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04/16/2006: "Derren Brown's Heist show"

Someone first told me about this TV show in the new year and it's been broadcast two or three times now on E4 and Channel 4, I think. Basically, Derren Brown gets a group of people together for a couple of weeks and starts programming them through hypnotic suggestion. They think they're on some kind of motivational course, but actually he's seeing whether he can get them to hold up a security guard with a fake shooter. Of his final four participants, three do actually commit armed robbery - although thankfully it's all a set-up, done with actors and the co-operation of the police.

I like to think that I'm not very suggestible. But what if the whole idea for this blog were something that Derren Brown dreamed up some years ago? I'm just unaware that I'm following my pre-programmed instructions. Maybe he put me in some deep hypnotic trance and said "Phil, you are going to create one of the funniest, cleverest and most enchanting blogs on the worldwide web. When you wake, you won't remember any of this, but your writing will be better than it's ever been."