Additional Information And Details

Strong Business Background

I have a strong business background, combining senior management experience with the experience of running my own successful international business for over 20 years. However, I am also a very successful and highly-regarded entertainer in the very specialised field of psychological magic. This combination lends a unique flavour to all of my work.

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Senior Management Experience

I was formerly the UK Sales & Marketing Manager for Valtech, a multinational internet technologies company, with both UK-specific and company-wide responsibilities. I also worked for a market-leading software company, Synon, based in London but with offices around the world. I was their senior technical writer and documentation specialist before being asked to create and manage a new Documentation Dept. serving the entire company.

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Own Company For 20+ Years

I've run my own successful business for over 20 years, achieving steady growth every year. The company exists to exploit my skills as a writer, educator, performer, entertainer and lecturer.

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Worked For Many Top Companies

During my successful career in creative media and marketing, I worked on assignments for companies both large and small, including: Exxon Corporation, C&A, British Sugar, National Coal Board, Manpower Services Commission, Boots, John Player, GEC Marconi, Fisons, Bostik, British Shoe Corporation, Lloyds British Engineering, Stilton Cheese Association, Access (Mastercard), Pedigree Petfoods, Milk Marketing Board, Raleigh and the Savoy Hotels Group.

 

In my freelance years before founding my own company, I also worked for: International Financial Strategies, Cambridge Technology Partners, The Woolwich Building Society, Tri-Crown Productions (Los Angeles) and Medtronic (market leaders in medical electronics).

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Taught FBI Agents

The FBI Behavioural Analysis Program (BAP) hired me to teach their field agents about cold reading and persuasion skills. This was a unique honour. It was the first time the FBI had ever flown in a speaker from overseas, and I was the only speaker allocated a full-day in the training schedule.

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Lectured To The Ministry Of Defence

There is an international team of psychologists that advise the UK’s Ministry of Defence and equivalent ministries in Canada, America, Australia and France. I was invited to lecture to this team on the psychology of deception, to make it easier to identify those who are trying to deceive (e.g. spies trying to secure employment within the ministry).

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Consultant To The British Olympic Team

I was called in as an advisor to the sport psychologists appointed by EIS (English Institute of Sports) to work with the coaches, trainers and athletes of the British Olympics team. They wanted Ian's expertise regarding persuasion. There's no point having a coach working with an athlete unless he or she knows how to persuade the athlete to follow their advice.

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Oxford And Cambridge Universities

The scientific societies at both Oxford and Cambridge universities have invited me to lecture to their students. I have also lectured by invitation at the prestigious California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena and many other prestigious institutions including Monash University in Australia.

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Media Credits

My work has been featured on BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News, NBC Television, ABC Television, Paramount Television, and Australia’s Channel 9, as well as numerous smaller channels in the UK and America. Many of these appearances featured my baffling ability to simulate literally any psychic or paranormal phenomena (while openly admitting it is merely simulation).

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I've also been featured in The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, The Independent, London Evening Standard, The Daily Mirror, New Woman, She, Cosmopolitan, Focus, KK Magazine (Norway), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Edinburgh Evening News, Entertainment Weekly (USA), Quest Psychologie (Holland), CorD magazine (Serbia) and Focus (Polish edition).

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Mentioned By Notable Authors

In ‘Unweaving the Rainbow’, Dr. Richard Dawkins referred to Ian’s unique ability to replicate any and all so-called ‘impossible’ phenomena, while cheerfully admitting that everything he does relies on psychological illusion rather than paranormal powers.

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Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article entitled ‘Dangerous  Minds’ about the practice of criminal profiling, in which he cited Ian’s authoritative work on cold reading. This article is included in ‘What The Dog Saw’, a compilation of Gladwell’s writings.

 

Noted ‘skeptic’ James Randi and internet ‘marketing guru’ Dan Kennedy have also referred to Ian’s work and writings.