Home circle.
Here is a summary of our home circle.
Home circle held on 29th September 2015.
A trio of comedians, one investigation into a physical séance and one interesting set of results.
How it was the Merchant Navy, Last of the Summer Wine and comedy link in with three notable pioneers of television and stage.
The physical séance started after the preliminary checks and preparation had been done. Members sat ready to observe any activity which may occur. It was quiet at first and a few minutes in to the séance when odd activity started to be noted. The temperature was the first notable claim from sitters as the room went from an ambient feel to extremely cool in a matter of seconds. It was claimed, and did feel, as if an icy wind had come in from an open door but with everywhere closed to the physical séance it was difficult to explain what had caused the temperature fluctuation. The temperature phenomena did not last, it seemed to continue on until the medium spoke of a comedian who she could see in spirit and it was a few seconds after this that the temperature did return to what one would say was an average temperature once again. A few minutes after the noted temperature alteration Orbs were noted, these unexplained little lights were seen one at a time and for a few seconds each. Many of the sitters but not all claimed to see these Orbs and it was around this time that loud taps, cracking noises started to be heard by all in the séance. The cracking appeared to be heard from inside or along the walls of the séance. It was an odd phenomena because the noises were heard in patterns of two, one would come in as a notable popping sound from one area of the room and then when a member in the séance would comment on it the same type of popping noise could be noticed again but this time close to the member who had made the comment. It was interesting to note the activity as it occurred for members. This happened on several occasions throughout the physical séance. The medium spoke of a comedian, later she linked to him being a male and one who had someone he would like to talk about as in refer to and one who had joined him in spirit. They didn’t always have shared time together but when they could they would meet up and unite in a love for families, laughter and life’s little antics.
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010) was an English actor, he was a widely known of comedian, and a singer who also wrote songs. He was best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin. It is thought that this was the comedian the medium spoke of, referred to and was able to link with in the séance. The information from him about an anniversary, personal links to Charlie Chaplin and colleagues in the comedy industry all seemed to later identify with the research about Sir Norman Wisdom. In life Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as Iran, South America, and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania. Charlie Chaplin once referred to Sir Wisdom as his “favourite clown”.
Throughout the physical séance the medium smiled several times before she was able to put across what she saw. The man in spirit, a comedian who made the medium laugh as she spoke about him referenced his image as a clown like figure but that there was a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes, he had nothing but fondness and love for fellow colleagues who worked to bring about a few laughs at the end of the day. Sir Wisdom did work in theatre and later forged a career on Broadway in New York, he also worked as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981. It was broadcast on 5 June that year. In the séance members claimed a whispering male voice which did interestingly come in around the time that the medium had seen the spirit attempting speech. Children were important for the male spirit, he loved to talk of the care that our future needed and that was best put into the young hearts and minds. Sir Norman Wisdom in life raised funds for charities, he toured Australia and South Africa. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was actually named in his honour and in 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana. No mention was made by the spirit for titles but it is fact that in the same year as receiving a Freedom of the City of London and Tirana he received an OBE. Sir Wisdom was also knighted in 2000 and spent much of his later life on the Isle of Man. It was this link that in his later appearances included roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Coronation Street that became interesting from a research point of view and for me investigating the physical séance as at this time the spirit talked with a male voice via the medium about two men, one he said was with him now but the other had only just had an anniversary of his own this side of life.
Brian Trevor John Murphy (born 25 September 1932) who is an English actor and is believed to be the man Sir Norman Wisdom referred to, this gentleman actor has only just recently had an anniversary of his birth as the spirit claimed and was known to Sir Wisdom through the comedy series. Murphy remains best known as the henpecked husband one notable George Roper in the sitcom Man About the House and as someone who was seen in the spin-off George and Mildred. In the physical séance Sir Wisdom wanted to say a Hello to him.
Murphy has continued to appear regularly on television programmes, most notably as “Alvin Smedley” in Last of the Summer Wine from 2003 to 2010, this is a place where Sir Norman Wisdom acted and featured as a comedian. This is the same location as in a TV series where the spirit links to his other companion in that of Stephen Lewis, someone who only passed away earlier this year.
Stephen Lewis (17 December 1926 – 12 August 2015), credited early in his career as Stephen Cato, he was an English actor, a director, screenwriter, playwright and of course comedian. He is most notably known for his roles as Inspector Cyril “Blakey” Blake in the LWT sitcom and film versions of On the Buses, appearing for the length of the series, (along with Bob Grant and Anna Karen), Clem “Smiler” Hemmingway in Last of the Summer Wine, this is where we link him to both Brian Murphy and Sir Norman Wisdom. As an actor Stephen Lewis was referred to as Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine which is an odd connection because today as he is being written about it coincides with that of World Smile Day, a somewhat interesting joke on the part of comedy duo Sir Norman Wisdom and Stephen Lewis...possibly.
In the séance Sir Norman Wisdom talked about the laughs they had in spirit together and just as he wanted to talk of the anniversary which had passed for Brian Murphy this side of life he also talked about a different kind of anniversary which had been a happy time for Stephen. The spirit talked of funny moments overtaking the sad experiences, we all have them in life and when one looks back in a kind of lifetime review of oneself you want to be able to smile much more than your cry. So live your life, the spirit said in séance, live it well with laughter as your guide, don’t hide behind it, just let it be the laughter that rules and helps to make your life all that it can be. That’s my advice. It was notable that in life research has shown that the two gentleman shared a lot of experiences and both served in the Merchant Navy. It was as Sir Wisdom’s speech was said that there was a somewhat poignant, emotional atmosphere felt by the members in the séance.
It does seem somehow apt that today of all days, as I write this blog about the incidents of our physical séance, it is in fact World Smile day and who else should this physical séance honour but the person who brought about so many smiles to countries both far and wide. It is interesting and somewhat fitting that the physical séance written about on World Smile Day features Sir Norman Wisdom.