The Piddingtons

Sydney Piddington (1918-1991) and Lesley Piddington (1925-) were a husband and wife mentalism team who performed as The Piddingtons and gave one of the most famous stage and radio telepathy acts of modern times.

Sydney Piddington was born in Australia. During World War II he served in an artillery regiment, but was captured and imprisoned for four years. As an escape from the harsh treatment, the prisoners staged theatrical entertainments. An article by Dr. J. B. Rhine on parapsychology in a stray copy of Digest magazine gave Piddington the idea to entertain with a telepathy act with Russell Braddon (who would later write a book).

After the war, Piddington returned to Australia where he met and married a radio-actress named Lesley Pope. They put together a telepathy act based on Sydney's experience, and the Piddingtons became a successful in Sydney and Melbourne on radio and with live stage shows.

In 1949 they went to England, where they became a success on BBC radio programs. Despite the long range, the Piddington were apparently able to communicate with each other in a way that defied most explanations. Everyone had theories about how the were able to perform their act, which became part of the success of the shows as they challenged the public with: "You are the judge." Listeners were stunned as messages were transmitted between the couple from BBC headquarters to places such as the Tower of London or an underwater diving bell.

Sources

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• The Piddingtons by Russell Braddon. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1950.
• Radio National, Australia http://www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight/stories/s98346.htm
• http://www.answers.com/topic/sydney-and-lesley-piddingtons