SOME OF MY ARCHIVES HAVE FOUND HOMES IN SURPRISING PLACES 

As I searched out new illustrations for the forthcoming updated edition of The Link, I discovered how far and wide some of my archives have become distributed. 

For example, in early 1974 I had a photo shoot with a long-established and old-fashioned photographic studio in Cambridge - Ramsey and Muspratt - but none of the original images were in my own archives. The studio has long gone but a bit of research led me to the Cambridgeshire Collection of the Cambridge Central Library who are now custodians of these photographs. 

The Senate House at the University of London hold the majority of my automatic writing and drawings, together with much other archive material, and if you’re interested in looking at my early work it can be viewed by appointment. 

I then learned that unbeknownst to me, Cambridge University Library also hold extensive archives including a full photographic record of the signatures on the walls of our former family home, Queen’s House. They also have copies of many of the reports of scientific research in which I was involved, together with numerous press cuttings. These too can be viewed by prior appointment or accessed online. 

The College of Psychic Studies in London were gifted the door panel covered in signatures around a poetic verse (top right corner of the accompanying image for this post) and it is on display there for anyone to inspect. 

I’m quite flattered that so much of my archive material is held by two prestigious universities and is available to the public. 

However, I have enormous personal archives comprising of thousands of photographs many of which are now stored on our computer and on memory sticks. I’ve got reams of press articles from around the world dating back to the early 1970s together with old TV footage of programs on which I appeared. I also have original copies of dozens of recordings and video material made for my early self-help cassettes. Everything is currently stored in large plastic boxes and held in a secure storage container for safety. 

One day, when I’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, I’d like these various archive collections to be held in one place so that in the future everyone can access them. Sixty years or more of archives would be a fascinating insight into the experiences I’ve had in my life. In the coming months I hope to talk to both London and Cambridge Universities with a view to all this material ultimately being held in one location. 

I’ve enjoyed finding material that I’d long-forgotten, some of which has not been previously published, but will now be included in The Link. It’s been a trip down memory lane.

REFLECTIONS ON ALMOST 50 YEARS OF PUBLICITY 

Next week it will be 47 years since The Link was first published and I’ve been reminiscing about those early years. I was young, quite naive and just 19-years-old, and nothing could have prepared me for the maelstrom into which I was unwittingly thrown. 

Virtually overnight I found myself in almost every newspaper and magazine in this country and around the world - including Paris Match and Time magazine as well as the satirical magazine Private Eye - as tens of thousands of articles were written about me. 

On one occasion in late 1974, two men were found rummaging through our waste bin outside. They were a couple of journalists hoping to find a new “exclusive” story whilst poring through our rubbish. I quickly learned that no area of my life was now sacrosanct and some red-top tabloids would stop at nothing in search of a story. It felt like a enormous invasion of privacy but was sadly par for the course once I became ‘public property’. 

I was taken unawares by the level of aggressive scepticism towards me from some people. Larry Adler, the mouth organ player, wrote a vicious in a Sunday newspaper, tearing me apart - even though we’d never met and as far as I understood he had neither interest nor experience of psychic phenomena. I was at a loss to comprehend his motive. There were unrelenting attacks by magicians although I quickly realised that these were primarily for their own self-publicity. In retrospect I was incredibly lucky to have had the late Sir David Frost, with whom I did much television work, acting as a kind mentor. “Today’s newspapers carry tomorrow’s fish and chips”, he would tell me. “Don’t worry about anything they write.” 

On one occasion I was driving around Hyde Park in London with my mother as a passenger. We were stuck in traffic and my window was wound down when a man on a bicycle pushed his head into the car and began shouting angry abuse at me. Such angry and vitriolic scepticism was not uncommon but I learned after that event to keep my car windows closed. 

When you’re in the public eye you become accustomed to inaccurate reporting or false stories. The irony was not lost on me that whilst I was sometimes accused of fraud or lying, those same journalists had no compunction whatsoever in publishing deliberately false or misleading stories. This was decades before we had even heard the phrase “fake news”. 

Ironically, one of false stories helped The Link to become a bestseller in America in 1975. I’d been zigzagging the country for three weeks, appearing on TV and radio shows and giving countless Press interviews. One night I’d flown late into a city only to find that my publishers had arranged yet another interview with a journalist whose articles were nationally syndicated. I always had to remain polite no matter how tired I might be. 

The journalist asked if I had a girlfriend - a question nobody had previously asked. I replied, perfectly honestly, that I didn’t have time for one. A couple of days later I was mortified by the headline across United States newspapers that pronounced “Psychic Is Not Wasting His Energy On A Sex Life”. The accompanying article bore no relation whatsoever to that late night conversation with the journalist - but it gained huge attention and massively boosted my book sales. 

Sometimes there were unexpected and amusing benefits to fame. I once visited a nightclub - probably the first and only time in my life - and the owner had understood that I was a “famous cyclist”! I couldn’t understand why there was a flow of free drinks all night - until I left and hadn’t the heart to put him right. 

Fame is wonderful for opening doors to people you might otherwise never have had the privilege of meeting. I’ve had such enjoyment over the decades spending time with musicians whose albums I bought as a youngster, film stars who have told stories never to be repeated that made me hoot with laughter, leading scientists and doctors, deep-thinking visionary writers and novelists, and royalty. 

Personally, I cannot imagine why anybody craves fame yet it is now something for which many youngsters seem prepared to sell their soul. It takes away infinitely more than it gives and the pressures are unbelievable. Whilst I never sought it out I sometimes feel fortunate to have survived it as the strain was often immense and unrelenting. 

I’ve had an amazing journey through life and like to think that I’ve managed to mostly keep my feet on the ground and to retain some sense of humility. I’ve made a few mistakes along the way - as we all have - but there’s not much that I’d change. 

MY FIRST BOOK ‘THE LINK’ HAS RECENTLY BEEN REPUBLISHED.  

I recently republished a new edition of my book The Link, first published in 1974.

With completely new illustrations and photographs and some minor updates, it’s looking wonderful - and bringing back memories for me! 

I’ll always remember being given a postal sack of letters that I received shortly after The Link was first published. I’d never seen so many letters and was completely overwhelmed by their sheer number. Amongst them was a rather expensive-looking envelope with lovely handwriting. 

It was a charming letter from Lady Browning, also known as the novelist and playwright Daphne Du Maurier, whose books included Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman’s Creek, and The Birds. Her stories have been described as moody and resonant with overtones of the paranormal - hence her immediate interest in The Link. Rather kindly, she told me that I had “the X-factor” - a phrase I’d not heard of before. 

In turn she introduced me to one of her Cornish neighbours, the writer Colin Wilson, who invited me to stay for a few days so as to get a break from the relentless media attention. We all wanted to have dinner together but Daphne was unable to join us as she had a house full of grandchildren when I visited. Colin and I shared a similar path of early success as his first book, The Outsider, was published in 1956 when he was just 24-years-old and he too had been subjected to enormous publicity. To this day it has never been out of print and has been translated into more than 30 languages. 

He was a prolific writer and by the late 1960s had become increasingly interested in the metaphysical and paranormal, focusing on the cultivation of what he called “Faculty X”. He saw this as something that could lead to an increased sense of meaning, along with abilities such as telepathy and the awareness of energies. 

I last saw Colin in 1995 when he was in the audience of the first Beyond Belief show that I co-hosted with Sir David Frost for ITV. He’d been invited by the production team who had no idea that we knew each other. After several years Beyond Belief was replaced on a Saturday night by The X-Factor - that very same phrase that Daphne Du Maurier had used in her letter to me 20 years previously! The irony of these “energetic connections” was not lost on me. 

Sadly, Daphne Du Maurier, Colin Wilson, and Sir David Frost have all passed away but I cherish the memories of such wonderful friendships and associations.

A KING WITH SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE 

I once had the privilege of being invited to a private dinner with Prince Charles and will always treasure the memory of the time we sat together with nobody else present. 

As I talked about the scientific research in which I had been involved he responded by saying: “Fascinating. What more proof do we need?” 

On a couple of occasions he has recommended patients to me. For many years he has been a Patron of the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, now known as Penny Brohn UK - Live Well With Cancer and has previously been outspoken in his support of homeopathy and integrative medicine for which he has been accused of “quackery”. 

He also enjoys hedgelaying and is passionate about the arts, especially the works of Shakespeare, opera and Leonard Cohen. 

Of his greatest campaigning cause - the environment - he can now take solace that global leaders have come round to his demands that they address a climate change crisis. At the COP26 United Nations conference held in Glastonbury in 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden praised Charles’ leadership, telling him that he got “the whole thing going”. 

Whilst the media have always wanted to focus on his private life, the King wanted to speak out about social and spiritual issues. But by actions such as founding the Duchy Originals brand to promote organic food, and saying he talked to his plants and shook hands with trees when he planted them, some media labelled him a crank. 

I believe the King is a serious-minded man with a genuine concern for people. Chris Mullin, a former left-wing Labour Party lawmaker, recalled a visit to Clarence House where the then-prince spoke to assembled politicians about his charities. 

“Their range is vast, but always he comes back to the same point: the young, especially the disaffected, the unlucky and even the malign,” Mullin wrote. “I confess I am impressed. He could fritter away his life on idleness and self-indulgence.” 

Whatever one’s views on the Royal family - and the King never chose his role - I believe we are extremely fortunate to have a monarch who is supportive of healing, complementary therapies, organic foods, and the environment.

THE EVENING I WAS INVITED TO SPEAK IN THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT 

In 1997 I was invited to talk to the Parliamentary Group for Alternative and Complementary Medicine about healing. The group had been set up in order to try to give legal status to the various different complementary therapies. 

Thanks in no small measure to the enthusiasm of David Tredinnick, MP, it had succeeded in getting such protection for acupuncture and osteopathy and was looking to extend it to include other complementary therapies, including healing. 

My visit to the Houses of Parliament on 28 October was quite an experience. The committee room was completely packed with a wide cross-section of MPs who had never previously attended the group’s meetings. I was surprised at the high level of interest shown in healing. 

After talking about my work I told them about the antagonism towards healing shown by the German authorities. Earlier that year I had been scheduled to do a healing demonstration in Berlin. Upon arrival at the airport I presented my passport which was promptly taken away whilst I was left waiting, without explanation, for a considerable time. I’d obviously been recognised by the advertising and posters for the event. I was eventually allowed entry but presumably only after the relevant authority had been alerted. 

When I later reached the venue, I was met by police officers ready with a threat supported by the relevant documents: if I gave a healing demonstration, I would be arrested and the organiser would be fined the equivalent of £20,000. I had no doubt that they would keep their word and the event was cancelled at the last moment. It wasn’t the first time I had run into problems with the police preventing me from demonstrating healing in public in Germany. 

In a letter of thanks David Tredinnick sent me a few days after my talk to the parliamentary group, he seemed to have taken my concern seriously: 

“Your experiences in Germany gave a stark warning of the threat to healing in this country, which we must address in Parliament, perhaps at some stage in the near future. Certainly it is essential for us to be vigilant concerning all European legislation and Directives.” 

It was later brought up in the House of Commons but was of less importance than other EU subjects being debated. The rest, as they say, is now history - although healing still lacks the same legal protection afforded to acupuncture and osteopathy.