Peter Lamont

Dr. Peter Lamont is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, who specializes in the history and psychology of magic and the paranormal. He is a past winner of the Jeremiah Dalziel Prize for British History, and a former Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts. He is currently Secretary of the British Psychological Society (History and Philosophy of Psychology Section), and Programme Director of the MSc in History and Theory of Psychology (University of Edinburgh). He is also a former professional magician, an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle, and a Past President of the Edinburgh Magic Circle. He has written extensively on magic and the paranormal, including four books: Magic in theory: an introduction to the theoretical and psychological elements of conjuring (1999) [with Richard Wiseman]; The rise of the Indian rope trick (2004) [a New York Times book of the year]; and The first psychic: the peculiar mystery of a notorious Victorian wizard (2005); and his latest book, Extraordinary beliefs: a historical approach to a psychological problem, which was published by Cambridge University Press. In addition to many other media involvements, he wrote and presented the BBC radio series Wizards of the North, and was the academic consultant on the BBC television series, Magic.