6. An Innocent Person Can Be Programmed To Kill A Public Figure
Stephen Fry: the charming face of QI, writer, comedian and quintessential British actor. Who would possibly want to kill him? In "The Assassin", Derren programmes an unwitting member of the public to murder a celebrity, who turns out to be the lovely Mr Fry. Planting triggers to induce a trance-like state, such as polka dots and a specific ringtone (which still gives us feelings of doom whenever it goes off in public), Derren takes the now programmed assassin to a lecture, and gives him a gun. Stephen Fry takes the stage, and a women in polka-dot dress tells the assassin that he is the target. The notorious ringtone goes off in the audience and BAM! Fry is dead. Well, he's not, because he's wearing a bulletproof vest. The crackshot assassin sits back down, and reveals in an interview (complete with lie-detector) that he can remember nothing of the shooting. What We Learnt... The frightening side of hypnosis was in full swing during "The Assassin", of which the purpose was to give plausibility to the testimonies given by political assassins who say they were brainwashed by the CIA. Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, protests he has no memory of the crime and no had ill-will towards Kennedy. There have been many appeals to re-open the case: Sirhan's lawyer's defence being that he was set up, hypnotised and blackmailed by the government. He claims Sirhan's mind was programmed and then wiped by an unknown conspiracy behind the assassination. All appeals have all been denied.
