Head to Head / New Woman magazine / Live Wire / The Talking Show / Daily Mirror / Heart of the Matter / She magazine / Leeza

"Head to Head"
Zenith Productions, Tyne-Tees Television, January 1993

The production team lined up four volunteers. Two had readings from a well-known spiritualist medium, and two had readings from me.

Of the two who went to see the medium, one was extremely impressed, the other reported that he [the medium] was not very good, got things wrong, and seemed to be asking questions to get at the facts. Of the two who saw me, both said I was very strong on getting their personality and character absolutely correct. One said I was also right about other areas (dates, trends, events in her life), while the other said I was fairly weak on those areas. Obviously this second reading was less successful than I had hoped it would be... but then this was one of my earliest attempts!

One of my clients, Lucy, said, "I found my reading absolutely fantastic, I really enjoyed it. Everything that he said was absolutely spot on. He had six cards for the past, six cards for the present and six for the future, and everything that he said about everything that was going to happen to me seem absolutely fantastic. I was very impressed actually. He did a personality analysis on me and it was really right - spot on."

Article: "Play Mystic For Me"
New Woman magazine, UK edition, cover date February 1993

For the purposes of an article exposing psychic fakery, I was asked to pose as a tarot reader and give a detailed 40 minute reading to a complete stranger, named Rebecca. I did so, while the reporter supervised. Rebecca concluded that I was genuinely psychic. The journalist put it to her that possibly I might have been using some sort of guesswork. This possibility was strongly refuted.

Rebecca said, "There were too many significant things he picked up for it to be just guessing. He's definitely got some sort of power". .
There is little direct quotation from Rebecca in the article, but it states: "She [Rebecca] was impressed. She was particularly amazed by the hit [accurate statement] on the accident and thought her character had been summed up really well".

"Live Wire"
CST Productions, Wire TV, June 1993

During a live discussion show I gave a 20 minute tarot reading to a complete stranger called Lisa. She was then briefly interviewed for her reactions, and she stated that she found the reading very impressive. Later on in the show, it was revealed that I was a fake, and some aspects of my work (e.g. cold reading) were briefly touched on. Lisa refused to accept this explanation, and persisted in her belief that I was 'genuine'.

Lisa said, "I'm amazed at how much truth has come out of it. I wasn't a strong believer before but I think this is great."

"The Talking Show"
Open Media, Channel 4 Television, November 1993

The production team asked me to give the same tarot reading to two completely different women - Janice and Susie. Afterwards, they were independently interviewed by presenter Sandi Toksvig. Both declared their reading impressive. Both rejected the possibility that I might have been conning them in some way.

Janice said, "I quite came in with an open mind... and it's quite amazing / I mean there was a few things that he picked up on that sort of threw me. I felt a bit intimidated to think that someone - a total stranger - can actually sit there and tell me things about myself that he's not supposed to know."

Susie said, "I was quite impressed, in some ways now you've done it once you feel gosh maybe there are people out there that know things about you that you may or may not want them to. Yes (I was quite surprised) there were quite a lot of specifics there, y'know it's not like saying every Capricorn is this or whatever / I was reasonably impressed / I came to it with quite an open mind."

Article: "Psychics? All they bend is the truth"
The Daily Mirror, "Mirror Woman" section, July 1994

The editor sent freelance journalist Susannah Richmond to interview me and report on my psychic abilities. The editor knew I was a fake, Susannah didn't. After demonstrations of spoon-bending and ESP, I gave Susannah a 20 minute tarot reading.

The tarot part of Susannah's report was never published, owing to lack of space. However, I have a copy of her report in its original form. Regarding the tarot reading, Susannah was impressed. She described a succession of accurate hits concerning her character, marital status, plan to get married at Christmas, recent career change, and lack of immediate plans for a family.

She wrote, "There's no denying it, this man's got talent. Either he's developed an incredibly perceptive streak, or there's something pretty spooky going on here. / Whether he's just an intuitive psychologist, or the real McCoy, Ian Rowland knows his stuff. If I'd gone into the reading desperately wanting to believe it, I'd now be a signed-up convert".

"Heart of the Matter"
BBC 1 Television, January 1995

I was asked to pose as an astrologer, and to prepare a fake astrological reading to be presented to two women I had never met. I was going to pretend that the reading was based on their date of birth. In fact, I simply made it up off the top of my head.

The reading was 14 pages long, and seemingly very detailed. The first version contained references to 'Virgo' throughout. I then used the 'search and replace' facility on the word processor to take out 'Virgo' and replace it with 'Taurus', this being the other woman's sign.

I then met the women one at a time, and took them through their 'personalised' readings. This took about half an hour in either case. They were then independently interviewed by the presenter, Joan Bakewell, and asked for their reactions.

The first, Brigitte, said the reading was "99.9%" accurate. The second, Laura, said the reading was "95%" accurate.

Laura said "I would say 95% of it matched. I totally took on board everything he said. To be honest I wouldn't have believed it. I can't see how anybody could predict exactly what a person's like from the time and date you were born, but he proved me wrong"
Both women were asked if they thought there was "any chance" that I might have been conning them. Both rejected this possibility outright.

Article: "I see a sceptical man wearing glasses"
"She" magazine, cover date August 1996

The Times columnist John Diamond wrote an article on psychics, in which he had readings from three 'genuine' psychics and myself. John already knew I was a fake, but wanted to see what cold reading felt like.

I made up a half-hour reading, vaguely astrological in style, and went through it with him while he made notes. John wrote that my reading was "about 88% right".

He wrote, "His reading consists of going through the 15 pages of my life, love and happiness, line by line. Occasionally he'll stop to check whether some item or another makes sense; every time it does, which is almost every time, he nods. Rowland knows about the problem I had this time last year with money, he knows about a couple of more intimate problems I had recently. He lists my failings and strengths more or less as I would have listed them myself. / If I'd been willing to believe that astrology had anything going for it at all, I'd have believed Rowland to be the most gifted of practitioners".

"Leeza"
Paramount Television, NBC network, July 1998

I was asked to pose as a clairvoyant - no cards, no astrological charts, no props at all. Just pure 'clairvoyant' impressions! Before the start of the show proper, I met four very different women, all of whom were complete strangers. I was not allowed to ask them any questions, and they were warned not to give me any information.

Having met each one, allegedly to gain some clairvoyant impressions, I told them I would prepare an individual psychic report for each one, for their review and assessment. In fact, they all received the same made-up report.

All four declared me to be at least 80% accurate. In the course of the show, my identity as a fake was revealed (as usual). One of the women concerned refused to believe this. She insisted that during our earlier face to face meeting I had picked up on many things I could not possibly have known - such as the fact that she had been a professional jazz singer some 26 years ago. She was correct - I did manage to do this. My book on cold reading explains how.

"Good heavens, television is something you appear on, you don't watch it"
- Noel Coward