DERREN'S GOT YOUR NUMBER ; TV mindbender's memory feat
Source: Sunday Mail; Glasgow (UK) (msnbc.yellowbrix.com)
Publication date: 2003-04-06

ILLUSIONIST Derren Brown plans to astound his first live Scottish audience by memorising every residential phone number in a town.

The star of Channel 4's Mind Control says he will learn off by heart all 20,000 numbers in Kirkcaldy when he visits the town's Adam Smith Theatre on April 14.

Derren's past stage tricks have included getting someone to stick a needle through their "dead" hand and making a cashier pay out on a losing greyhound.

But the mindbender is planning the staggering memory feat to impress his first audience north of the Border.

The entertainer said: "I can't wait to find out what the Scottish audience will be like.

"I imagine they will be absolutely charming and a lot more giving and responsive than some of the audiences I've had in the south of England.

"But the moment you start theorising about people you lose it."

Derren, 32, will use his photographic memory to accomplish the task.

It was as a law student at Bristol University that Derren honed his skills and also first hypnotised someone.

He said: "I managed to get their tie off and on to me in a restaurant without them or their friends noticing.

"I realised I loved entertaining people like this and drifted into magic."

But Derren admits he can't predict the outcome of his shows. He said: "I never know how the show is going to turn out beforehand because it all depends on the people."