Derek Acorah
Born	January 27, 1950 (age 57) Liverpool, UK

Derek Acorah (also known as The Big Daddy) is the stage name of Derek Johnson (born January 27, 1950). He is a popular but controversial English cable and satellite television personality, who has come to fame as a psychic medium. is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England. ... Location within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Historic county Merseyside Lancashire Admin HQ Liverpool City Centre Founded 1207 City Status 1880 Government  - Type Metropolitan borough, City  - Governing body Liverpool City Council Area  - Borough & City 43. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ... Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television. ... Psychic (sÄ«kÄ­k) refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. ... In spirituality, a medium or spirit medium (plural mediums) is an individual who possesses the ability to receive messages from spirits (discorporate entities), or claims that he or she can channel such entities — that is, write or speak in the voice of these entities rather than in the mediums...

Career

His early life was spent in Bootle, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, where, according to his several books, he first discovered his psychic abilities and became interested in Spiritualism. He says that in this period, he first contacted his spirit guide, 'Sam', said to be an Ethiopian from approximately 1,500 years ago, with whom Acorah was friends in a previous life (some of Acorah's beliefs appear to reflect Kardecism as well as Spiritualism). Bootle is a town on the Mersey Estuary, North West England. ... Location within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Historic county Merseyside Lancashire Admin HQ Liverpool City Centre Founded 1207 City Status 1880 Government  - Type Metropolitan borough, City  - Governing body Liverpool City Council Area  - Borough & City 43. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ... By 1853, when the popular song Spirit Rappings was published, Spiritualism was the object of intense curiosity. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

He pursued a career as a footballer for many years, playing for Liverpool F.C. Reserves and Glentoran, before emigrating to Australia to continue to pursue his footballing career. Liverpool F.C. Reserves are the reserve team of Liverpool F.C.. They have played in the Barclays Premiership Reserve League North since its formation in 1999; prior to this they competed in the Central League. ... Glentoran F.C. are a Northern Irish football club, playing in Belfast. ...

On his return to Liverpool, Derek (Johnson) Acorah worked for Littlewoods Warehouses as a security guard, at their Derby Lane and subsequently J.M Centre buildings, for six years from 1979 to 1985 prior to beginning to practise as a medium, and soon gained a popular local following. His first book, The Psychic World of Derek Acorah, was co-written with his then manager, John G. Sutton. Sutton took Acorah to the USA, where he was ISPR-tested in the field and allowed to join the International Society for Paranormal Research (ISPR) headed by Parapsychologist Dr Larry Montz. As one of the psychic investigators of the ISPR team, Acorah participated in six field investigations in England for the 1999 award-winning documentaries, ISPR Investigates Ghosts of England and ISPR Investigates Ghosts Of Belgrave Hall, created and produced by Dr Larry Montz and Daena Smoller. Derek Acorah remained an ISPR investigator until 2006. He then appeared on Psychic Livetime on a local Manchester station, Granada Breeze, and went on to host his own show, Predictions with Derek Acorah. Following the closure of that station, he was chosen by LivingTV as the resident medium on their 2002 series Most Haunted, which shot him to national fame. His theatre tours of purported mediumship have resulted in shows across the UK. This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... Granada Breeze was a lifestyle channel from Granada Sky Broadcasting. ... LIVINGtv is a British television channel owned by Flextech. ... Most Haunted is a British paranormal television programme based on investigating purported paranormal activity. ... Mediumship is a term used mostly in spiritualism to denote the ability to produce psi phenomena of a mental or physical nature. ...

Another LivingTV series, The Antiques Ghost Show, lasted one series. LivingTV has made the series Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, featuring Derek Acorah visiting a range of towns throughout Great Britain and investigating psychic phenomena in ordinary homes and businesses. The other, Derek Acorah's Search for Guy Fawkes was screened on Guy Fawkes night in 2006. This programme took Acorah to scenes involved in the life of Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. In the spring of 2003 Derek Acorah appeared in the LIVINGtv programme The Antiques Ghost Show. ... Derek Acorahs Ghost Towns is a Living TV production which takes psychic medium Derek Acorah to various towns and cities throughout Great Britain. ... Parapsychology is the study of the evidence involving phenomena where a person seems to affect or gain information about something through a means not currently explainable within the framework of mainstream, conventional science. ... Derek Achorahs Search for Guy Fawkes is a Living TV documentary following the British medium Derek Acorah (of Most Haunted and Derek Acorahs Ghost Towns). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

He appeared for one line in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts": "Well, no one needs me anymore." In the episode, strange fluorescent, immaterial figures appeared regularly worldwide, and Acorah's line was one of several short clips of fictional TV from the episode. On Tuesday 4th September 2007 Derek Acorah will be back on Living with a new series called Paranormal Egypt. In this new series Derek will be touring Egypt investigating its ghost stories and alleged paranormal activities. Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The series depicts the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor who travels in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) time ship, which appears from the exterior... Army of Ghosts is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006. ...

Criticism

Acorah's mediumship were challenged when he stated he was in contact with the spirits of fictional characters. In one case he became possessed by a fictitious character, Kreed kafer, (an anagram of 'Derek faker'). He also was "in touch" with the spirits of 'Rik Eedles' (an anagram of 'Derek lies'), and 'Ged Harken' ('hang Derek'). ^{[1] [2]} Most Haunted is a British paranormal television programme based on investigating purported paranormal activity. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe, Most Haunted's resident parapsychologist, says that these names were given to Acorah just before the cameras rolled, or mentioned in his earshot by other crew members before the shoot. The names were subsequently incorporated into Acorah's 'possession', shown in the programme, throwing doubt on the reliability of his claims. O'Keeffe claims that the Mirror newspaper took much of what he said out of context and suggests that, until solid proof is found, people cannot be certain about the claims of mediums. He does say, however, that of all the mediums he has studied, "the most probable explanation is a normal one, whether that be cold reading, Barnum effect, or even fraud."^[3] Ciarán OKeeffe is a UK parapsychologist who was employed at Liverpool Hope University lecturing in Psychology with a parapsychology component. ... Parapsychology is the study of the evidence involving phenomena where a person seems to affect or gain information about something through a means not currently explainable within the framework of mainstream, conventional science. ... For the theatrical training technique, see Cold reading (theatrical). ... The Forer effect (also called the Barnum effect after P.T. Barnum) is an effect based on self-validation of personality descriptions, where an individual gives a high rating to a positive description that supposedly applies specifically to himself. ...

The show's presenter, Yvette Fielding, is quoted as saying that Acorah was dropped from the show because the incidents above demonstrated that "he was a fake". She is also quoted as saying that his "violent behaviour" when he was "supposedly possessed" was becoming too dangerous.^[4] However, it has been suggested that Fielding's comments distorted the facts and that Derek Acorah was not fired from the show but left of his own accord due to his contract running out.^[5] Yvette Fielding (born 23 September 1968, Stockport, England) is a popular British television presenter. ...

Parody

Acorah's fame and dramatic style of mediumship have been parodied by comedian Marc Wootton in his series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. Derek has also been parodied by John Culshaw on the TV series Dead Ringers and Dawn French's character 'Dawnie Acorah' also parodies him. His newer show, Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, is often a subject for Harry Hill on his ITV1 show, Harry Hill's TV Burp. Marc Wootton as Shirley Ghostman Marc Wootton is an English character comedian. ... High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman is a British television comedy show broadcast on BBC Three. ... A dead ringer is slang for a doppelgänger. ... DVD cover for Harry Hill - First Class Scamp, released by Avalon Television, 1998 Dr. Matthew Hall (born October 1, 1964), better known as Harry Roy Hill, is a British stand-up comedian who has graduated to being a star of British television by way of a BBC radio series Harry... Harry Hills TV Burp is so cool is a British television comedy programme, produced by Avalon Television for ITV1, and is hosted by the comedian Harry Hill. ...

Personal life

During his footballing career, Derek was married and had his only child, a son named Karl. He has since been divorced and has married his current wife, Gwen. Derek lives near Southport and shares his home with Gwen and several animals.

Books

Acorah has written numerous books explaining his experiences and detailing his life.

• The Psychic World of Derek Acorah: Discover How to Develop Your Hidden Powers - Derek Acorah with John G. Sutton, Paitkus Books, 2003
• 'The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah: Star of TV's "Most Haunted", Element Books 2004
• Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah - Derek Acorah, Element Books, 2005
• Most Haunted: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Guide - Yvette Fielding, Derek Acorah, 2005
• Haunted Britain - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
• Haunted Britain and Ireland - by Derek Acorah
• Ghost Towns - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
• Derek Acorah's Amazing Psychic Stories - by Derek Acorah
• Derek Acorah - Extreme Psychic

References

External links

• Official site
• Derek Acorah at Double Exposure
• Derek Acorah at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Discussion Board
• Tribute To Derek Acorahs Ghost Towns
• Derek Acorah at BadPsychics.com
• James Randi on Acorah