Derek Ogilvie
| Derek Ogilvie | |
|---|---|
 Derek Ogilvie, photographer Nick van Ormondt | |
| Born |
Derek George Ogilvie 21 February 1965 Paisley |
| Occupation | Psychic, TV producer, Writer |
| Years active | 2001-present |
| Website | http://www.derekogilvie.com/ |
Derek George Ogilvie (born 21 February 1965) is a self-professed psychic medium and baby mind reader from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He presently lives in Limassol, Cyprus. Ogilvie is reputed to be one of the most successful TV psychics in Europe, having made almost 100 hours of Prime Time TV shows for Channel 5 (UK), RTL4 (The Netherlands) and VTM (Belgium).
Early life
Ogilvie was born in Paisley, Scotland, the son of George Ogilvie, a heating engineer, and May (nee Todd), a school dinner lady. Derek was brought up in Foxbar and attended both Amochrie Primary School (1969 - 1976) and Camphill High School (1976 - 1982). He studied for a Mechanical Engineering Degree at Paisley Technical College (1982 - 1987), now known as The University of the West of Scotland, but left before completing his final year examinations. Ogilvie owned a guitar shop, various bars and a night club in Glasgow during the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s, but began his career as a psychic medium when his 2001 show “Psychic Sunday” was broadcast on the now defunct Glasgow based radio station XFM Scotland (formally known as 96.3QFM). Around this time Ogilvie also wrote psychic columns for various local newspapers, as well as organizing and promoting his own live psychic shows regularly touring theatres throughout the West of Scotland including the Pavilion Theatre (Glasgow).
UK and Ireland
Between 2002–2004 Ogilvie appeared on various TV programs showcasing his profession such as Living TV’s Most Haunted and Scream Team. On Ireland’s RTE he appeared as a weekly guest on The Afternoon Show helping parents and their children. Ogilvie was offered a TV contract by Channel 5 in 2004 and The Baby Mind Reader TV series was then broadcast in the summer of 2006, and immediately sold as a “ready made” to such countries as The Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Norway, USA, Germany and Poland. Ogilvie is reputedly the first psychic to have a Network series in the UK.
The Netherlands
Baby’s wil is wet (Baby’s Word is Law)
In 2007, due to the success of the “ ready made” UK series The Baby Mind Reader, Ogilvie presented and co-produced Baby’s Wil Is Wet (Baby’s Word Is Law) for RTL. This parenting show was based around Ogilvie helping children to overcome problems such as sleeping, eating, talking as well as all manner of behavioral issues. Initially the 8 x 60 minute series was scheduled to run on Thursday evenings on RTL4 in a 21.30 time slot from August - October 2007 but this was extended by the Network for a further two months to 16 episodes (8 x 30 minute) due to the ratings success of the format.
The Ghost Whisperer
During the spring of 2008 RTL produced and broadcast The Ghost Whisperer, an 8 episode psychic series where Ogilvie reputedly connected people with their loved ones in the spirit world. Due to its ratings success a further additional 8 episodes of The Ghost Whisperer was broadcast by RTL4 in the autumn of 2008.
The Family Circle and Cross Country
During 2009 and 2010 RTL produced and broadcast 3 more seasons of shows with Ogilvie based around the psychic genre. The Family Circle (May – June 2009) and Cross Country (May – June 2010, October – December 2010)
De Kinderfluisteraar (The Child Whisperer)
In 2011 RTL produced and broadcast De Kinderfluisteraar – The Child Whisperer (October – December 2011) based on Ogilvie and 16 Families, with problem children, working together in a home from home environment.
Unexpected
During 2012 and 2013 RTL produced and broadcast Unexpected where Ogilvie toured The Netherlands, meeting families in their own home, whilst walking in the street or at in theatre situation, in his capacity as a psychic medium.
Eerste Hulp Bij Opvoeden (Help My Child)
Also during 2012 and 2013 RTL produced and broadcast Eerste Hulp Bij Opvoeden ( Help my Child) where child whisperer Ogilvie lived alongside 16 families over a two week period helping parent’s to overcome issues with their own life as well as those problems associated with their children.
In all between 2007 and 2013 RTL4 broadcast 9 seasons – 80 episodes - with Ogilvie although the Network have continually rerun all 9 series at various time slots on both RTL4 and RTL8 throughout 2014 - 2016.
Belgium
De Baby Fluisteraar (The Baby Whisperer)
In June 2011 Ogilvie presented an 8 x 60 minute prime time series – De Baby Fluisteraar (The Baby Whisperer) - for VTM in Belgium where he worked with families with problem children recorded over a two week period.
USA
In May 2013 Ogilvie appeared as a guest on The Ricki Lake Show in his capacity as a Child Whisperer, where three families with problem children, after working with Ogilvie for just a few days all reported during the show, when interviewed by Lake, that their child’s life had remarkably changed for the better. One mother stated that after almost two years of broken sleep Ogilvie had resolved the problem with her non-verbal daughter within 24 hours after seemingly connecting with her child telepathically and immediately understanding her deepest issues.
During 2014 and 2015 Eyeworks (3 Ball) North America were commissioned to produce two pilots in LA with Ogilvie based around a Child Whisperer format for the USA Network WE.
Presenting
During his time in The Netherlands Ogilvie presented 4 episodes of Ik Kom Bij Je Eten (July – August 2009) a weekly cooking show, and 8 episodes of Het Zesde Zintuig International (Psychic Challenge International. March – April 2011) where various psychics from around the globe competed to be crowned the World’s best psychic. Ogilvie has also guested on numerous UK, Dutch and Belgium chat shows.
Touring
Ogilvie is reputed to be one of the most success “non Dutch” theatre performers in The Netherlands having sold out over 300 theatre shows between 2008–2016. After being invited to do so, in 2010 Ogilvie appeared in his own one man show at Carré Theatre in Amsterdam one of the Netherlands most prestigious and respected Theatre venues.
Books
Ogilvie has published two books in The Netherlands: De Babyfluisteraar (The Baby Mind Reader) the Dutch version of his UK autobiography, and Baby’s Wil Is Wet (Baby’s Word Is Law), a parenting manual based around the RTL4 TV series Baby’s Wil Is Wet.
DVD
Derek Ogilvie Live In The Theatre Recorded in Amsterdam in 2009.
Private Life
Ogilvie is an animal lover and supports various cat charities. He is also a pescetarian.
Film documentary
In the 2007 Channel 5 TV documentary, Extraordinary People: The Million Dollar Mind Reader Ogilvie participated in and failed two experiments that tested his claim that he could read babies' minds. In one experiment at Goldsmiths College, London, Ogilvie was tasked to produce some unique knowledge about various babies under test conditions where Ogilvie did not get to meet the parents. In one instance a crying and distressed baby was brought in by a child minder. In the opinion of the researchers, Ogilvie appeared to cold read the child minder, but failed to produce any valid information pertaining to the baby's parents. Ogilvie therefore, in their view, had failed to demonstrate mind reading ability the test intended to validate. Ogilvie stated that he could only report what the baby was telepathically projecting.
Ogilvie then flew to Miami, to participate in a controlled laboratory experiment, constructed by skeptic James Randi, to test for psychic ability. If Ogilvie could correctly guess 6 out of 10 randomized toy choices made by a toddler in another room, then he would have proven his psychic ability to the satisfaction of Randi, thus winning one million dollars. The initial test proved disastrous for Ogilvie and immediately dismissed by him when informed that Randi had been communicating with the child and his mother during the test and by doing so Randi had therefore not adhered to agreed conditions and procedures previously set by Ogilvie, Randi and the production company prior to the challenge. Ogilvie then agreed to a second attempt correctly validating 1 toy choice out of 10, thus failing the test and losing the challenge. A correct guess of 1 out of 10 random toy choices was expected by chance alone. The initial test and arrangements for the second test were completely edited from the documentary although both tests were later validated by Randi when he confirmed that Ogilvie had achieved a score of 1 out of 20.
In a final test, Ogilvie subjected himself to a QEEG, quantitative electroencephalogram , insisting to Coral Springs psychotherapist and neurofeedback therapist, Dr. Gerald Gluck that he was not faking his abilities. Ogilvie pointed to his forehead, saying he thought his ability was related to activity located in the "frontal lobe." Gluck produced charts and graphs that seemed to support the possibility that Ogilvie's brain was sensitive to emotional and non-verbal communication as opposed to a verbal or semantic nature. In the film, Gluck did not interpret the data to mean Ogilvie possessed telepathy or mind reading ability. Gluck did not conclude on the basis of the EEG results that Ogilvie was a mind reader but did state in his report that "The infant reading definitely reflects an objective change in Ogilvie's EEG. The EEG becomes right hemisphere dominant, specifically in the right occipital and posterior temporal and right lateral parietal lobe. There is a over activation sub cortically of the right frontal cortex up to 3 standard deviations that means it is greater than 99.7% of the population. All of this evidence taken together represents an increase in emotional processing, a decrease in semantic processing, an increased light trance state, increased attention and vigilance without drowsiness and emotional calming while simultaneously being emotionally more alert. He (Ogilvie) is involved in a state associated with communication of non verbal and an emotional nature as opposed to a verbal or semantic nature".