Derren Brown - brilliant memory with map of London

[GradeAHypnosis]

No ear piece, but a small speaker in his sleeve would make perfect sense.

[makaveli187420]

lol, no ear piece, no speakers. They are memory tricks which really work. To give you an example, though doesn't mean much to you, I'm sure someone familiar with his book will get this number:

876498474505773498724

One of his little tricks he teaches in his book to memorize things like that... and yes, I memorized that whole string in about 30 seconds.

[GradeAHypnosis]

Those memory methods you describe definitely work, but that's the catch....he FUSES what COULD be incredible feats of memory combined with 'on stage tricks'(speaker in the sleeve and performance/acting) to create the effect.

Watch this show again and notice he puts his hand(s) up to his head every time he's "thinking." Also notice Derren gives whom ever is backstage with the other copy of the map enough time to find where the spectator is looking.

Just watch again with these possible ideas.

[makaveli187420]

But the thing is, he doesn't need to. Sure it might make it easier, but it would be pointless if he doesn't need to.

And the reason he puts his hands up to his head, is because he's recalling and sifting through massive amounts of information, and has to decode the information he has stored..

Its hard to explain if you haven't read his book, but when you have tons of information like that, you do occasionally put your hands on your head while recalling it all.

[GradeAHypnosis]

That IS the thing. He creates such a belief with his audience in his mental abilities (like teaching real memory techniques) that it's so believable to the point that people wont even question this type of "demonstration" to be fake. I've read his book, and also know he is a master trickster.

And it's definitely not "occasionally" putting his right hand to his head, it's every time. Notice the spelling of the street names in such an exceedingly large amount of time and unnecessary repeating.

[GradeAHypnosis]

Excuse me, left hand.

This is with all due respect by the way, I love Derren's work.

[makaveli187420]

Oh I know, I'm just saying, it would be alot of work for nothing since its entirely possible for him to do this purely from memory.

[makaveli187420]

Since you've read his book, then I assume you're familiar with the way he encodes everything to memory, using his Linking Method, and Number Pegs? Keep in mind, he said this took him around 4 months to memorize, which is about right for the size of information he had to memorize.

I do realize that he used his hand everytime, but In addition to helping him recall information, it also helps add to the effect. If he just stood there like a statue reciting things, it wouldn't be interesting.

[ukijhu97]

@GradeAHypnosis It could be. well observed but i personally believe he's thinking REALLY hard and you do strange stuff like that then. I think NLP explains it.

[therealpsychopath]

Derren's live show is amazing. Read his book about his techniques and you understand that he uses a mixture of hypnotism, suggestion and sometimes "magic".

[smyrniantimes]

Just a hidden receiver and someone at a computer.

[azmista]

Buy his book, he teaches you these memorizing techniques, I've tried them and they work. You just need to take the time to learn them.

[heartagramboy]

so he can remember all the roads in london but not one dude's name!!!

lol still a god tho!

[deviroth]

@heartagramboy

Yeah, he has problems with remembering volunteers' names during his shows because he already has so much going on in his head. He talks about this in one of his books.

[zzaaaid]

Very different presentation style now.

[bubbles19921888]

Al Murry!!! at the very start

[NBBasRutten]

Yeah, I saw him too. Does he still have his show?

[roughryder5]

aha at 6:12 he mistaked bill's name for lee :D