On Tuesday the 24th May I received a telephone call from Martin Cassini who was arranging a chat show to take place the following Saturday morning at an exhibition organized by the London magazine "Time Out". Martin works on the production team of a London television programme called "01 for London" which previews London events. The "Time Out" exhibition was to be part of the national Telethon. Martin wanted to know if I, or any skeptic I knew, would be willing to discuss the subject of ESP with Uri Geller and one or two other people, in front of an audience of several hundred. I said that Professor David Marks, co-author of "The Psychology of the Psychic" and currently at Middlesex Polytechnic would be an excellent participant in such a discussion, but warned Martin that Geller would probably refuse to appear with David or any other informed skeptic.
My prediction proved to be correct. Geller gave Martin the option of choosing between him and David. Geller was also due to bend and auction a spoon for the Telethon, so Martin needed the fading spoonbender more than he needed David. He therefore arranged for another person I had suggested to appear. This was Dr. Susan Blackmore, a parapsychologist for many years, whose experiences changed her from being a believer to being highly critical of the claims made about the paranormal.
Even though David Marks was not an official participant in the event, he told me that he would try to attend as a spectator. I had been invited to attend by Martin Cassini, but I was in two minds as to whether it would be worth attending . Any thoughts that I may have had about the day being a non-event were to be dramatically proven wrong.
When I arrived at the exhibition, just after 11.00 am on Saturday 28th May, Martin told me that they didn't have an audience; and they didn't have Uri Geller. A colleague was trying to find out what had happened to Geller; it was thought that he had probably been held up by traffic. Being a convinced skeptic I wondered why Geller hadn't predicted his late arrival. As it turned out he should have predicted even more - his total non-appearance for the chat show. Fortunately David Marks too was unable to attend. If David had been there, and Geller had subsequently found out he would have claimed that he 'knew' he had been deceived and therefore decided not to attend.
I later overheard that Geller claimed the last contact with him was the 'take me or leave me' option. He had not been contacted since, and assumed that David Marks would be attending. (Martin Cassini had told me during one of our telephone conversations several days earlier that he had assured Geller that David would not be there.)
The chat show started without an audience. Taking part were Sue Blackmore, Douglas Ashby, an astrologer and psychic from the Foundation for Holistic Consciousness, and chairman Jerome Byrne, a former editor of "Time Out". An audience was eventually coaxed into the temporary theatre by a public address announcement. By the end of the chat show at 11.45 am there was an audience of fifty or sixty people. Jerome Byrne closed by asking the audience how many people thought Uri Geller was a fake. I, and ten others put up our hands. To the question "How Many people believe that Uri Geller has genuine psychic powers" only eight people put up their hands. An interesting and encouraging result.
I was invited to have a drink and something to eat in the hospitality lounge with the chat show participants. We were told that Geller would now appear at 3.00 pm to bend the spoon for charity. Although I had no intention of staying that long, a friendly and interesting discussion with Douglas Ashby took the time to almost 2.30 pm. With only half-an-hour to wait I decided to look around the exhibition before seeing what Mr. Geller would be up to.
Geller's appearance was to be at an exhibition stand occupied by "01-for London". When I arrived at the stand it was being used to raise money for the Telethon with people paying to be interviewed by one of the programme's presenters.
Geller arrived late, making his way through the crowd to the exhibition stand. He was carrying six to eight spoons which he placed in a bunch on a chair. While talking with one of the people connected with "01-for London" he picked up one of the spoons and put a black spot on it with a large marker. He placed this spoon at right angles on top of the others.
With Geller standing at the rear of the stand with Richard Jobson, a presenter of "01-for London" the crew began to get ready for the great event. Another presenter, Nikki Groocock had been given a spoon and was positioned forward of Geller, with the camera moved back among the crowd. I looked carefully at the spoon she was holding, suspecting that it might have been prepared to breaking point by Geller beforehand. Unfortunately Nikki held it at just the point where the fracture would appear, covering it up (if there was one) with her fingers. It was a little embarrassing, staring at the spoon when she held it down by her side, for she was wearing a short skirt and it probably appeared that I was letching at her legs. On another occasion, maybe...
In fact I was misled. Nikki only introduced Geller, standing to one side so that the camera could move in close to Uri. Geller and Jobson both held tablespoons. As Geller was holding the spoon vertically, with the bowl at the top and his fingers just below the bowl, I knew that this spoon would be broken in two and said so to Martin Cassini who was by my side; and that is what happened! I heard Geller pointing out to Richard Jobson - with much excitement - that the point of the break was 'cold'. Well, it would be wouldn't it? (This event was presented the following day on the "Telethon" with Geller asking £1,000 for the broken spoon.)
I immediately explained to Martin Cassini how I believed Geller had achieved his success; how he had "prepared" the spoon beforehand. Martin insisted that the spoons were supplied by him and his colleagues, but I pointed out that Geller had them when he walked onto the stand. Again, Martin insisted that they were 'our spoons, we supplied them". I stressed that having them beforehand had given Geller ample opportunity to prepare one to breaking point.
Nikki Groocock was standing in front of me listening to our conversation. She looked closely at her spoon and noticed that it had a mark across the back of the handle just below the bowl. This mark had nothing to do with preparing it, but was obviously part of the manufacturing process for that particular type of spoon. It did have a 'tick' on it, higher on the back of the handle, made with a black marker. This, Martin explained, had been put on by his colleagues. I took the spoon from Nikki and she moved away from us. Using their spoon, I replicated for Martin Cassini and other members of the audience what Geller had just done. Within seconds the spoon was in two pieces and I drew attention to the fact that it was their marked spoon.
I am surprised that Geller did not see what had been going on. I was doing 'his thing' just feet away, holding the spoon quite high while breaking it in two. But considering what happened next, he must have either missed my demonstration or thought he'd bluff his way through.
I heard him say "I'll bend a spoon for the audience" as he took the first step towards us. He only needed three or four steps to reach us during which I SAW HIM PHYSICALLY BEND THE SPOON. He held the whole of the handle in his closed left fist, with his right thumb inside the bowl and fingers behind the bowl. In a fraction of a second it was bent. He stopped a foot or so from me with his right side towards me.
"You bent that as you walked over Uri!" I said. No response from Uri. He held the spoon by the bowl with his right hand, covering the already bent handle with his open left hand, fingers closed together. I bent down, and looked up under his hands, pointing to the handle.
"That's already bent" I said. "You're hiding the bend with your fingers". This time, Geller responded to my accusation. "Shame on you!" he said. Then, almost appealingly "This is for charity". With his left hand he frantically rubbed the spoon, just above the bowl, gradually revealing the already bent handle to the audience. Even though this was probably the fastest spoon bend of his life - he just wanted to get out of there - to me, as an amateur magician, his technique was still to be admired. The illusion is very convincing.
"How much will you give me for this bent spoon?" he asked the audience. It appeared to me that not only was he still in a hurry - he was embarrassed. The audience was silent, perhaps unconvinced by what they had seen. "Who will give me ten pounds?" Geller asked. Someone further back in the audience said that he would, and came forward to give the psychic superstar his money. Geller said he would autograph the spoon. While he did so I was busy explaining to the audience and to "01 for London"'s video camera just how Geller bent the spoon. Some appeared to be convinced, but one still thought that what Geller had done was against the laws of physics. Fortunately for me, this was mainly a non-committed audience. If it had been made up of believers I would probably have been given a hard time.
The audience quickly thinned. Uri Geller had left the exhibition stand and was with two or three other people at the back of the area in which the audience had been standing. He summoned me over to speak to him. When the Master calls, the servant runs, or in this case strolls over to see why his presence is required.
Before I got to him, Geller asked angrily "What are you trying to do?"
"You cheated Uri!" I said, with a friendly smile and perfectly willing to be civil about the matter.
An even angrier Uri then asked me "Who are you? Who are you with?"
"My name is Mike Hutchinson" I told him, not expecting the name to mean a thing to him.
I was temporarily taken aback by Uri's next words. "Oh yes. You're the one who came to see me before, with John Dale" Geller said. (Note 1)
I noticed that standing behind Uri was his long time assistant and brother-in-law, Shipi Shtrang.
"Hello Shipi" I greeted. I don't think he heard me because of Uri's next words, but judging by the slight smile on his face he was amused by the situation, as I was.
"Tell me something. Do you believe in god?" Uri asked.
"No" I replied.
Uri's body quickly turned away to my right. He half looked back, and angrily said "Then fuck you!" As he stormed off, I called after him, "But you're not god Uri." With that, he and his party disappeared into the exhibition crowd.
Does this mean that it's all over between us Uri?
Seeing Uri Geller on the Telethon asking viewers for £1,000 for the pieces of a broken spoon, so incensed London businessman Gerald Fleming that he contacted the Telethon and put forward his own offer. He would pay £250,000 (yes, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds) to charity if Uri Geller could bend a spoon under controlled conditions.
Gerald advised me of his offer the same day. As he had heard nothing from the Telethon by the following day (Monday) we separately contacted them to see if they took the offer seriously. Although they did, they had their doubts about Geller accepting it.
I contacted the Press Association to let them know about Gerald's offer in the hope that it would receive some press coverage. It didn't. And the offer has not been accepted by Geller.
Note 1: Geller was recalling a memory of me from eleven months before when he had autographed a book for me and we were photographed together, smiling and with one arm around each other's shoulder. It was not until later that I recalled that there was another - and real - reason for him to remember me from that day.
Uri was to doing a charity show in Reading, a town in Berkshire. I visited two journalists at the local newspaper office, telling them the real story about Geller. I bent, and then broke a spoon they had supplied, thereby changing their earlier belief that Geller had genuine paranormal powers. This change of opinion was reinforced when, after the show, I explained how Uri probably achieved all of the effects he presented. The following day, an article headlined 'Uri branded fake at show" appeared in the newspaper, together with my photograph in which I was shown holding the broken spoon. Yes, Geller had every reason to remember me.
For further details of Note 1 see: