Magic isnt real. Everyone knows it deep down.

This notion is ferociously challenged the moment youre in a room with Derren Brown. His magic does not appear in the form of a tux and a top hat, nor will he stupefy you with the unexpected presence of white rabbits. The true splendour of this mentalist is his ability to unlock your brain from its pre-conceived banalities and delightfully throw you into a compelling world of the unknown.

The unknown being your own mind.

The genius of his showmanship is in his openness: he perpetually reminds his audience that everything he is doing is fake: the beauty of it all is that everyone will still struggle to believe him.

Brown isn't just an entertainer, hes an educator. (Its also speculated hes the human embodiment of the Devil himself, but there is yet to be proof of this.) He can influence women to kill kittens without force or threat and - on a more drastic end of the scale - he can have Stephen Fry assassinated. But does he use his majestic skills for evil, or power? He quite easily could.

Instead, he's shown us the vast strengths (and even more weaknesses) of the human mind. From the science of scams and how easily penetrable our thoughts can be; to the astonishing things we can achieve with the right attitude.

Lets cast our minds back to those times Derren has left us scrubbing brain dribble from our carpets; the How-the-Hell-did-he-do-that? moments, and more importantly, what weve learnt from them.