Having heard on a London radio broadcast that Uri Geller was due to give a charity performance in Reading (17th June), Lewis Jones and I decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss. I telephoned the local newspaper on the morning of the show asking if they were interested in doing an exposé of Geller. They said they would be interested in talking with me and an appointment was set-up.
We met two of the Reading Evening Post' journalists. Tim Boone had met Geller at his home. Having been unable to explain the fork-bending he had witnessed he was convinced Geller 'was genuine'. Jackie May was due to cover Geller's evening performance, and, with Boone, would interview Geller afterwards.
Lewis Jones and I explained to Tim and Jackie the previous dubious claims of Geller and put forward our point of view that he did not possess psychic powers. I tried to explain how Geller could have bent the fork for Tim, but found it difficult to do so. I asked him if he could get a fork for me from the canteen where he had obtained the Geller fork. He returned with two forks, handing me one which he said was identical to that given to Geller. I then proceeded to demonstrate the Geller fork bend, subsequently breaking the fork into two pieces. Commenting on the bend, Tim said that it looked exactly the same as Geller's had done. Both Tim and Jackie were very sympathetic to our views. We agreed to meet after Geller's performance to explainwhat he had done.
As a magician, Geller leaves a lot to be desired. At the end of the performance he said that he left it to the audience to decide whether he was genuine, or whether he was the 'world's greatest magician'. Well, he is neither. I have seen better magicians at children's parties.
Geller started his performance by naming colours and capital cities which were written by members of the audience on a blackboard behind him. He failed to get the first one, either because 'pink' is not a colour which could be signalled to him or because he wanted to get the audiences sympathy. His excuse was that pink isn't a proper colour. He then did all of the tricks for which he has become famous. Identifying a cat drawn on the board; levitating a hefty man from a chair with three helpers; moving a compass needle; bending keys and spoons; moving the hands of a spectator's watch.
After the show Lewis and I met Jackie and Tim who had not been impressed by Geller's act. They thought that the levitation - which is an old parlour trick - was an insult to the intelligence.
The following day an article headlined 'Uri branded fake at show' appeared in the 'Evening Post'. In a separate short article Tim Boone wrote: 'When I met Uri Geller at his Berkshire home a few weeks ago I was convinced he was genuine. Now I'm not so sure. I personally worked out how Geller did roughly half his stage feats, and the other half were explained to me afterwards.'
Considering that the Evening Post had promoted Geller's charity performance it is to be congratulated on its subsequent critical attitude. A rare case of a newspaper with morals perhaps.