This isn’t me. It’s Oscar Rejlander (c. 1870).

This is what Oscar did when Charles Darwin asked him to look ‘surprised’.

Darwin observed how easily ‘surprise’ can become ‘astonishment’, then ‘stupefied amazement’, which is ‘closely akin to terror’ . 

Sometimes, when you present a public face, it can come across the wrong way.

This is me.

This is what I did when I was asked to look ‘pensive’. I don’t know what I was thinking. However, at least I don’t look surprised.

There’s another photo of Oscar below. In that one, he’s trying to look ‘helpless’. He does his best to appear humble but, in my opinion, he comes across as rather full of himself.

With that in mind, let’s talk about me …

I’m currently Professor of History and Theory of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I’m a past winner of the Jeremiah Dalziel Prize for British History, a former Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts, and a past Secretary of the British Psychological Society (History and Philosophy of Psychology Section).

I’m also a former professional magician and an Associate of The Inner Magic Circle. I’ve been an academic consultant to the BBC, appeared on various programmes, such as The One Show (BBC1) and Midweek (BBC Radio 4), spoken at book festivals, science festivals, art galleries, museums, and theatres, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, The Magic Circle (London) and the Magic Castle (Los Angeles). I also co-founded (with Richard Wiseman) the Edinburgh Secret Society - I can’t talk about that - and once appeared as a clue on the American quiz show, Jeopardy - I can’t explain that.

My work has been covered by a wide range of well-known fake news outlets, from The Guardian and New Statesman to The Spectator and The Telegraph, from the Calcutta Telegraph to the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and Time Out and, at various times, by Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Times, The Times Higher Education Supplement and The Times Literary Supplement. And once on the front page of The Independent (it was a quiet day).

Photos: The ones of Oscar are from Charles Darwin, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).

The photos of me are by R. Paul Wilson.