Paul McKenna

McKenna started off in radio aged 16 at Radio Topshop, and went on to present for stations including Radio Jackie, Radio Caroline, Chiltern Radio, Capital London, BBC Radio 1 and TV channel Music Box.

He became interested in hypnotism as a result of a guest who appeared on his show.[5] His interest stemmed initially for reasons of self-development, although he discovered that there was an entertainment aspect that he could develop which would expose more of the public to the power of hypnosis. While working at Capital Radio, McKenna began experimenting with small hypnotic shows, first for the amusement of friends, then for audiences in locations like pubs and clubs, UK military bases, and University events. From there he starred in a regular Sunday night show at the Duke of York's Theatre, which was owned at the time by Capital Radio. The success of those shows led to his playing other theatres across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, the US, Australia, and Hong Kong.[6]

After several years presenting at Radio 1 in the early 1990s, McKenna decided to branch out from radio. In the 1990s, McKenna presented a number of TV programmes including The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna (1993–1997), Paul McKenna's Paranormal World (1997) and Hyp the Streets (1999). During this time, he continued his studies of hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming with the US psychologist Richard Bandler, the co-creator of the advanced behavioural science technique abbreviated to NLP.

McKenna hypnotised the Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond on series 4, episode 2 of the motor show in 2004. In October 2009 he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.[7]

From February 2014 to September 2015, McKenna hosted a talk show called McKenna that was broadcast on Hulu featuring "non-journalistic" interviews with Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, Roger Moore, Rachael Ray, Tony Robbins and Richard Dawkins.[8][9][10][11]

In October 2016, McKenna read Hans Christian Andersen's "It's Quite True" for the children's fairytales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF, along with other celebrities including Sir Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Dame Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley and David Walliams.

In the past few years, McKenna has been involved in the research and development of Havening,[12] with Ronald Ruden and Stephen Ruden, presenting seminars to health care professionals in the UK and USA. He specialises in working with PTSD, severe trauma, pain control and emotional overwhelm.[13][14]

McKenna was also involved in a research study conducted by Professor Neil Greenberg of The Royal College of Psychiatrists Lead for Military and Veterans’ Health.[15] He is also President of the UK Psychological Trauma Society at Kings College in London.

McKenna is also known for his hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming and self-help books, CDs and DVDs in over 30 languages as well as several audio books.

Many of McKenna's one-to-one hypnotherapy clients are celebrities.[16] Ellen DeGeneres credits him with helping her to quit smoking, Rob Brydon claims that McKenna helped alleviate his fear of flying, Stephen Fry advocated McKenna's weight loss strategies and David Walliams used McKenna to help with his swim across the English Channel.[5]

Recently, McKenna has focused on teaching people how to "deprogramme" their sugar cravings, claiming "sugar is the most dangerous drug in the world".[17]

In 1996, McKenna was granted a PhD from LaSalle University. It was legally licensed by the state, but it falsely claimed to be an accredited institution. After the principal of LaSalle pleaded guilty to fraud and was imprisoned; the university was discredited and thousands of students, including McKenna, were awarded compensation from the US government.

In 2006, McKenna successfully sued the Daily Mirror for libel over claims made by former Mirror TV critic Victor Lewis-Smith that McKenna's degree from LaSalle was merely a purchased "bogus degree" bought with the intention of deliberately defrauding the public.[18][19] McKenna won the case, and the newspaper was ordered to pay £75,000 in costs. Mr. Justice Eady (the judge), stated that while the scholarly characterisation of the degree was "another matter", McKenna did not believe the degree was "bogus or that he [had] misled anyone in allowing himself to be referred to as a PhD."[20][21]

In 2003,[19] McKenna gained a "Doctor of Philosophy by Explication" from the accredited International Management Centres Association (IMCA).[21] His work was reviewed by Dr Robert Parkinson (London Guildhall University) and Dr Brian Edwards CBE (Sheffield University).[22] The title of his thesis was "The Effects of Fixed Action Patterns and Neuro-Linguistic Programming in Determining Outcomes in Human Behaviour".[23] The material in both McKenna's doctorates has been published.[24]

While the IMCA were accredited by the US Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) and Oxford Brookes University in the UK at the time of McKenna's study, the DETC removed this accreditation in 2005. Neither the IMCA nor Revans University, its US-based degree-awarding unit, was recognised as a UK degree-awarding body or course provider during McKenna's time, according to The Times Educational Supplement.[25]