Derren Brown visit to School
On March 25th, illusionist and TV personality Derren Brown visited the school to deliver the Sixth Form Lecture. However, this was not the typical Friday lecture, as can be expected from a master of deception and trickery. Furthermore, we were seated in the tranquil and yet eerie set for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, to add to the sense of mystery.
He not only talked about his exceptional career, which has taken him from schoolboy to stardom in quick succession – he is most famous for certain controversial TV shows such as his live séance, live Russian roulette and the live prediction of the lottery numbers last year – but also took time to perform several 'tricks' on the (un)lucky Sixth Form, including paralysing various parts of one Nick Williamson, which had the Sixth Form wondering at the spectacle, and hoping the effects were permanent. To quote Cameron Donaldson on his ‘lecture’, it was, as is common vernacular nowadays, ‘proper, mind-bogglingly mint’.
After delivering the lecture, Derren was given a grand tour of the school, where he met (was accosted by) transifixed youths who had not even been hypnotised yet. However, this did not seem to leave a negative imprint on him – on the contrary, he wrote on his own blog at derrenbrown.co.uk/blog:
In Liverpool I caught up with my A Level teacher from Whitgift, who is now Headmaster of Birkenhead School. And what a school, and what a headmaster. I went in to be interviewed as part of their quite excellent series of sixth-form lectures – and am sure I dropped the standard having had nothing prepared. Two top prefects – Josh and Tash – kicked off the questions and the whole thing, for me at least, was a pleasure. Afterwards the prefect team of Josh, Tash, Ed and Tom showed me around the beautiful campus. Not for the first time in recent years, I was bowled over by how much nicer pupils are now than when I ranked rather scrawnily amongst their number. How trite it is to complain about the youth of today being such and such and so and so. It’s the automatic, mindless cry of every older generation seeing a landscape of language and culture shift beneath its feet. Kids are without doubt getting nicer. There wasn’t a hint of the snickering s***tiness of the class of ’89. I felt like I was meeting university students: already matured, comfortable in themselves, open, tactile, utterly charming. We were NEVER like that. And I have seen this at several schools, although I have no doubt that the residency of John Clark as Head is part of the formula for this school’s particular brand of delightfulness. As a Modern Languages teacher he was always brilliant, bright and effortlessly popular. As a Head he is hands-on, knows all his wards by name and interests, is every bit as popular, and motivated by a deep affection and pastoral urge that I found quite moving. Thank you everyone at the school for making the day such a treat for me.
Derren can be assured, that he did not drop the standard of the usually excellent sixth-form lectures whatsoever, and what really surprised about Derren Brown was not his illusions, but his congeniality and approachability.
