormal, Hocus Pocus.

Over the years, I also worked with Vic to try to detect infrasound at several ‘haunted’ locations, and teamed up with composer and sound engineer Sarah Angliss to stage ‘Infrasonic’ - concerts with and without infrasound at the Queen Elizabeth Concert Hall on London’s South Bank. Here is a photo of Vic in action at a supposedly haunted underground vault in Edinburgh…

And another looking down the longsewage pipe that we used to generate the infrasound at the concert…..

Anyway, it’s great that Vic’s ideas are being tested in new research and I hope that you enjoyed finding out more about this pioneer of the paranormal.

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Here’s a typical first slide from my deck:

I use a black background and a 4:3 aspect ratio.

While many speakers use the modern 16:9 widescreen format, I stick with 4:3. Why? Because many projector systems are still designed for 4:3. If you project a 16:9 slide onto a 4:3 screen, it can get cut off or letterboxed. But if you project a 4:3 slide onto a 16:9 screen, it puts black bars on the sides—which blend into my black background.

I also put a green frame around the edge of this initial slide. Before the audience enters, I look at the screen. If I can see the entire green frame, I know my slides aren’t being cut off by the projector.

The public never get to see that slide. It is just for me to test the system.

Tip One: Have a secret diagnostic slide just for you.

Before the audience enters, I switch to my second slide. This one looks almost identical, but the green frame is gone, and it contains an embedded audio track.

As people enter the hall, my music plays automatically from this slide (with the speaker icon hidden). This does two things. First, it sets the atmosphere I want, thus avoiding that awkward, dead-silent morgue feeling or relying on the organiser’s random playlist. Second, it shows that my laptop’s audio feed is working through the sound system.

Tip Two: Use your own music to test the laptop feed and control the atmosphere.

Finally, as I am being introduced, I use my remote clicker to advance to my third pre-slide.

To the audience, it looks the same as the previous one. But if you look closely at the bottom-left corner, there is a tiny green dot. If I click and the green dot appears, I know my remote is connected and the system hasn’t frozen. If it has frozen, I can speak for 10 minutes without slides while the problem is fixed (hopefully!).

There is nothing worse than building up audience anticipation, only to find out you can’t advance your first slide. With these quick, hidden checks, you’ll never have to worry about tech failures again.

Tip Three: Use the Green Dot Trick to test the system just before you start.

Enjoy!

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We had over 12,000 readers of The Daily Telegraph state their age and surname, and rate how successful they were in aspects of their life. Those with surnames that began with letters towards the start of the alphabet consistently rated themselves as more successful than those with surnames starting with more lowly initials. In short, the Abbots and Adams of the world were doing better than the Youngs and the Yorks. The effect increased with age, suggesting that it was not due to childhood experiences, but rather gradually built up over time.

This is not the only evidence for alphabetical discrimination. In 2006, two economists found that academics whose surnames began with initials that were early in the alphabet were more likely than others to win accolades and awards. They argued that this was probably due to authors on academic papers often being placed in alphabetical order, resulting in those with initials towards the start of the alphabet appearing more prominent than their peers.

In addition, psychologists from the University of California uncovered evidence suggesting that a person’s initials may affect how long they live. Using a large database of death certificates, they identified people whose initials formed a positive sounding word (such as A.C.E. and J.O.Y.) and those that had very negative connotations (B.U.M. and D.I.E.). Controlling for factors such as year of death and socioeconomic status, the researchers discovered that men with positive initials lived around 4.5 years longer than average, whereas those with negative initials died about 3 years early. Women with positive initials lived an extra 3 years, and there was no detrimental effect for those with negative initials.

As a Wiseman, and therefore someone with a lifetime’s experience of coming towards the bottom of alphabetical lists, I take some comfort in the fact that these effect are all very small.

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Einav, Liran, and Leeat Yariv. 2006. What’s in a Surname? The Effects of Surname Initials on Academic Success. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20 (1): 175–187.

Christenfeld, N., Phillips, D.P. & Glynn, L.M. (1999). What’s in a name: Mortality and the power of symbols. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 47, 241–254.

The phrase comes from a great magic trick invented by Arnold Furst. A magician starts off with a strip of paper with the words FRESH FISH SOLD HERE TODAY printed along it. In my version, I explain that it’s a sign from a fishmonger’s window and point out that the word TODAY is redundant (when else would you be selling the fish?). I tear TODAY off the strip. Next, I point out that it’s obvious where the fish is being sold, and so I tear off HERE too. Then I point out that you don’t need the word SOLD because it’s obviously a shop, and tear SOLD off. Finally, I note that the fishmonger is obviously selling fish and so that word is torn off too. I am just left with the one word that really matters – FRESH!

In the trick, the pieces are then magically restored, but I don’t bother with that bit. Instead, I point out that the same principle applies to the text on slides. It’s important to be as efficient as possible. Whenever there is text on a slide, audiences start to read it, and so switch their attention from the speaker to the slide. To prevent this, cut any words to the absolute minimum. If it helps, imagine that you are paying £1000 for each word. What can go? In an ideal world, there are no words at all!

For instance, look at this early slide from one of my talks into the psychology of suggestion and séances….

It’s fine but loads of those words can go. Apply the FRESH FISH SOLD HERE TODAY rule and now it reads….

Look at your slides. If you had to pay £1000 per word, what would go?

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Shop image produced by AI.

Second, I have just launched a 3 min survey on magic and it would be wonderful if you could take part. The link is here.

Third, it’s puzzle time! In my last post, I posed this puzzle…

Take a look at this plan of a launchpad.

One side of the launchpad is 9 metres long and another side is 15 metres long, and the distance between point A and point B is 10 metres. You need to buy some fencing to all around the perimeter of the launchpad. You aren’t allowed to use a ruler, consult a book, or ask a friend.

How did you get on? There's a remarkably easy solution. You can ignore the distance between point A and point B. All you have to do is imagine moving these two horizontal lines up like this....

.....and these two vertical lines to the right like this.......

....it then you are left with a perfect rectangle like this.....

....and now it’s obvious that the launchpad’s perimeter is 48 metres (two sides that are 9 metres long plus two sides that are 15 metres long).

And here is one extra puzzle….

A magician says that they can throw a ping-pong ball and have it go a short distance, come to a complete stop, and then reverse itself. The magician says that he won’t bounce the ball against any object, or attach anything to it. How can he perform such an amazing feat?

The solution? The magician threw the ping pong ball up in the air.

How did you get on? Try them on your friends and annoy them too.

I am a huge fan of these lateral thinking projects and hope that you are too!

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I have, however, written a book about the mindset that took humanity to the Moon. During the research I had the privilege of interviewing many of the Mission Controllers involved in Apollo 11. They turned out to be an amazingly young bunch. Indeed, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon, the average age of the people in Mission Control was an astonishing 28 years old.

One of the key interviewees was the late great Jerry Bostick. He grew up on a small family farm in Mississippi, served as a Page in the US House of Representatives, graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University and eventually ended up working at the NASA.

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Bostick was made head of the group that helped ensure that Apollo 11 headed in the right direction (known as Mission Control’s Flight Dynamics Branch) when he was just 29 years old. When I interviewed, Bostick he made an insightful comment on the importance of the Mission Controllers being young and optimistic:

“They decided to go with a bunch of young guys fresh out of college because we didn’t know that it couldn’t be done! When we were told that we needed to find a way of getting to the Moon, we just got on and did it.”

I have often thought about Bostick’s ‘so young we didn’t know it couldn’t be done’ comment. It’s great because it supports the idea that optimists don’t give up before they have begun. Instead, they assume that there is a way forward and set about trying to find solutions.

I wrote all of this up in my book, Shoot for the Moon. I also included one of my favourite puzzles…..

Take a look at this plan of a launchpad.

One side of the launchpad is 9 metres long and another side is 15 metres long, and the distance between point A and point B is 10 metres. You need to buy some fencing to all around the perimeter of the launchpad. You aren’t allowed to use a ruler, consult a book, or ask a friend. Oh, and you will only have 2 minutes to complete the task.

Do you have the optimist mind-set and think that you can figure it out? Or have you given up before you started? Actually, it’s easier than you might think and I will post the answer in the next post.

Best of luck to everyone on Artemis II.

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His findings were startling. People in Western Europe were sprinting through life, while those in Africa and Latin America took a more measured pace. Within the US, New Yorkers were the speed-demons, while Los Angeles leaned into a slower groove.

But this wasn’t just about getting to lunch on time. Levine discovered that a faster pace of life was a double-edged sword. Higher speeds were linked to higher income and increased happiness, but also more coronary heart disease and a decrease in helpfulness.

In 2006, I teamed up with British Council to measure walking speeds across the world. On August 22, our research teams went into city centres and found busy streets that were flat, free from obstacles, and uncrowded. Between 11.30am and 2.00pm local time, they secretly timed how long it took people to walk along a 60-foot stretch of the pavement. All the people had to be on their own, not holding a telephone conversation or struggling with shopping bags. The results are shown in the table below.

City (Country)
Fastest
1 Singapore (Singapore)
2 Copenhagen (Denmark)
3 Madrid (Spain)
4 Guangzhou (China)
5 Dublin (Ireland)
6 Curitiba (Brazil)
7 Berlin (Germany)
8 New York (USA)
9 Utrecht (Netherlands)
10 Vienna (Austria)
11 Warsaw (Poland)
12 London (UK)
13 Zagreb (Croatia)
14 Prague (Czech Republic)
15 Wellington (New Zealand)
16 Paris (France)
17 Stockholm (Sweden)
18 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
19 Tokyo (Japan)
20 Ottawa (Canada)
21 Harare (Zimbabwe)
22 Sofia (Bulgaria)
23 Taipei (Taiwan)
24 Cairo (Egypt)
25 Sana’a (Yemen)
26 Bucharest (Romania)
27 Dubai (UAE)
28 Damascus (Syria)
29 Amman (Jordan)
30 Bern (Switzerland)
31 Manama (Bahrain)
32 Blantyre (Malawi)
SLOWEST

We compared the 16 cities that were in Levine’s work and our own and determined that the pace of life had increased by 10%! The pace of life in Guangzhou (China) increased by over 20%, and Singapore showed a 30% increase, resulting in it becoming the fastest moving city in the study. Projected forward, the results suggest that by 2040, they will arrive at their destination several seconds before they have set-off.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Robert Levine about this work. I believe it may have been his final interview. You can listen to him discussing the “Geography of Time” below.

Finally, what is your pace of life? Are you moving too fast? Here are four questions to help you to decide.

- When someone takes too long to get to the point, do you feel like hurrying them along?

- Are you often the first person to finish at mealtimes?

- When walking along a street, do you often feel frustrated because you are stuck behind others?

- Do you walk out of restaurants or shops if you encounter even a short queue?

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There was a long running rivalry between tennis stars Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. In 2012, they faced one another in the final of the US Open. Murray took the first two sets but Djokovic battled back to win the next two sets. Murray took a toilet break and, according to several reports, looked in the bathroom mirror and shouted “You are not losing this match…you are not going to let this one slip’ Murray then walked back out and faced his opponent for the deciding set.

In 2014, psychologist Sanda Dolcos (University of Illinois) carried out some great experiments exploring how motivation is affected by whether we talk to ourselves in either the first or second person.

In one study, she had people try to complete some difficult anagrams. Some participants were asked to motivate themselves by using first-person sentences (“I can do it”) whilst others gave themselves a second-person pep talk (“You can do it”). Those using the ‘you’ word completed far more anagrams than those using the ‘I’ word. Dolcos then asked other people to motivate themselves to exercise more in either the first person (‘I should go for a run now’) or second person (’You must go to the gym’). Those using the ‘you’ word ended up feeling far more positive about going for a run or visiting a gym, and planned to take more exercise over the coming weeks.

Whatever the explanation, it is a simple but effective shortcut to motivation. And it worked for Andy Murray because he broke Djokovic’s serve, won the shortest set of the match, and emerged victorious.

When you are in need of some fast acting and powerful motivation, talk to yourself using the magic ‘you’ word. Tell yourself that ‘you can do it’, that ‘you’ love whatever it is that you have to do, and that ‘you’ will make a success of it. You may not end up winning the US Open, but you will discover how just one word has the power to motivate and energise.

Dolcos, S., & Albarracin, D. (2014). The inner speech of behavioral regulation: Intentions and task performance strengthen when you talk to yourself as a You. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(6), 636–642.

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While preparing, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a hugely knowledgeable director who had worked with many magicians. He explained that magicians often weaken their performances by letting the audience experience the magic at different times.

Imagine that a magician drops an apple into a box and then tips it forward to show that the apple has vanished. The box must be turned from side to side so that everyone in the audience can see inside. As a result, each person experiences the disappearance at a slightly different moment and the impact is diluted.

Now imagine a different approach. The apple goes into the box. The lid is pulled off and all four sides drop down simultaneously. This time, everyone sees the disappearance at the same time and the reaction is far stronger.

The same principle applies to talks. Some years ago, I ran a year-long experiment with the British Science Association about investing on the FTSE 100. We gave a notional £5,000 to a regular investor, a financial astrologer (who invested based on company birth dates) and a four-year-old child who selected shares at random!

If I simply show the final graph, people in the audience interpret it at different speeds. Some spot the outcome instantly. Others take longer. The moment fragments.

Instead, I build it step by step. First, I show a blank graph and explain the two axes.

Then I reveal that both the professional investor and the financial astrologer lost money.

Finally, I reveal that the four-year-old random share picker outperformed them both!

Now the entire audience sees the result at the same moment — and reacts together. That shared moment creates energy.

It’s a simple idea:

Don’t just reveal information. Orchestrate the moment of discovery.

If you want bigger reactions, stronger engagement, and more memorable talks, make sure your audience experiences the key moments together.

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This week we have a quick quiz to test your understanding of sleep and dreaming. Please decide whether each of the following 7 statements are TRUE or FALSE. Here we go….

1) When I am asleep, my brain switches off.

2) I can learn to function well on less sleep.

3) Napping is a sign of laziness.

4) Dreams consist of meaningless thoughts and images.

5) A small amount of alcohol before bedtime improves sleep quality.

6) I can catch up on my lost sleep at the weekend.

7) Eating cheese just before you go to bed gives you nightmares

OK, here are the answers…..

1) When I am asleep, my brain switches off: Nope. When you fall asleep, your sense of self-awareness shuts down, but your brain remains highly active and carries out tasks that are essential for your wellbeing.

2) I can learn to function well on less sleep: Nope. Sleep is a biological need. You can force yourself to sleep less, but you will not be fully rested, and your thoughts, feelings and behaviour will be impaired.

3) Napping is a sign of laziness: Nope. Your circadian rhythm make you sleepy towards the middle of the afternoon, and so napping is natural and makes you more alert, creative, and productive.

4) Dreams consist of meaningless thoughts and images: Nope. During dreaming your brain is often working through your concerns, and so dreams can provide an insight into your worries and help come up with innovative solutions.

5) A small amount of alcohol before bedtime improves sleep quality: Nope. A nightcap can help you to fall asleep, but also causes you to spend less time in restorative deep sleep and having fewer dreams.

6) I can catch up on my lost sleep at the weekend: Nope. When you fail to get enough sleep you develop a sleep debt. Spending more time in bed for a day will help but won’t fully restore you for the coming week.

7) Eating cheese just before you go to bed gives you nightmares: Nope. The British Cheese Board asked 200 volunteers to spend a week eating some cheese before going to sleep and to report their dreams in the morning. None of them had nightmares.

So there we go. They are all myths! How did you score?

A few years ago I wrote Night School - one of the first modern-day books to examined the science behind sleep and dreaming. In a forthcoming blog post I will review some tips and tricks for making the most of the night. Meanwhile, what are your top hints and tips for improving your sleep and learning from your dreams?

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I first came across his work when I was about 10 years old and read this book on showmanship and presentation….

According to Edward Maurice, it’s helpful if magicians are likeable (who knew!), so he recommended that they read Carnegie’s book. I still have my original copy, and it’s covered in my notes and highlights.

One of my favourite — and wonderfully simple — pieces of advice is to smile more. Since the book was written, psychologists have discovered lots about the power of smiling. There is evidence that forcing your face into a smile makes you feel better (known as the facial feedback hypothesis). In addition, it often elicits a smile in return and, in doing so, makes others feel good too. As a result, people enjoy being around you. But, as Carnegie says, it must be a genuine smile, as fake grins look odd and are ineffective. Try it the next time you meet someone, answer the telephone, or open your front door. It makes a real difference.

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In another section of the book, Carnegie tells an anecdote about a parent whose son went to university but never replied to their letters. To illustrate the importance of seeing a situation from another person’s point of view, Carnegie advised the parent to write a letter saying that they had enclosed a cheque — but to leave out the cheque. The son replied instantly.

Then there is the power of reminding yourself how much the people in your life mean to you. Carnegie once asked the great stage illusionist Howard Thurston about the secret of his success. Thurston explained that before he walked on stage, he always reminded himself that the audience had been kind enough to come and see him. Standing in the wings, he would repeat the phrase, “I love my audience. I love my audience.” He then walked out into the spotlight with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

This is not the only link between Carnegie and magic. Dai Vernon was a hugely influential exponent of close-up magic and, in his early days, billed himself as Dale Vernon because of the success of Dale Carnegie (The Vernon Touch, Genii, April 1973). In addition, in 1947 Carnegie was a VIP guest at the Magicians’ Guild Banquet Show in New York. Here is a rare photo of the great author standing with several famous magicians of the day (from Conjurers Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4; courtesy of the brilliant Lybrary.com).

Front row (left to right): Elsie Hardeen, Dell O’Dell, Gladys Hardeen, J. J. Proskauer
Back row: E. W. Dart, Terry Lynn, Al Flosso, Mickey MacDougall, Al Baker, Warren Simms, Dale Carnegie, Max Holden, Jacob Daley

If you don’t have a copy, go and get How to Win Friends and Influence People. Some of the language is dated now, but the thinking is still excellent. Oh, and there is an excellent biography of Carnegie by Steven Watts here.

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I’m a fan of a remarkable Scottish conjurer called Harry Marvello. He was performing during the early 1900s and built a theatre in Edinburgh that is now an amusement arcade. I have a previous post on Marvello here and have just written a long article about him for a magic history magazine called Gibecière (the issue is out soon).

Marvello was friends with an Edinburgh publican named Peter Higgins. Higgins owned two bars, one by the Empire Palace Theatre and another in a nearby seaside town. He kept scrapbooks in both bars and loved to ask performers to draw and write in them. I discovered that these scrapbooks have survived and are now in the National Library of Scotland! I went along and they are full of details about amazing acts…..

I mean, who can forget gymnasts The Great Fredericks Demon Kings (most people it seems because I can’t find out anything about them)…

Then we have the living poodle, Arthur Lupino. Arthur was apparently a great animal impersonator and James Barrie had him play Nana the dog in the premiere of Peter Pan in 1904.

There is also a very rare notice announcing the death of the magician, The Great Lafayette. Lafayette died in a terrible theatre fire in Edinburgh 1911, and is the only magician (and possibly person) to be cremated twice. It’s a long story and you can read about it on the web. The tragedy was due to a faulty fire curtain and as a result, theatres now have to raise and lower their fire curtain in front of every audience to show that it works properly. If you have seen that happen, it is a direct result of The Great Lafayette.

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Also, there was Cris The Demon Ventriloquist (again, I couldn’t find out anything about him or his act)…

And finally, the great man himself – Peter Higgins sitting with the legendary Scottish music hall star, Harry Lauder.

So there we go. I love the idea that over a century ago, performers sat around making their mark in this book, and now their work can be seen all over the world! If you have any thoughts, or information, about these lost acts, please let me know!

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Anyway, as you might have noticed, it’s nearly New Year, and so you might be thinking about a resolution or two. In my book, 59 Seconds, I described some of my work into how best to create a new you. I have put these 10 top tips out before but thought that it was the perfect time to revisit them. Enjoy and, of course, Happy New Year!

Ten Top Tips…

1) Make only one resolution, your chances of success are greater when you channel energy into changing just one aspect of your behaviour.

2) Think about your resolution - take some time out and reflect upon what you really want to achieve.

3) Avoid previous resolutions; deciding to re-visit a past resolution sets you up for frustration and disappointment.

4) Don’t run with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions. Instead think about what you really want out of life.

5) Break your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are concrete, measurable, and time-based.

6) Tell your friends and family about your goals, thus increasing the fear of failure and eliciting support.

7) Regularly remind yourself of the benefits associated with achieving your goals by creating a checklist of how life would be better once you obtain your aim.

8) Give yourself a small reward whenever you achieve a sub-goal, thus maintaining motivation and a sense of progress.

9) Make your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, completing a computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures.

10) Expect to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a temporary set-back rather than a reason to give up altogether.

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