Joe Nickell The Warrens who or what are the Warrens Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. What do they have to do with Nickell His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. was Nickell an actor " to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events has not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters.
Did he work on the show
Did Nickell work on the show
Although Nickell rejects the term "debunker" to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events has not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters. His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. Nickell and the Warrens appeared on Sally Jesse Raphael's talk show with the Snedeker family, whose reports of ghosts and demons led to the 1992 book, In A Dark Place, The Story Of A True Haunting by novelist Ray Garton and the 2009 movie, The Haunting in Connecticut. After an on-air threat of violence from Ed Warren, Nickell stated: I've investigated haunted houses for some twenty years. I've not met a house that I thought was haunted; I think the Warrens have not met a house they didn't think was haunted. ...The houses that sincere people report they think are haunted usually follow a certain pattern. This is a hodgepodge of the sort of ghost tale, poltergeist, part demon, part this, part that. We saw a similar pattern with the Amityville Horror, a case that the Warrens thought was genuine. It turned out to be a blatant hoax, concocted over several bottles of wine. Nickell continues to cite the Warrens as an example of exploitative and harmful charlatans. He told Blake Smith, host of the MonsterTalk podcast, The next thing you know, the Warrens have convinced everybody that there were demons involved. Lorraine would go into one of her light trances, which would mean she would just close her eyes and haul off and say something. She would sense some demonic presence. The two of them would talk a good talk about this. You see these poor unsuspecting people who first of all don't know anything about the paranormal and not aware that there are no haunted places, only haunted people, as Robert Baker used to say. When you have someone who's an expert explaining to them that there are these different kinds of spirits and this and that and the other, they don't know any better. They think maybe these people know what they're talking about. It's interesting that in every case of this, these were Catholic families. Ed and Lorraine would show up and convince them that it was really demonic and that they really needed to use their Catholic powers of exorcism and holy water and so forth. They were converted into a demonic book and then they would get a ghost writer. All of the shenanigans would be restyled and exaggerated and spooky elements thrown in. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal.

Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and  writes regularly for their journal, the Skeptical Inquirer. He is also an associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute. He is the author or editor of over 30 books.

Among his career highlights, Nickell helped expose the James Maybrick "Jack the Ripper Diary" as a hoax. In 2002, Nickell was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to evaluate the authenticity of the manuscript of Hannah Crafts' The Bondwoman's Narrative (1853–1860), possibly the first novel by an African-American woman. At the request of document dealer and historian, Seth Keller, Nickell analyzed documentation in the dispute over the authorship of "The Night Before Christmas", ultimately supporting the Clement Clarke Moore claim.

Early life, education and family
Joe Nickell is the son of J. Wendell and Ella (Turner) Nickell, and was born and raised in  West Liberty, Kentucky. His parents indulged his interest in magic and investigation, allowing him to use a room in their house as a crime lab.

He earned a B.A. degree in 1967 from the University of Kentucky.

To avoid the wide draft for the Vietnam War, the following year in 1968, at the age of 24, he moved to Canada. There he began his careers as a magician, card dealer, and private investigator. After President Jimmy Carter granted unconditional pardons to draft dodgers in 1977, Nickell returned to the United States.

He returned to the University of Kentucky for graduate work, earning an M.A. (1982), and Ph.D (1987). His Ph.D is in English, focusing on literary investigation and folklore.

In late 2003, Nickell reconnected with his college girlfriend, Diana G. Harris. He learned he had a daughter by her named Cherette, and two grandsons, Tyner and Chase. Harris had married before but divorced. She and Nickell married April 1, 2006. Harris has since assisted Nickell in his investigative work.

Diane Harris had told Cherette that her biological father was her first husband, but the daughter questioned her lack of resemblance to him. On Cherette's wedding day, one of the guests mentioned that her parents weren't married when she was conceived. Later, based on intuition, Cherette challenged her mother directly about her father and sensed equivocation. After more conversations and a DNA test, Cherette learned that Nickell was her biological father.

Nickell used his daughter's claim that she had made an intuitive search for him as the basis for an article on the unconscious collection and processing of data. In it he concluded:
"Cautions notwithstanding, I must admit to a new appreciation of intuition, without which I would not have known of my wonderful daughter--and two grandsons! It's enough to warm an old skeptic's heart."

Career

Nickell has worked professionally as a stage magician, carnival pitchman, private detective, blackjack dealer, riverboat manager, university instructor, author, and paranormal investigator, and lists more than 1,000 personae on his website. Since the early 1980s, he has researched, written, co-authored, and edited books in many genres. 

He was profiled by The New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger, who met Nickell during the summer of 2002 at Lily Dale, New York. The investigator had disguised himself to investigate Spiritualist psychics.

Nickell is a recurring guest on the Point of Inquiry podcast and conducts the annual Houdini Seance at the Center for Inquiry every Halloween.
 He is frequently consulted by news and television producers for his skeptical perspective.

Nickell explained his philosophy to Blake Smith of the Skeptic podcast MonsterTalk.

He served as a character consultant to Hilary Swank in her starring role in the horror film The Reaping (2007), in which she plays a paranormal investigator.

Books
Nickell's books can be divided into four main categories—religious, forensic, paranormal, and mysteries. He has also written two books for young readers and two stand-alone books, one on UFOs, one on a regional alcoholic drink, and several additional small press and "contributed to" books.

Miracles and religious artifacts

Nickell has investigated religious artifacts and claimed phenomena. Beginning in 1982 with his book Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings, Nickell demonstrates his research model of collecting evidence and following that evidence to a sustainable conclusion. He updated the book in 1998 with more recent historical, iconographic, forensic, physical and chemical evidence, with special explanations of the radiocarbon dating process.

In his 1993 book, Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures, updated in 1998, Nickell analyzes miracles claimed by various religions. For each incident, Nickell reviews the contemporaneous written accounts, explores various natural explanations, explains the cultural environment surrounding the events, and speculates on the motivations of the affected religious community. He concludes that the claimed miracles were either hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena.

For instance, after studying the weeping St. Irene icon in Queens, New York, Nickell said,

Relics of the Christ (2007, British edition published as The Jesus Relics: From the Holy Grail to the Turin Shroud), focuses on the Christian tradition of relics. Speaking with D.J. Grothe on the Point of Inquiry podcast, Nickell proposed that veneration of relics had become a new idolatry; that is, worship of an actual deity within the relics in form of an entity that moves its eyes, weeps, bleeds, and walks. He said that although no icon in history has ever been proven authentic, in the sense of displaying such attributes, he approaches each case with a suspension of disbelief: "I'm interested in the evidence because I want us to know what the truth is ... I urge skeptics ... not to be as closed-minded as the other side is ridiculously open-minded."

In 2008, Prometheus Books published John Calvin's Treatise on Relics with an introduction by Nickell. He wrote a brief biography of Calvin and uses references from his own 2007 Relics book.

In his The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible (2013), Nickell applied his investigative technique to 57 reported miracles. From the Virgin Mary's face appearing on a grilled cheese sandwich, to the Cross's regeneration after pieces were removed, to the structural deficiencies of the Loretto Chapel staircase, Nickell's describes fact and myth are presented with clarity and respect. The book was criticized in the New York Journal of Books for research limited to non-Biblical sources.

Forensic investigations

Nickell's first book in the authentication genre was Pen, Ink, and Evidence: A study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective, described as a definitive work for researchers and practitioners. Mary Hood of the Georgia Review praised Nickell's scholarship:

In Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation, Nickell begins with the history of photography. He presents methods of dating photographs, from the physical characteristics of the work, to the subject and contents of the photo. He explains how old photographs can be faked and how those fakes can be detected. He also describes identification of persons and places in old photos and the use of photography by law enforcement. He explains various trick photography techniques, including ghost and spirit photography. These have become even more elaborate with the use of computer images or digital camera technology.

Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents (1996) presents an overview of a document expert's work. He says that forged documents are often revealed by the forgers' ignorance of or inability to re-create historic typefaces, inks, papers, pens, watermarks, signatures, and historic styles. Nickell explains forgeries of Daniel Boone's musket, Mark Hofmann's Mormon papers, and the Vinland Map.

According to Publishers Weekly, Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection (1998) provided extensive basic information, with brief case studies.

In Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication (2009), Nickell drew on his early work related to technical aspects of paper, ink, typefaces, pens, and other keys to determining authenticity of paper documents. New material details the step-by-step investigations of specific cases: the purported diary of Jack the Ripper (fake), The Bondwoman's Narrative (date authenticated, author unknown), Lincoln's Lost Gettysburg Address (fake), and An Outlaw's Scribblings (fake).

Paranormal investigations

Secrets of the Supernatural:  Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries was Nickell's first book of his paranormal investigation genre. He and his collaborator, John F. Fisher, look for the answers to the Crystal Skulls, spontaneous human combustion, the Mackenzie House, and lesser known mysteries. On a Point of Inquiry podcast years later, Nickell explained that the same mysteries are reported over and over again because, "For each new generation, they have to re-learn that there is controversy ... Each new generation hears these for the first time ... It's an endless process in which you have to be willing to speak to the next crop of people."

Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, and Other Mysteries, written by Nickell and Robert A. Baker, is a handbook that combines the practical techniques of investigating the paranormal with a description of the psychology of believers. Nickell often quoted Baker, "... there are no haunted places, only haunted people."

Mysterious Realms: Probing Paranormal, Historical, and Forensic Enigmas, written by Nickell and Fisher, analyzes 10 frequently reported mysteries, including the Kennedy assassination, Kentucky's Gray Lady ghost, and UFO cover-up conspiracy theories.

Nickell asked several researchers to investigate claims of psychic detectives. He collected their reports in Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases. None of the reports credits the psychics with factually supported insights. Nickell concludes that these individuals were either self-deluded or frauds. They used other psychological techniques to gain information, such as cold reading in discussions with police detectives, or retrofitting.

In Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings, Nickell shows the development of ghost stories since the 17th century, and how they have been influenced by changing technology and communication methods. The faked Cottingley Fairies photographs, for example, became possible only when cameras became available to the general public.

The Outer Edge: Classic Investigations of the Paranormal is a collection of articles edited by Nickell, Barry Karr and Tom Genoni. It features Nickell and John F. Fischer's 1987 article, "Incredible Cremations: Investigating Spontaneous Combustion Deaths," along with essays by Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Susan Blackmore, and James Randi.

Adventures in Paranormal Investigation is a more detailed work than many of Nickell's. He ranges from dowsing to Frankenstein to healing spas. He includes an essay about learning that he had an adult daughter and accepting that she attributed her search for him to "intuition".

The first half of CSI Paranormal is a handbook on how to investigate paranormal claims. Nickell discusses his investigative strategy to:
Investigate on site
Check details of an account
Research precedents
Carefully examine physical evidence
Analyze development of a phenomenon
Assess a claim with a controlled test or experiment
Consider an innovative analysis
Attempt to recreate the "impossible"
Go undercover to investigate
In the second half of the book, Nickell shows how this strategy has been used to evaluate the claims of the Giant Ell, the Roswell UFO, the grilled cheese Madonna, and John Edward.

In The Science of Ghosts (2012), Nickell relates several archetype ghost stories—the girl in the snow, Elvis, phantom soldiers, and haunted lighthouses, castles, ships, and theaters. By tracking the development of these stories over the years, he demonstrates that the stories are not evidence of spirits, but evidence of the effects an appropriate setting can have on susceptible witnesses. He includes an analysis of 21st-century paranormal investigators, particularly Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of the Syfy Channel's Ghost Hunters. He compares their investigations of the Myrtles Plantation, the Winchester Mystery House and the St. Augustine Lighthouse with his own.

Mysteries

Ambrose Bierce Is Missing And Other Historical Mysteries was Nickell's 1992 foray presenting historical investigations to the reading public. In the introduction, he uses the legal concepts of "a preponderance of the evidence" and "clear and compelling evidence" as standards by which hypotheses explaining mysteries should be objectively measured. Subjectively wishing an explanation is true can lead to imposing a hypothesis on the data instead of using data to test a hypothesis (the scientific method). Nickell's 2005 update of Ambrose Bierce, Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past, is the same text with the addition of two books to its "Recommended Works".

Real-Life X-Files and its sequel, The Mystery Chronicle are a series of short essays on the histories, expanding mythologies, and likely causes of several dozen mysteries. In some cases, Nickell re-creates the legends, demonstrating that no special powers are needed to duplicate the effects. In others, he answers common lore with facts uncovered in his research. In 1982, Nickell and five of his relatives created a 440 foot long condor in a field in Kentucky by plotting coordinates of points on a drawing, a technique Nickell believes could have been used to create the Nazca Lines in Peru. "That is, on the small drawing we would measure along the center line from one end (the bird's beak) to a point on the line directly opposite the point to be plotted (say a wing tip). Then we would measure the distance from the center line to the desired point. A given number of units on the small drawing would require the same number of units—larger units—on the large drawing." In the case of West Virginia's Mothman, Nickell interviewed witnesses and conducted on-site experiments to find the most likely explanation for the original sightings. This investigation found that the mis-identification of an owl—most likely a Barred owl—was the most likely explanation.

Harry Eager of the Maui News calls Secrets of Sideshows "... virtually an encyclopedia of that nearly extinct form of entertainment."  He faults Nickell for downplaying the brutality and grim fakery of the shows, especially what he calls "prettying" the geeks.

Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures is a collaboration of Nickell and Ben Radford. Author Ed Grabianowski summarizes one of the many possible explanations for lake monster sightings,

The research for Tracking the Man-Beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More took Nickell to many locations of reported monster sightings—the Pacific Northwest for Bigfoot, Australia for the Yowie, Austria for werewolves, New England for vampires, Argentina for the Chupacabra, West Virginia for aliens, and Louisiana for the swamp creatures. Nickell traces the monsters' iconography from first reports to latest sightings, concluding that the tales reflect the evolution of their cultural environment, not any basis in fact. A quote from his guide in the Louisiana swamps provides insight into the genesis of the tales, "... frightening tales could sometimes have been concocted to keep outsiders away—to safeguard prime hunting territory or even possibly to help protect moonshine stills. Charbonnet also suggested that such stories served in a bogyman fashion, frightening children so they would keep away from dangerous areas."

Young readers

In 1989, Nickell wrote his first book for young readers, The Magic Detectives: Join Them in Solving Strange Mysteries, engaging children by presenting paranormal stories in the form of mysteries with clues embedded in the narrative. The solutions, printed upside down, follow each story. The book also contains teachers' guides for additional assignments and recommended readings.

The 1991 Wonder Workers! How They Perform the Impossible was summarized by P.J. Rooks as, "... a 200-year, biographical tour of some of the more famous shenanigans and side show splendors of both sincere and charlatan magicians ... {that} guides readers on a fascinating exposé of magical history that leaves us, at the end of every page, thinking, "A-ha! I was wondering how they did that!"

UFOs
In 1997, Nickell, with Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr, published The UFO Invasion, an anthology of UFO articles written for the Skeptical Inquirer covering the topic from history and abductions to Roswell and crop circles. The editors included six of Nickell's articles in the book. Nickell explained the physiology of alien abduction stories, "People claiming to be abducted by aliens is such an astonishing thing that you think they have either be crazy or lying, and in fact they may be perfectly sane and normal. ... They probably were having these powerful waking dreams. ... In this state, they tend to see bizarre imagery. ... The other kind of experience is hypnosis. ... Hypnosis is the yellow brick road to fantasy land."

Other investigations

The Shroud of Turin
 The Shroud of Turin, claimed to be the burial cloth of Jesus miraculously imprinted with the image of his crucified body, is one of Christianity's most famous icons. The Roman Catholic Church, in possession of the Shroud since 1983, has allowed several public viewings and encourages devotions to the image, but takes no official position on the icon's authenticity. Nickell and others contend the Shroud is a 14th-century painting on linen, verified through radiocarbon dating. One of Nickell's many objections to the Shroud's authenticity is the proportions of the figure's face and body. Both are consistent with the proportions used by Gothic artists of the period and are not those of an actual person. Experts on both sides of the controversy have tried to duplicate the Shroud using medieval and modern methods. Claimants to the Shroud's authenticity believe the image could have been produced at the moment of resurrection by radiation, electrical discharge, or ultraviolet radiation; Nickell created a credible shroud using the bas relief method and contends that forgers had equivalent materials available during the 14th century.

The Warrens
Although Nickell rejects the term "debunker" to describe his work, his evidenced-based investigations of paranormal events have not yet uncovered any miracles, ghosts or monsters. His insistence on documented facts led to a heated exchange with Ed and Lorraine Warren on the Sally show in 1992. Nickell and the Warrens appeared on Sally Jesse Raphael's talk show with the Snedeker family, whose reports of ghosts and demons led to the 1992 book, In A Dark Place, The Story Of A True Haunting by novelist Ray Garton and the 2009 movie, The Haunting in Connecticut. After an on-air threat of violence from Ed Warren, Nickell stated:

Nickell continues to cite the Warrens as an example of exploitative and harmful charlatans. He told Blake Smith, host of the MonsterTalk podcast,

Aliens

Nickell proposes that alien encounters are the result of misinterpreted natural phenomena, hoaxes, or a fantasy prone personality. To explain the evolving nature of alien sightings, Nickell told the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast team,

Magazine articles and website blogs
Nickel has written the "Investigative Files" column for the Skeptical Inquirer (SI) magazine since 1995 and contributes frequently to the Center for Inquiry website. The articles reflect the range of Nickell's interests and investigative skills, including spontaneous human combustion, ghost photographs, reincarnation, voodoo, Bigfoot, quack medicine, Elvis, psychic frauds, and phrenology. In his SI article about the Bell Witch Poltergeist, Nickell analyzed the content of the alleged Bell Manuscript for anachronistic references and word use, comparing the writing styles of Richard Williams Bell, the reported original author, and M.V. Ingram, the reporter who expanded on the story 50 years later. Nickell concludes, "Given all of these similarities between the texts, in addition to the other evidence, I have little hesitation in concluding that Ingram was the author of 'Bell'".

Nickell's writing for the Center for Inquiry (CfI) includes "Nickell-odeon Reviews", written with an emphasis on the facts behind the scripts. Nickell adds credibility to the plot of the Charles Dickens movie, The Invisible Woman. "Although not mentioned in the movie, posthumous confirmation of the affair came from Dickens' letters. Although many had been destroyed by his family, some merely had offending passages inked out. But that cloak of invisibility was ineffective: Dickens scholars turned to forensics, using infrared photography to read the obscured portions. These contained references to "Nelly" and confirmed the persistent rumors."

Awards
Nickell received the 2004 Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association and was a co-recipient of the 2005 and the 2012 Robert P. Balles Prize in Critical Thinking, awarded by CSICOP, now called CSI. In 2000 was presented with the Distinguished Skeptic award from CSI.

He was also presented an award for promotion of science in popular media at the 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards, held on May 18, 2009.

In October 2011 asteroid 31451 (1999 CE10) was named JoeNickell in his honor by its discoverer James E. McGaha.

Major works
 Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1983). Revised edition, 1998.
 Secrets of the Supernatural: Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1988, 1991; with John F. Fischer).
 The Magic Detectives: Join Them in Solving Strange Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1989).
 Pen, Ink, and Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective (Oak Knoll Books: New Castle, DE; 1990, 2000, 2003).
 Wonder-Workers! How They Perform the Impossible (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1991).
 Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past originally published as Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1992, 2005).
 Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, and Other Mysteries (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1992; with Robert A. Baker).
 Mysterious Realms: Probing Paranormal, Historical, and Forensic Enigmas (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1992; with John F. Fischer).
 Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1993, 1998).
 Psychic Sleuths: ESP and Sensational Cases (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1994).
 Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1994, 2005).
 Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1995).
 Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1996, 2005).
 The Outer Edge: Classic Investigations of the Paranormal (CSICOP: Amherst, NY; 1996, co-edited with Barry Karr and Tom Genoni).
 The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 1997; co-edited with Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr).
 Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 1999; with co-author John F. Fischer).
 Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2001).
 The Kentucky Mint Julep (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2003).
 Investigating the Paranormal (Barnes & Noble Books: New York; 2004).
 The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files(University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2004).
 Secrets of the Sideshows (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2005).
Cronache del Misterio (Newton Compton editori: Rome, Italy; 2006).
 Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures, (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2006; with co-author Benjamin Radford).
 Relics of the Christ(University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2007).
 Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2007).
 Tracking The Man-Beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More (Prometheus Books: Amhurst, NY; 2011).
 Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication (University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, KY; 2009).
 CSI Paranormal, (Inquiry Press): Amherst, NY; 2012.
 The Science of Ghosts (Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 2012).
 The Science of Miracles: Investigating the Incredible(Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY; 2-13).

References

External links

Skepticon 4, Undercover! Paranormal Investigations by Joe Nickell November 30, 2011 on YouTube, 38 minutes.
Dragon*Con 9 Joe Nickell and Graham Watkins Discuss Cryptozoology September 15, 2009 on YouTube, 64 minutes.
Darwin Week 2012 Investigating the Paranormal by Joe Nickell February 19, 2012 on YouTube, 76 minutes.

1944 births
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American writers
American historians
American humanists
American magicians
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American male non-fiction writers
American skeptics
American social commentators
Critics of alternative medicine
Critics of conspiracy theories
Critics of parapsychology
Cultural critics
Historians of magic
Jack the Ripper
Living people
People from West Liberty, Kentucky
Researchers of the Shroud of Turin
Social critics
Trope theorists
University of Kentucky alumni
Writers about religion and science
20th-century American male writers
John Cramer (known on camera as Cramer; born July 3, 1955) is an American television announcer.

Cramer did voiceover work for Game Show Network in 1996 and 1997.  He announced on The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game from 1997 to 1999.  In 2000, he announced on the short-lived 2000 revival of the game show Twenty One.  From 2001 to 2002, he announced on the NBC version of Weakest Link.  From 2002 to 2004, he was the announcer on the revival of Pyramid hosted by Donny Osmond. Cramer also did voiceovers for fake promos on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and was the announcer for Fox News's The Half Hour News Hour. Since 2011, he was one of the guest announcers for Wheel of Fortune and is a voiceover for We the People With Gloria Allred, along with the continuity and general announcing duties for nearly all the productions of Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios.

He also announced the 1992 CBS game show The Hollywood Game as well as Big Deal for Fox and a Food Network show called Trivia Unwrapped. John Cramer is also the announcer for Funny You Should Ask. He was also the announcer for the third season of Nickelodeon's game show BrainSurge, entitled Family Brainsurge and is also the announcer for the MTV Movie Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards.

References

External links
 

1955 births
Game show announcers
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people) Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1974) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor, best known for presenting his show on BBC Radio 1. Mills has also been a UK commentator for the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Radio

Early radio career
Mills began his career at the age of 16 as a DJ on his local Hampshire commercial radio station, Power FM, after barraging the station with demo tapes. Mills was given an opportunity to present a week's worth of shows, and based on the success of this, he was immediately offered the 'graveyard slot' of 1:00 am6:00 am (six nights a week), making him the youngest permanent presenter on mainstream commercial radio. Mills later moved to the late afternoon 'drive time' slot.

Mills moved from Power FM to GWR FM Bristol, staying with the station for two years, before joining Piccadilly Key 103 in Manchester, starting on the late-night slot before moving to the mid-morning show. In 1995, Mills began to work for the new London station Heart 106.2.

Mills has provided various voice-overs, including the voice of the specialist of the in-store radio station Homebase FM, the voice-over for Blockbuster Inc.'s in-store infomercial channel Blockbuster TV, and recently the voice-over for The VH1 Album Chart on the UK television channel VH1.

BBC Radio 1

Mills joined BBC Radio 1 in 1998 to present the early breakfast show which broadcasts between the hours of 4am and 7am. In January 2004, Mills shifted to a weekend afternoon slot for just over 6 months, but in July 2004, he moved over to the weekday early-evening slot, initially covering for Sara Cox, who was on a maternity leave. As she did not return, the slot became The Scott Mills Show. Mills also provides holiday cover for other slots including The Radio 1 Breakfast Show as well as hosting  The Official Chart on Friday evenings followed by Radio 1’s dance anthems.

The Scott Mills Show, as it currently features, runs from 1pm to 4pm, Monday to Thursday and is currently co-presented by Chris Stark. Until 24 December 2009, it was co-presented by sport reporter and occasional presenter Mark Chapman (Chappers). The assistant producer was Laura Sayers until April 2008 when assistant producer Rebecca Huxtable, usually called 'Beccy' or 'Wacky Beccy' on air took over, she left the show in January 2013 due to being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The regular newsreader is Chris Smith. The producer of the show used to be Emlyn Dodd, although he was referred to on air as 'The one who doesn't speak'.

Features on the show have included Laura's Diary, Flirt Divert, Innuendo Bingo, Rate my Listener 
,Your Call, Bangers and Where Do You Think They Were, where a listener discovers how they were conceived. On Fridays, the show is modified with more music, in the form of the two features The Wonder Years, which features a different track from each sequential year to the present day, and Ready for the Weekend? which is an hour of dance music and remixes of current chart music.

Mills has a number of catch phrases. On Fridays, he used to open the show by using another catchphrase "it's only bley Friday" which is usually shouted very loudly in an incoherent manner to a backing of a random piece of classical music. He frequently ends telephone conversations with listeners with "love you, bye" in which many listeners reciprocate with the same response.

On 2 April 2012 he moved to the afternoon slot on Radio 1.

On 10 April 2018 it was announced he would begin hosting The Official Chart Show from June 2018.

BBC Radio 2

While being a regular daytime show host on BBC Radio 1, Mills did some work on Radio 2 as a cover presenter. 

On 20 March 2017 he hosted a late night show from 10pm to 2am for Sara Cox' Dance-A-Thon. 

On 28 May 2018 he did Bank Holiday Monday show 'Radio 2 Remix' from 4pm till 7. The same day he did a live show on BBC Radio 1 from 1pm to 4, being one of the first people ending a show on Radio 1 and starting one on Radio 2 at the same time. 

Since April 2019, Mills has been the main stand in for Rylan Clark on Radio 2's Saturday afternoon show from 3pm to 6pm.

BBC Radio 5 Live 
On 17 October 2019 it was announced that Mills and Chris Stark would start hosting  a show on BBC Radio 5 Live. The show is part of the station's new weekend line up starting on 9 November 2019.  The show is broadcast between 9AM and 11AM.

Scott Mills: The Musical
On 14 May 2009, a musical based on Mills' life was announced, to be performed at the Edinburgh Festival 2009. The musical ran for three nights between 11 and 13 August at the Pleasance One Theatre in Edinburgh. The musical was born from an internet rumour that Mills would perform in Rick Rolling The Musical as Rick Astley and other 1980s musicians. He denied this rumour on his radio show, and listeners' suggestions to create a musical based on his life became a reality. Some songs for the musical were composed and sent in by listeners to his radio show. The musical is available for viewing on the BBC Radio 1 website.

Mills did another Edinburgh Fringe show in 2010. He was challenged to do a one-man show, as was his co-host, Rebecca Huxtable, his producer, The One That Doesn't Speak, and ex-Newsbeat sports reporter, Mark Chapman. Mills did his show as 'The Bjorn Identity', the story of Jason Bjorn, essentially, the Bourne Identity to the music of ABBA.

Television work
In addition to his radio work, he has also appeared on various television shows, playing both as a character and as himself. His main acting role was as reporter Paul Lang in the BBC medical drama Casualty, appearing in episodes in both 2006 and 2007. He also had a cameo in the BBC Scotland soap opera River City after praising the show highly on his radio show. He also appeared as a police officer in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks in 2008. 

Mills has appeared as a contestant or guest on programmes including Mastermind, Supermarket Sweep, Children in Need, Most Haunted and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and has appeared in the show Identity, hosted by Donny Osmond.

He narrated the music TV show The Pop Years which, coincidentally, was also narrated by fellow BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman. He has presented high-profile programmes including the Wednesday night National Lottery draw on BBC 1 and his own pilot (featured on the radio show) of Reverse-a-Word. He has narrated Dating in the Dark on Living. In February 2008, he presented Upstaged on the newly re-launched BBC Three. He also hosted a BBC Three television show called Radio 1 on Three, inspired by his radio show.

In February 2011, Mills presented a documentary for BBC Three called The World's Worst Place to Be Gay?.

Mills appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing and his dance partner was Joanne Clifton, sister of Kevin, who also dances on the show. They came 11th in the competition after being eliminated in week 6.

Mills won, alongside Stark, the first episode of the two-episode Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars (2016) with their robot Arena Cleaner, which was a collaboration with Dave Moulds, who drove Carbide, second place in the preceding series. This was broadcast over the Christmas and New Year period 2016.

Other work
In February 2011, it was announced that Mills would take part in the BT Charity Trek along with other celebrities as part of the 2011 Comic Relief Red Nose Day campaign. The celebrities spent five days in the Kaisut desert in north Kenya, covering  in temperatures up to 40 °C.

Personal life
Mills grew up in and around Southampton, attending Shakespeare Infant School and Crestwood College Secondary School in Eastleigh. He currently lives in London.

Mills' parents are separated, although both feature in the show at sporadic intervals.

Mills came out as gay to the press in 2001 to avoid tabloid-style speculation. Occasionally on the show, deflective comments are made, and Mills often jokes that he "doesn't have much luck with the ladies". In his Guardian interview he explained, "I'd just like to be accepted as a normal bloke who is gay and is on the radio and the television." Mills appeared at number 12 on the Independent on Sunday's Pink List for 2010. Mills was the 50th most influential gay person in Britain the previous year.

He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Southampton Solent University on 2 November 2009. The bridge that crosses the M3 at Fleet services was officially named The Scott Mills Bridge along with a plaque, on 16 March 2016.

Mills has supported climate change causes such as Global Cool.

In October 2021, Mills announced he had got engaged to Sam Vaughan, his boyfriend of four years.

Awards

References

External links

Scott Mills (BBC Radio 1)
The Official Chart on Radio 1 with Scott Mills (BBC Radio 1)
Scott Mills and Chris Stark (BBC Radio 5 Live)
BBC Press Office: Scott Mills biography

1974 births
Living people
BBC Radio 1 presenters
BBC Radio 2 presenters
BBC Radio 5 Live presenters
English radio DJs
LGBT broadcasters from the United Kingdom
LGBT DJs
LGBT people from England
People from Eastleigh
Top of the Pops presenters