Paranormal Review

No tears were shed when Ian Lawman, a British TV psychic and exorcist, was laid to rest on a windswept hill in the West Midlands today. I was among those who attended his interment, which turned out to be a fun event for all involved, including Ian. In fact, he happily posed for photographs before his burial (that’s me, with him, left, an hour before he climbed into the coffin).

As you will have guessed by now, Ian – whose TV appearances have included Most Haunted, I’m Famous and Frightened, and Fit and Fearless – was not dead when they buried him. And he doesn’t plan to be dead when they dig him up again in seven days’ time.

So why has the self-styled “bad boy of the psychic world” decided to subject himself to the ordeal of being entombed in a coffin six feet underground, beneath two tonnes of soil? To raise £10,000 for The Blue Lamp Foundation, which was set up by PC David Rathband for injured emergency service workers after he was blinded when gunman Raoul Moat went on a rampage last year. Visitors who contributed to the charity were asked to sign the coffin lid (below right) before it was placed over Ian.

The buried-alive event took place in the ruins of Dudley Castle, which in parts is almost 1,000 years old and is regarded by some as one of the most haunted castles in England.

Ian’s burial coincided with a Fright Nights event at the castle, including a ghost tour, “vigils”, and other allegedly paranormal goings-on. I don’t have a very high opinion of such capers, nor of the psychic abilities of those involved, and nothing I saw at Dudley Castle has changed my mind.

But I won’t let that detract from my respect for someone who’s prepared to spend seven days below ground in a box in order to raise money for a good cause. If you want to give Ian’s feat of endurance your support and help him reach his target you can do so here.

UPDATE: 9 April: Well, he did it! Congratulations, Ian. After eight days in the coffin, during which time visitors were able to peer down at him while others from around the world could see him on a webcam link, Ian Lawman stepped out of his “prison” last night and into the welcoming arms of friends and well-wishers, looking remarkably fit and agile. You can see video clips of the start and finish of his endurance test here. He is hoping to raise £10,000. So far, the total donated is in excess of £2,370.

Seven months after I revealed that the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) was claiming to own the assets of Psychic News – the weekly Spiritualist newspaper it closed in July last year – I can now disclose that the Union has had to concede that the newspaper’s title, archives and other assets are not its possessions.

This revelation is contained in a statement that has just been posted on the News pages of the Spiritual Truth Foundation (STF), of which I am a trustee. The STF, as the previous owner of Psychic News, disputed the SNU’s claim and took legal advice which it presented to SNU representatives and the Joint Liquidators in January.

The Joint Liquidators have now approved this brief statement:

As a result of discussions between the parties involved and following legal advice, it has been determined that the disputed assets referred to in the November 17, 2010, joint statement belong to Psychic Press (1995) Ltd, now in liquidation.

Naturally, I will report on the outcome of the liquidation process, which is currently on-going, when it comes to a conclusion.

Regular visitors to this Blog will know that on 21 August 2010, in an article headed “Life, death and asset stripping?” which referred to talks that had taken place between the SNU and a potential buyer of Psychic News, the JV Trust, I wrote: “What is new to me is the declaration made by the SNU representatives during those discussions that ‘the newspaper’s title and its archives are assets of the SNU and always will be’.”

I concluded my Blog with these words:

“If Psychic Press (1995) Ltd goes into liquidation [which it subsequently did], the above mentioned items must be among the assets which the liquidator puts up for sale to the highest bidder. It is essential that what is sold by the liquidator raises as much as possible for the newspaper’s creditors.

“Needless to say, I and many others will be examining the events surrounding Psychic News’ demise and the actions of those involved very closely and challenging any attempt by the SNU to hijack assets that do not belong to it.”

Let us hope that, having established the ownership of those disputed assets, the Joint Liquidators can now bring matters to a swift conclusion, though breathing new life into a business that has been allowed to lie moribund for so long is not going to be easy if a new owner is found.

Since comment and speculation about the on-going liquidation is not likely to assist the outcome, I am not opening this Blog to comments. There will be ample opportunity to do that when I am able to announce completion of the liquidation process, what the company’s creditors will receive and what will happen to Psychic News in the future.

The King’s Speech is grabbing the headlines, with the nationwide release in the UK of the superb movie [click here to see trailer] about King George VI and his speech therapist Lionel Logue, about which I have already written in my recent Blog.

Ever since I first wrote about Logue and the stammering monarch in my book Spirit Communication I’ve wondered what happened to the wooden chair which Logue presented to Lilian Bailey, the London trance medium, in gratitude for the spirit messages she conveyed from his dead wife, Myrtle.
It was in this chair that George VI sat when he visited Logue’s consulting rooms at Harley Street. Lilian Bailey always used it for seances, and it was in Logue’s chair that she sat when I visited her for a sitting in the late 1960s. The chair in which Logue (Geoffrey Rush) is pictured here is not the chair I am talking about, I hasten to add, as it is meant to be King Edward’s Chair (also known as the Coronation Chair) in Westminster Abbey on which British monarchs are crowned.

Coinciding with the movie is a book of the same title, The King’s Speech, written by Mark Logue (Lionel’s grandson) and Peter Conradi. I contacted Mark to make him aware of my Blog and he responded saying, “This is interesting stuff, especially the chair. Do you know its whereabouts now?”

The answer, I’m afraid, is that I don’t, but perhaps a reader of this Blog might help us shed light on where it is now.  My guess is that when Lilian Bailey died in October 1971 the chair passed to Gordon Adams, her son-in-law. In that case, it is likely that on his death the chair passed to one of his two sons, whose names, I believe, were Nicholas and Clive. I met them both when they were young but have lost touch with them, though I believe one became a clergyman.

If you know of Gordon Adams’ sons’ whereabouts, do let me know. Lionel Logue, incidentally, was their godfather. He agreed to take on that responsibility in gratitude for their grandmother’s mediumship, and participated in their naming ceremony, conducted by the spirit guide Silver Birch through the mediumship of Maurice Barbanell.

Mark Logue tells me that his grandfather “was not very effusive in his diary or correspondence about this aspect [Spiritualism] of his beliefs”. He continues to research Lionel Logue’s life and “should I be allowed to make changes in the paperback edition, it might be nice to include some of this information”.

In my previous Blog, I quoted extensively from Death Is Her Life by W.F. Neech, a rare book which Mark Logue knew existed but had not been able to obtain. Having just seen the latest, excellent edition of Spirit of PN, the online independent Spiritualist newspaper, produced by Sue Farrow, I am reminded that Maurice Barbanell also covered the story of Lionel Logue in his excellent book This Is Spiritualism.

His account contains additional information that is worth recording here. It tells us, for example, that according to Hannen Swaffer – the famous journalist who introduced Logue anonymously to Lillian Bailey – the speech therapist’s photograph had not been published in any newspapers, so Bailey would not have recognised him.

Logue’s wife Myrtle controlled the entranced medum at his second sitting with her, which also took place at Swaffer’s London flat but at which he was not present as he had to attend a Guildhall banquet. Myrtle also told her grieving husband he must not consider taking his life: that would divide them rather than bring about the reunion he longed for.

At a later sitting with Lilian Bailey, after Logue had moved from a large house into a flat, he asked his dead wife what had happened to the bed linen. She replied that she would like him to use the yellow sheets and pillowcases, describing the box in which he would find them. Barbanell also tells us:

“It was Logue who volunteered to [Lilian Bailey] that Spiritualism had enabled him to understand his work of correcting speech defects, which occupied the major part of his life. He realised, since he had received his séance proofs, that he had been guided to leave Australia, when there was no apparent reason, and to seek a new career in Britain. Without knowing why, at the time, he had sold up his home. There were no seeming prospects in England, and it appeared to be madness….

“He told me that he made no secret of his Spiritualism. On several occasions he had described to King George VI his séances with Lillian Bailey, recounting the wonderful evidence he had received from his wife, and he had never met with hostility.”

Having now seen the movie, I am in no doubt that it will be a huge box office success and deserves awards for many of those involved, particularly actors Colin Firth (King George VI), Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) and Helena Bonham Carter (Queen Elizabeth).

It’s a simple but moving account of an unlikely friendship between a man who was to become king and an unqualified therapist whose methods triumphed in helping his client overcome his speech impediment. The film, inevitably, fictionalises some events in this relationship for dramatic effect. For the full truth, I recommend the book based, in part, on Lionel Logue’s recently-discovered diaries: The King’s Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi.