Derek Acorah is Britain's foremost psychic Medium. In recent years he has been elevated to minor celebrity status for his part in Living TV's hit show Most Haunted.
He claims that he inherited his abilities as a medium from his Grandmother, and he first became aware of them as a young boy after a conversation with his Grandfather, who died before he was born. After a stint as a professional footballer in the seventies he took up mediumship full time, based in northwest England where he lives with his wife Gwen. He was the first person allowed by the Church of England to practice mediumship in a church.
Since 1998 Derek has been working with the ISPR, as well as touring Europe, the States and the Middle East. In 2001 Derek was asked to take part in filming a pilot show for Most Haunted. The show sees Derek following Yvette Fielding and a team of camera operators and makeup artists around various haunted locations in the British Isles, supposedly communicating with spirits. The show was a phenomenal success, and Derek went on to appear in several other shows, most notably The Antiques Ghost Show.
Derek is always accompanied by Sam, his spirit guide, an Ethiopian sage originally named Masumai. Apparently he was friends with a previous incarnation of Derek, 2000 years ago. Sam guides Derek, helping him to make contact with spirits, and protecting him from the more malevolent entities he occasionally comes across.
Whether you believe in Derek's powers or you think it is just a sham it cannot be denied that watching him work is most entertaining. Vaguely camp and always good humoured, he at least seems to believe what he is saying. I would have to get a reading from him myself before passing judgement.
Derek's obligatory cheesy website can be found at www.derekacorah.org.