text:
Talk:Cold reading

Intro restore
I changed the intro back to an older version, because the current one was far to stridently negative against self-proclaimed psychics. The current one was already accusing these people of 'posing' even before it explained what cold reading was. Obviously, everyone isn't going to agree about psychics and the use of the word 'psychic' itself. But we should at least try to assume some NPOV. Ashmoo (talk) 14:23, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * And the current one makes no sense now. If the reader knows nothing about "cold reading" they will not be able to make heads or tails out of the so-called "intro."  Restoring necessary information (without reverting to avoid the previous POV). 74.215.110.214 (talk) 05:31, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, but bear in mind that having a neutral point of view doesn't always mean equally representing two sides of an argument, sometimes that gives undo credence to a less-than-credible side. If we were talking about the structure of the earth, saying that some people believe it's flat and some people think it's round isn't really neutral, it's just wrong and makes it sound like both arguments are equally well-supported. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laurak9 (talk • contribs) 21:00, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Intro
Should the intro of this article be changed slightly? It states that cold reading is used by mediums etc, but this is obviously POV, particulary since it has not been proven. I would go as fae as suggesting a rewrits of the article, as it makes many accusations against 'mediums' and the like. I'm not strictly saying that they don't use cold reading, it is just that it makes the article far from neutral, which I'm sure you will agree, is not the point of wikipedia. Phallicmonkey (talk) 13:39, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Also, shouldn't it refer to alleged psychics? After all, a person could claim to be a doctor, this does not make them a doctor. So as criticisms of fake psychics cannot be levelled at genuine psychics, criticisms of fake doctors cannot be levelled at genuine doctors. If you see what I mean. Also the intro over-eggs the pudding, somewhat and needs to be red-penned as a result. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.156.137 (talk) 21:17, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

 * That's meaningless since all psychics are fake psychics!217.33.199.77 (talk) 17:08, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Bias
Come on, this barely informs on cold reading and is more an article filled with psychic directed insults. it is hardly informative and gives only opinions. it is, in fact, one of the worst wikipedia articles i can remember reading. Worse even than vandalised articles Phallicmonkey (talk) 21:46, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Merged in Warm Reading
as it was only linked from 2 articles, and just repeated info from this article anyway. i left Hot reading as it is. Catherine breillat (talk) 17:02, 6 February 2009 (UTC) hilarious — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.92.68.79 (talk) 21:40, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Include the denial of psychics
Ok, so I'm not going to try and get those same edits made, although i do still believe them to be right. But what i do think should be included in the article is a section or something on the fact that mediums etc deny the use of cold reading, and that some people believe that they don't. This could be easy sourced and is not POV Macromonkey (talk) 20:13, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Thank you. If you want to provide some decent sources, that would be fine, but be careful not to overstate the case. One or two sentences in the body, after the mainstream view, maybe Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 20:49, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Perfectly acceptable idea. Just source and frame it properly so as not to make it a special pleading. -- Fyslee (talk) 02:13, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Ok, I will do this soon, in the meantime I will get source-hunting. Macromonkey (talk) 12:48, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Great! Now you're going to start learning more about what is meant by "verifiable" and "reliable sources" (V & RS), which isn't always identical to what is meant in ordinary speech. This is an encyclopedia, and it has other rules and conventions than ordinary websites. -- Fyslee (talk) 16:07, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Why not in the lead? It is a major viewpoint on the subject Macromonkey (talk) 20:02, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

 * It isn't a major viewpoint, it is the pov of adherents. Please find a source for it and bring it here for discussion, and we can work on a wording here rather than conversation-by-edit-summary on the article (which I recently learnt isn't very effective). Verbal   chat  20:10, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

 * It is the view of adherents, so it should still be included, as a viewpoint cannot be left out. I will provide a source shortly Macromonkey (talk) 20:30, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Please provide a source at the same time as you introduce edits not backed up by existing references - making the claim and then suggesting you will add references after it has been challenged is less than ideal. Pedro : Chat  20:33, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Macromonkey, you are being disruptive by not abiding by the advice given, and your promise at the beginning of this thread. Find the sources, then make your proposed addition right HERE before adding it. When we have worked out an acceptable addition, then you will have a consensus version that we will ALL defend. Until then, you are just being disruptive.

As to it being a "major viewpoint"... OF COURSE IT IS! It's so obvious as to not be worthy of mention. No believer in pseudoscience or the paranormal, and obviously not a fraud, will admit or believe that what they believe isn't true. They will obviously dispute any criticism. So what? It's so obvious that one normally considers it a given, and not worthy of mention. We aren't writing for three year olds here. -- Fyslee (talk) 23:44, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

 * A major viewpoint isn't worthy of mention because its obvious? It's obvious that England is part of the UK, yet it's still mentioned in the article. It's an encyclopedia, you can't ommit content because it's obvious. Macromonkey (talk) 21:29, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

 * If it were a significant detail that made a difference, it would be worth mentioning, but the proper analogy would like writing in every biography "So-and-so is a man, and he breathes air." Duh! All men and women breathe air. So what? Whatever the case, you will need to provide a source. You're still violating your promise at the beginning of this thread. -- Fyslee (talk) 21:55, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Edit war over unsourced inclusion
Macromonkey, contrary to their promise above, has attempted to edit war inclusion of the following statement:
 * "The use of cold reading by psychics is disputed by some, including but not limited to the psychics themselves, new age practitioners and spiritualists."

I have reverted, based on a lack of sourcing and based on Macromonkey's promise above to not do what they have been doing:

 * "Ok, so I'm not going to try and get those same edits made, although i do still believe them to be right. But what i do think should be included in the article is a section or something on the fact that mediums etc deny the use of cold reading, and that some people believe that they don't. This could be easy sourced and is not POV Macromonkey 20:13, 20 February 2009 (UTC)"

So what can be done here? The obvious and usual choice is to seek to get Macromonkey blocked for unwikipedian behavior and edit warring, which should be pretty easy to do. On second thought, I personally have no objection to the information, but just want it to be properly sourced, which is our policy here, so I'm willing to be merciful and give Macromonkey a second chance (conditions posted below).

There are currently two sections that touch on the subject of the fraudulent use of cold reading by psychics:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading#The_art_and_purpose_of_reading

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading#Magicians.2C_psychics.2C_and_cold_reading (This section even includes a similar unsourced statement.)

Since we need to develop this subject even more, maybe we should merge them and do that. I will tag the unsourced statement and then make some tweaks which will also be tagged to encourage other editors to help develop the subject.

I have now merged them into this section:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading#Contrasting_claims_made_by_performers_and_psychics

The statement should NOT be introduced into the LEAD until it is properly sourced. Then I will defend inclusion of a similar, and likely improved, statement. Until then, if it is introduced without sourcing, it is fair game for deletion and the one adding it fair game for blocking. Macromonkey, I request that you be an honorable person and respect this request. I am not interested in edit warring, and would rather see article improvement. -- Fyslee (talk) 00:41, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

 * I see that Macromonkey has chosen to edit war, rather than discuss. His mass deletion has been reverted as vandalism. As a formerly blocked user who was mercifully allowed to change his originally provocative username, he should be very careful. This is all evidence that is adding up. -- Fyslee (talk) 05:06, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

 * It would be fine, but you are refusing to allow obvious content, and lets face it, you would refuse to allow it (esp. in the lead) even if sources were provided. I notice that you are a skeptic, and probably atheist, so are pushing an opinion, and if I am vandalising, you are doing exactly the same, just pushing the opposite opinion Macromonkey (talk) 18:05, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

 * You aren't AGF. I have just clearly stated that "I personally have no objection to the information, but just want it to be properly sourced, which is our policy here,..." Since you have continued to violate your own promise above by edit warring and not properly discussing and coming to a consensus BEFORE editing, I see no choice but to seek to have you blocked. -- Fyslee (talk) 23:21, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Sentence removed from lead
I have (second time for me) just removed the following text from the lead: "The use of cold reading by psychics is disputed by some, including but not limited to the psychics themselves, new age practitioners and spiritualists". My reasons for the deletion are: First, the sentence is rather clumsy, and certainly non-encyclopedic. Second, the weasel phrase "disputed by some" stands out as requiring justification, particularly in the lead. Third, the sentence simply does not tie in with the article. The article is about a technique whereby a person can appear to display miraculous mental powers. The removed sentence seems to be an attempt to say that some psychics claim to not use the cold reading technique. That information belongs in an article on psychics. An article on card cheating techniques does not need a claim in the lead that some card players say they never cheat.

An argument could be made for putting the removed sentence (properly rewritten and justified) somewhere near the bottom of the article, but it is simply not relevant in the lead which is to introduce readers to the fact that "cold reading" does exist, and has a certain meaning, and has been demonstrated by some people (examples of the "some people" are given in the article). Johnuniq (talk) 00:47, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Accuracy/In-world View
This article seems really, really weird. It talks about cold reading as if it's a generally accepted practice or something. It talks about this as if it's a well known science. It's really far fetched. I think it needs to be completely redone. If anyone know of any better templates or something, please replace them. Should this be marked as just spam and redone entirely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pisharov (talk • contribs) 23:07, 16 May 2009 (UTC)
 * You may have been overloaded by nonsense on the net – this article is actually real. It is possible to learn a technique ("cold reading") whereby a performer can gather clues allowing plausible statements to be made that the gullible think are due to mind reading, or some inexplicable factor. I'm just an interested onlooker (on the science side), but it seems to me that your accuracy tag should be removed. Johnuniq (talk) 00:50, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Problem with the lead.
There is a problem with the first sentence of the lead that seems to have come up over and over and which will likely attract continued disruption if we don't deal with it. This is the current lead, first sentence:

 * Cold reading is a series of techniques used by mentalists, fortune tellers, psychics, and mediums to determine details about another person in order to convince them that the reader knows much more about a subject than they actually do.

The problem is that this implies a conclusion, specifically that cold reading is what all "mentalists, fortune tellers, psychics, and mediums" do. Our articles should reflect the "mainstream" view, predominantly, but what mainstream? Is this a science article? How, exactly, is the "mainstream view" determined?

Cold reading is a technique which can, at least, simulate mind-reading or psychic abilities, and it is a common skeptical point of view that this underlies all such phenomena. However, it may not underlie all, there may be other unusual abilities that are at work. For example, the supposed goal of cold reading: to convince them that the reader knows much more about a subject than they actually do. That would refer to one kind of cold reading, not to all. Suppose, for example, that the psychic has the ability to read subvocalisation, there are claims that some can do this. The reader, then, actually would have the ability to "read the mind" of the subject, even though, under this theory, there is a visual channel open, and it would be subvocalization being read, not the "mind" itself. Likewise with an ability to notice and understand what is communicated in eye movements, subtle movements of facial muscles, pulse rate, etc. We do not know the limits of the human mind and human capacities, but certainly some people are able to do what is mysterious to others. See Savant syndrome.

What's true and verifiable is that cold reading is proposed as an explanation for many phenomena ascribed to psychic abilities. It may also be true and verifiable that some who claim psychic abilities deny that they practice cold reading. (It should be noted that the the techniques of cold reading might be used outside of consciousness, in addition to the unusual perceptiveness as mentioned above, and might underlie the "intuition" of these psychics, so the denial might be fully sincere, but mistaken.)

I'm concerned that the is a possible POV problem with the very first sentence of the lead, which is an invitation to constant attempts by people who believe in psychic abilities, and there are certainly many, to correct the article. I have not researched the history of this article, but my general position is that we determine balance by what is in reliable source, so, first of all, is that lead sentence in reliable source without synthesis? I didn't see such source cited. --Abd (talk) 21:21, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I see you have changed the lead, however I think the change makes the article far too mysterious – someone wanting to know what cold reading is now has a puzzle to decode. If you have a reliable source concluding that some mind readers do not use cold reading, your change may be justified, although the original English was not as harsh as you suggest. Johnuniq (talk) 05:12, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree with Johnuniq and have reverted the lead. Glad to see you've moved on from "fusion", but you still have a "cold" fixation ;) Verbal  chat  06:44, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Try to avoid the personal comments, Verbal. I think you have got it backwards. There is a claim in the lead which is not supported by reliable source in the article. The lead as I left it describes what cold reading is. Cold reading is something used to create a certain impression in the mind of the "audience," i.e., literally an audience, or just an individual listener. It's used in all kinds of contexts, actually, but how it is used and the purpose for which it is used are separate from what it is.
 * I would edit to show usage, but, really, the article should explain that and there should be nothing in the lead that isn't clearly established in the article itself; the lead should be the most rigorously neutral of anything in the article.
 * Johnuniq, there is reference in the article to Karla McLaren. She acknowledges that she used something like cold reading in her work, without realizing it, but cold reading properly applies to the deliberate usage of these techniques, as by magicians and mentalists, and most of what we know about cold reading comes from those sources. Cold reading is a real technique, and there isn't any doubt about that. I've used cold reading techniques, it's part of standard hypnotic technique. (Not to deceive, but to guide, to develop rapport, which then opens up receptivity.) I don't think it's proper to use "cold reading" as a synonym for "intuition," which is a neutral term that doesn't necessarily involve "psychic" powers. Quite clearly, some psychics are merely highly intuitive, which means that they are able to process, without specific consciousness, cues that escape conscious notice. (People who believe in the psychic domain may think that these cues are in that domain.) I will edit the lead in an attempt to satisfy your concerns, but the biggest problem is that we are floating without sources. Feel free to take it out as unsourced, but please don't insert unsourced material in the lead (i.e., not sourced in the article). The material you reverted back in, Verbal, is unsourced and POV.
 * Johnuniq, how could we have a reliable source that suggests "some mind readers do not use cold reading?" However, we do know that mentalists and magicians use it. We should state what we know, not what we don't know. For our readers, it's enough that they know what cold reading is, and that it can make it appear that the cold reader has mysterious access to information. Standard magic, actually.--Abd (talk) 13:01, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I disagree, and right now and on previous discussion, you are in a minority and do not have consensus. Feel free to take this to WP:FTN to ask for further input. Please keep your posts shorter. The "cold" reference was an attempt to break any ice that may have formed. Cold reading is not limited to the deliberate usage of these techniques - if someone uses them but is ignorant of the literature that doesn't mean they aren't using cold reading. Please propose any changes you would like to make below. Verbal   chat  13:06, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm only in a minority if you neglect the many editors who have questioned this, serially. (There is a difference, though. I do not believe in psychic powers. I believe in NPOV.) You have re-inserted POV text in the lead without source. Establish it clearly in the rest of the article first. Are there such things as psychics? Someone using cold reading, consciously or unconsciously, is not a psychic. The view that psychics exist is a POV. The view that they do not exist is a POV. The view that they exist is held by many. --Abd (talk) 14:04, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Many of those editors are the same person. I was about to add sources but I have been beaten to the punch. Saying psychics use cold reading is neutral. That they may use other techniques as well or (im)possible magic powers is irrelevant. Dentists use dental drills, but that isn't all they use - should the dental drill article not say "Dental drills are tools used by dentists". Verbal   chat  14:10, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

 * From Psychic: The word psychic (pronounced /ˈsaɪkɨk/; from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul, mental") refers to an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception, or to people with such abilities. It is also used to refer to theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation and cold reading to produce the appearance of such abilities. The brief language that would cover this in our lead would be "and some psychics." Or,, "and, according to skeptics, fortune tellers, psychics, and mediums." I will assert that text, since it can be sourced.--Abd (talk) 14:14, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

 * Why WP:FTN? Cold reading is not a fringe theory. It is a well-established technique. --Abd (talk) 14:22, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Cold reading is closely associated with fringe theories, as you have just described yourself. WP:NPOV if you prefer, though I would also alert WP:FTN. Please don't editwar or wikilawyer here, instead get consensus for your edits. We've done as you asked. Verbal   chat  14:52, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
 * What "fringe theories?" Here the topic isn't a fringe theory, and the claim is being made here, stronger than what is actually said in Psychic, that the basis for so-called psychic "powers" is cold reading. The language I inserted, and that Verbal removed, is from the lead of that article; why would it enjoy consensus there and not here? Skeptics have attributed the putative powers of psychics to intentional trickery or self-delusion. --Abd (talk) 18:56, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

With, Verbal reverted my edit to the lead with the comment, (revert unsupported edits by Abd). With , Verbal edited Psychic likewise removing the wikilinked skeptics, but did replace the word later in the sentence. That text in Psychic was supported by consensus and four sources. Why is very similar text here, clearly supported by the text and references of the article, removed as "unsupported"? I've been researching the history of the lead, and what I've seen was edit warring, over and over, on this, without attempt to find compromise. Not good. At Psychic, it seems there was extensive negotiation over the lead to find the text currently used, before Verbal's edit, which only weakens it slightly. --Abd (talk) 02:31, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Let's just talk about this article here. The current lead sentence is "Cold reading is a series of techniques used by some ... psychics ... to determine or express details about another person..." The sentence is beautifully WP:NPOV because while it clearly says what cold reading is (with a reference), it also says some psychics, leaving open the possibility that other psychics have magical powers and do not need cold reading. If you have a reliable source that a certain psychic really does have magical powers, that remarkable information should be added to Psychic, but it is not relevant here. Johnuniq (talk) 03:04, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Ooops, I stupidly did not notice that you just inserted "some" into the lead and so blurted out the above which I have just struck out as irrelevant. Johnuniq (talk) 03:07, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

 * My goal is that the text becomes stable; I see that a compromise was worked out at Psychic between the factions on this, and it seems to be stable, though Verbal monkeyed with it two days ago, that was minor. I find the concept of "unconscious" cold reading to be problematic. Cold reading refers to a series of known techniques. Semantically, there are problems that haven't been faced here. The language in Psychic is fine. The language here will constantly invite contentious editing, for no good purpose, and I'll cover that more in other comments.

 * Sorry, I had planned to stay out of this, as I only wanted to add a reference to help out and then step out of everyone's hair. However, "some" isn't the right choice of words, as it makes the statement logically stronger, so I reverted it pending discussion. To explain: if I say "Online sources are used by Wikipedia editors", I'm not logically saying that all editors use online sources, but only that more than one editor does so. If, instead, I say "Online sources are used by some Wikipedia editors" I'm logically saying that more than one editor does so, but not all editors do so. That's a stronger statement than the earlier one. In this case, it may warrant saying "some ... psychics" but first it would need to be shown that "not all psychics" is true. Which is possible - you could, for example, show that some psychics use hot reading and specifically don't employ cold reading. But just as it was insisted that a source was required for the statement that "psychics use cold reading", I think it is reasonable to insist that there a source to support the stronger claim. - Bilby (talk) 03:48, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

 * I agree there is a problem. It was simply a proposal, I prefer to cite the allegations by skeptics that "psychics" are only using cold reading, and not "psychic powers." It is clear that some who hold themselves out to be psychics use cold reading consciously. These would be "fake" psychics, pretenders, and to say that doesn't imply that there are any "real" ones, in the end, but I'm sure there are some who are not "faking" or "pretending." We have one example of someone who, in fact, did not claim to be a psychic, if you read carefully, she claimed to be intuitive, and she acknowledged, later -- when she came out as a skeptic! -- that she may have been using cold reading techniques unconsciously, or semiconsciously. But I really don't know what "psychic" means, and I say that advisedly, because I don't know what the sensory limitations of the human mind are. Nevertheless, the statement currently in the article isn't clearly sourced to a text that was actually focused on this. The issue isn't whether or not there are any "real" psychics. It is whether or not we can imply that there are not. We should not imply that there are, nor should we imply that there are not. Whether or not it is intended, the current text invites readers to think that we are debunking psychics, which is why there has been so much disruption over this lead. Debunking is not our task, and if there are editors here who think it is, that should be brought out into the open and faced.

 * By the way, about psychologists. Specifically, hypnotists use cold reading techniques to develop rapport and facilitate trance, it's part of the training, I could probably find references, though they might not use the term "cold reading." So some psychologists, to develop rapport with a client, may do similar, I think that's how it came to be there. --Abd (talk) 19:59, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

In movies and on television
The "In movies and on television" was removed, but I've put it back for the moment - My thought is that it seems valuable, as a number of shows (in particular The Mentalist) are based on fictional accounts of cold reading, so it seems like a valuable enough topic, given that it should probably be trimmed and turned into prose. - Bilby (talk) 06:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I usually just kill trivia sections like this because they fill up with inconsequential rubbish and they're a magnet for editors who want to promote "their article" by basically spamming all kinds of trivial factoids. On the other hand this isn't the worst I've seen.  One thing I'd ask is that editors consider carefully in which of these films and whatnot the cold read is a really important part of how audiences and critics perceive the film. Another thing is: please refactor this into prose in appropriate parts of the article, not this great big active nuisance attraction. --TS 08:31, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

How can you have a page about cold reading and not mention John Edward? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.248.200.182 (talk) 20:10, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Another good example might be the reality TV show Long Island Medium. I've seen the show a few times, not by choice, and it looks like the medium, Theresa Caputo, is actually using cold reading. I'm not sure if she knows that this is what she's doing or if she really thinks that she's a medium but I do know that several psychic investigators consider her nothing more than a performer. JDZeff (talk) 22:46, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Recent removal of two large text items
There seems to be a determination on the part of one or two editors to remove the following two text items:

1:

 * Penn Jillette detailed another attempt at debunking claims of psychic ability on his March 1, 2007 episode of his Free FM Radio program. In a sequence planned for an episode of Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, Jillette's girlfriend at the time (unnamed) was tutored in cold reading techniques and set up at a store front at a fake book signing. There, over the course of two days she used the cold reading techniques learned (as well as improvisational skills she had acquired in acting classes) to convince 20 people she was indeed psychic. The sequence was never aired due to the emotional toll this took on his girlfriend, as well as concern by the producers that they would be exploiting the people for whom she had done the "readings".

2:

 * ''Former New Age practitioner Karla McLaren said, "I didn't understand that I had long used a form of cold reading in my own work! I was never taught cold reading and I never intended to defraud anyone; I simply picked up the technique through cultural osmosis." McLaren has further stated that since she was always very perceptive, she could easily figure out many of the issues her "readees" brought into sessions with them. In order to reduce the appearance of unusual expertise that might have created a power differential, she posed her observations as questions rather than facts. This attempt to be polite, she realized, actually invited the reader to, as McLaren has said, "lean into the reading" and give her more pertinent information.

This latter item is referenced by "cite journal |author=Karla McLaren |year=2004 |month=May |title=Bridging the Chasm between Two Cultures |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-05/new-age.html|accessdate=2006-12-11 }}"

Perhaps we could discuss the proposed removals here. --TS 16:35, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

 * Hi there Tony. The first item is not sourced at all- and as the claims it makes are pretty large, this is quite an important fact. Without sources it could be surmised thus: She convinced people that she was psychic but they didn't want to show it etc etc. So this could be made up for all we know. Secondly, the latter item is sourced, yet it is from a complete nonentity, so her experiences are no more important than those of others. Spritebox (talk) 16:41, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * His March 1, 2007 episode of his Free FM Radio program looks like the reference. I oppose these removals. Verbal chat  16:42, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

I think the first item is a rather poorly supported anecdote and adds nothing to the article. The second one is fine. --TS 17:19, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * In that case, what about the removal of the first part and leaving the second part be? Spritebox (talk) 17:31, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The first part is also referenced, and you were reverted by several editors. If you want it removed you will have to show there is a new consensus favouring removal, or that it breaks policy somehow. It clearly meets WP:V. Verbal chat  17:16, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It is an anecdote and adds nothing to the article. And kindly refrain from warning me just because you disagree with my edits. Spritebox (talk) 19:37, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It does add to the article. It adds an insight from one of the leading magicians / psychic trick experts, and how cold reading can effect people in such a way that they claim a trick is a real ability. Despite what you have said above, it is clearly referenced. Verbal chat  20:28, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Anonymous edits regarding psychics.
Several times in the last few weeks, anonymous editors have removed the term psychics from the lead paragraph without any edit summary explaining why. There's also been similar anonymous edits regarding "fake" psychics, or subjective commentary stating that cold reading is not used by psychics. As this is demonstrably false, I have also removed this.

If these anon editors (possibly the same person) want to state their reasons for their edits, and back it up with evidence, then please add your reasoning here.--Dmol (talk) 07:39, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

 * Its a NPOV issue. A web search for the term "cold reading" is most commonly associated with a skeptical statements regarding psychics. The primary reference for this article is such a text. When the term is rarely used by non-skeptics it regards specifically fake-psychics. -  Steve3849 talk  13:55, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

expanding the article and including examples of cold reading
Looking at a an investigation by the IIG giving great examples of cold reading. There are no examples in this article and wonder if others might think the article would be improved by some. Also James Underdown writes quite a good description of the numbers associated with the shot-gun approach when your audience is 200+/- people. I think it would be quite informative. Sgerbic (talk) 23:42, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I think it depends on what sort of example you are thinking of including. Long transcripts don't seem encyclopediac, but sort snippets of conversations that illustrate the basic techniques would be. We can also provide links in the External Links section to fuller dialogues and examples. Ashmoo (talk) 11:18, 13 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm on the road right at the moment, but will add this to my to-do list. I love the idea of examples (I understand things better with them) but will just have to see how short to make the edit and still make the point.  I hope I can find that balance. Don't wait for me (other people reading this) there are a lot of examples from i.e. transcripts out there that will work. Including the IIG one I mentioned above. Sgerbic (talk) 19:54, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Example of Entertainment by the Art of Cold Reading on stage by E
...I moved fairly quickly and was able to grab a card before they ran out. The card asked for my name, birthday and a question for E. She'd said it could be literally anything, so I wrote "How did the bee 'waggle dance' evolve?". The back of the card then asked for a private piece of information to further test her abilities, so I filled this in too then quickly headed to the stage, dropped my envelope into the bowl and made it back to my seat just before the lights dimmed. Halfway through the second act, E called out my name and told me the first song I ever played on a guitar. It was quite the thing.

E: [picks up a card] A guitar! Andy..Andrew...does that match anybody?

Me: [standing up and receiving the microphone from a scurrying usher] Yes, that's me.

E: A Taurean, right?

Me: Yes. [gasps from audience]

E: This is something musical, something to do with the guitar. I'm getting...It's the first song you played on the guitar, am I right?

Me: Yes.

E: Ok. About fifteen years old, right?

Me: No.

E: It is older?

Me: Oh, me or the song?

E: Never mind, one question at a time. Sing the song over in your head. Over and over. Try to project it to me.

Me: [actually doing so]. Ok.

E: I'm getting something about...pain, is that close?

Me: Yes, very.

E: And lots of pain. I can't quite figure it out. There are many people in pain? Something like that?

Me: That's very close.

E: I can't get the title I'm afraid, what is it?

Me: Everybody Hurts. [audience go into shock]

kazubaKazuba (talk) 20:41, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

In movies and on television
Please include Lie to me. The entire show is about cold reading.84.152.24.61 (talk) 07:14, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

NPOV issue with intro section
The lead section seems to imply that all psychics, fortune tellers, and medium use cold reading, either in part or in whole. A significant number of people would argue that that claim is at minimum unproven at this time. The lead show be clearer that while many skeptics allege cold reading as a primary technique of psychics/mediums/etc. whether intentionally or unconsciously, others argue (including at least some psychics) argue that that is either untrue or at least unproven at this time. I think most will agree that some skeptics/mediums/etc. do indeed use cold reading either intentionally or unconsciously either in part of in whole but it's disputed whether any true psychic ability has ever been 100% disproven as a possibility. Thus the intro section should reflect that fact. Their should at least be some mention in a sentence or two in the intro mentioning that their is a debate as to how much cold reading plays into all alleged psychics technique and that some people claim that some cold readers do not use cold reading either consciously or unconsciously at all. --Notcharliechaplin (talk) 05:24, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

 * The lead section doesn't seem to imply this...Regardless, lack of disproof and lack of plausibility are different things. Nothing can be "100% disproven" (we might all be brains in vats, for that matter) so invoking such a statement doesn't really mean anything. Arc de Ciel (talk) 06:49, 29 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I agree that the article needs to abide by WP:NPOV. However, it must also abide by WP:VERIFIABLE, and since no cold reader has been able to verify their abilities to WP standards, but some psychics have been verified to use cold reading, all statements will need to reflect this. Ashmoo (talk) 16:54, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Cold Reading Edit Disagreement
Dmol. I see that you made an edit https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_reading&type=revision&diff=923026011&oldid=923022198 on the "Cold Reading" page.

You changed what appeared to me to be a perfectly good edit by an "unregistered editor". Your edit summary "This is the whole basic of their claim. Discuss changes on the talk page if you want to reach consensus." seems a bit non sequitur.

I think you are a little out of process. A revert of the previous edit would have been more appropriate if you disagreed with the content of "unregistered editor's" addition.

You restructured two sentences into one sentence with a conjuction of "i.e. scam artists" which is awkard and creates an unnecessay ambiguity. Additional, inclusion of "scam artists" lacks a necessary relivance as the article is considered to be addressing "Cold Reading" as a "communication technique".

On this basis I am reverting your edit. I would entertain your thoughts on the subject by discusion on the talk page if you want to reach consenus.

Osomite (talk) 01:31, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cold reading


text:
Alan Lightman

Alan Paige Lightman (born November 28, 1948) is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently a professor of the practice of the humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Lightman was one of the first persons at MIT to hold a joint faculty position in both the sciences and the humanities. His thinking and writing explore the intersection of the sciences and humanities, especially the multilogues among science, philosophy, religion, and spirituality.

Lightman is the author of the international bestseller Einstein's Dreams. and his novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the founder of Harpswell, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.

Lightman hosts the public-television series Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science.

He has received six honorary doctoral degrees.

Early life and education
Alan Lightman was born and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. His father Richard Lightman was a movie theater owner and played a major role in desegregating movie theaters in the South in 1962. His mother Jeanne Garretson was a dance teacher and Braille typist.

Lightman graduated from White Station High School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in physics from Princeton University in 1970 after completing a senior thesis, titled "Design and construction of a gas scintillation detector capable of time-of-flight measurements of fission isomer decays", under the supervision of Robert Naumann. He then received a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1974 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "I. Time-dependent accretion disks around compact objects. II. Theoretical frameworks for analyzing and testing gravitation theories", under the supervision of Kip S. Thorne.

Career
Lightman was a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at Cornell University (1974–1976); an assistant professor at Harvard University (1976–1979); a senior research scientist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (1979–1989); and then a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1989– ). During this period he began publishing poetry in small magazines and eventually essays in Science 80, the Smithsonian, The New Yorker, and other magazines.

At MIT, in the mid-1990s Lightman chaired the committee that established the communication requirement for all undergraduates. In 2005, he was a cofounder of the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT, a partnership between MIT and Central Square Theater, in Cambridge, that sponsors plays involving science and the culture of science. In the same years, Lightman cofounded the graduate program in science writing at MIT.

In August 2023, Lightman was appointed a member of the United Nation’s Scientific Advisory Board, reporting directly to the Secretary General. The purpose of this Board is to advise UN leaders on breakthroughs in science and technology and mitigate potential risks, including ethical and social issues.

Scientific work
In his scientific work, Lightman has made contributions to the theory of astrophysical processes under extreme temperatures and densities. In particular, his research has focused on relativistic gravitation theory, the structure and behavior of accretion disks, stellar dynamics, radiative processes, and relativistic plasmas. Some of his significant achievements are his discovery, with Douglas Eardley, of a structural instability in orbiting disks of matter, called accretion disks, that form around massive condensed objects such as black holes, with wide application in astronomy; his proof, with David L. Lee, that all gravitation theories obeying the Weak Equivalence Principle (the experimentally verified fact that all objects fall with the same acceleration in a gravitational field) must be metric theories of gravity, that is, must describe gravity as a geometrical warping of time and space; his calculations, with Stuart L. Shapiro, of the distribution of stars around a massive black hole and the rate of destruction of those stars by the hole; his discovery, independently of Roland Svensson of Sweden, of the negative heat behavior of optically thin, hot thermal plasmas dominated by electron-positron pairs, that is, the result that adding energy to thin hot gases causes their temperature to decrease rather than increase; and his work on unusual radiation processes, such as unsaturated inverse Compton scattering, in thermal media, also with wide application in astrophysics.

In 1990 he chaired the science panel of the National Academy of Sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee. He is a past chair of the High Energy Division of the American Astronomical Society.

Literary work
Lightman's essays, articles, and stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Nautilus, The New Yorker, The New York Times and other publications. His books include:

Fiction

 * Einstein's Dreams (1993)
 * Good Benito (1995)
 * The Diagnosis (2000)
 * Reunion (2003)
 * Ghost (2007)
 * Song of Two Worlds (poetry) (2009)
 * Mr g (2012)
 * Three Flames (2019)

Memoir

 * Screening Room (2015)

Collections of essays and fables

 * Time Travel and Papa Joe’s Pipe (1984)
 * A Modern Day Yankee in a Connecticut Court (1986)
 * Dance for Two (1996)
 * Best American Essays 2000, (Guest Editor) (2000)
 * Living with the Genie, (coedited with Christina Desser, and Daniel Sarewitz) (2003)
 * Heart of the Horse (with Juliet von Otteren) (2004)
 * A Sense of the Mysterious (2005)
 * The Accidental Universe (2014)
 * Probable Impossibilities (2021)

Books on science

 * Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation (with W. H. Press, R. H. Price, and S. A. Teukolsky) (1975)
 * Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (with G. B. Rybicki) (1979)
 * Origins: the Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists (with R. Brawer) (1990)
 * Ancient Light. Our Changing View of the Universe (1991)
 * Great Ideas in Physics (1992, new edition in 2000)
 * Time for the Stars. Astronomy for the 1990s (1992)
 * The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th Century Science (2005)
 * The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science (2023)

General nonfiction

 * Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018)
 * In Praise of Wasting Time (2018)

Selected articles and essays
A more complete list of Lightman's essays and articles can be found at his MIT faculty page

 * “Restricted Proof That the Weak Equivalence Principle Implies the Einstein Equivalence Principle” (with D. L. Lee), Physical Review D, vol. 8, pg. 364 (1973)
 * “Black Holes in Binary Systems: Instability of Disk Accretion” (with D. M. Eardley), Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 187, pg. L1 (1974)
 * “The Distribution and Consumption Rate of Stars Around a Massive Collapsed Object (with S. L. Shapiro), Astrophysical Journal, vol. 211, pg. 244 (1977)
 * “Relativistic Plasmas: Pair Processes and Equilibria,” Astrophysical Journal, vol. 253, pg. 842 (1982)
 * “What’s Happening in the Cores of Globular Clusters?” Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 263, pg. L19 (1982)
 * "When Do Anomalies Begin?" (with Owen Gingerich), Science, February 7, 1992
 * “The Contradictory Genius,” The New York Review of Books, March 20, 1997.
 * “The Public Intellectual,” MIT Forum (1999)
 * “Red, White, and Bamboo,” (Letter from Cambodia) The New York Times, July 5, 2005
 * “Does God Exist?” Salon, October 2, 2011
 * “The Accidental Universe” Harper's, December 2011,
 * “The Temporary Universe Tin House, issue 51, Spring 2012
 * “Our Lonely Home in Nature”, The New York Times, May 2, 2014
 * “What Came Before the Big Bang?” Harpers, January 2016
 * “Fact and Faith: Why Science and Spirituality are not Incompatible,” BBC Focus, 5, April 2018
 * “The Coronavirus is a Reminder of Something Lost Long Ago,” The Atlantic, April 1, 2020
 * "It Seems that I Know How the Universe Originated," The Atlantic, February 8, 2021
 * "Where Science and Miracles Meet," The Atlantic, March 22, 2021

Nonprofit work
In 2003, Lightman made his first trip to Southeast Asia, to Cambodia. There he met a Cambodian lawyer named Veasna Chea Leth who told him that when she had been going to university in Phnom Penh in the mid-1990s, she and a handful of female students lived underneath the university building, in the two-meter crawl space between the bottom of the building and the mud, because there was no housing for female university students. Lightman and Chea together conceived the idea of a dormitory for female university students in Phnom Penh. That first facility was completed in 2006, the first dormitory for college women in the country.

During this work, Lightman founded Harpswell, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support emerging women leaders in Southeast Asia. Harpswell now operates two centers in Phnom Penh. In addition to providing housing, food, and medical care, the facility operates a program in leadership skills and critical thinking. The in-house program includes English instruction, computer literacy, debate, analytical writing, comparative genocide studies, strategies for civic engagement, leadership training, and discussion and analysis of national and international events. As of fall 2023, the Cambodian program has about 250 graduates and about 76 current students.

In 2017, Harpswell launched a new program in leadership for young professional women from all ten countries of Southeast Asia: Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei, plus Nepal. The Harpswell-ASEAN Women's Leadership Summit consists of a ten-day summer program in Penang Malaysia, with lectures and workshops in critical thinking, civic engagement, Southeast Asian geography and society, technology and communication, and gender issues. The program has a total of 25 participants each year, who are flown to Penang from their respective countries.

Major awards and honors

 * Honorary doctoral degrees from Bowdoin College (2005), Memphis College of Art (2006), University of Maryland (2006), University of Massachusetts (2010), Colgate University (2017), and Skidmore College (2019)
 * Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition on September 23, 2019, from the United States House of Representatives for contributions to the global Cambodian community.
 * Inaugural winner of 2017 Humanism in Literature award, given by Humanist Hub of Harvard
 * 2016 Distinguished Artist of the Year Award from the St. Botolph Club of Boston
 * 2016 Sydney Award for the best magazine essays of 2011, for "What Came Before the Big Bang?", awarded by David Brooks of The New York Times
 * Screening Room (2015) named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year
 * 2011 Sydney Award for the best magazine essays of 2011, for "The Accidental Universe," awarded by David Brooks of The New York Times
 * Gold Medal for humanitarian service to Cambodia, awarded by the government of Cambodia in 2008
 * 2006 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award, given by Sigma Xi
 * Finalist for the 2005 Massachusetts Book Award for A Sense of the Mysterious
 * 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the California Institute of Technology
 * Finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction for The Diagnosis
 * 1998 Gyorgy Kepes Prize in the Arts from MIT's Council for the Arts
 * Elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996
 * American Institute of Physics Andrew Gemant Award for linking science to the humanities in 1996
 * Literary Light of the Boston Public Library in 1995
 * 1990 Association of American Publishers’ Award for Origins as the best book of the year in physical science

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alan Lightman


text:
T cell

T cells are one of the important types of white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell surface.

T cells are born from hematopoietic stem cells, found in the bone marrow. Developing T cells then migrate to the thymus gland to develop (or mature). T cells derive their name from the thymus. After migration to the thymus, the precursor cells mature into several distinct types of T cells. T cell differentiation also continues after they have left the thymus. Groups of specific, differentiated T cell subtypes have a variety of important functions in controlling and shaping the immune response.

One of these functions is immune-mediated cell death, and it is carried out by two major subtypes: CD8+ "killer" (cytotoxic) and CD4+ "helper" T cells. (These are named for the presence of the cell surface proteins CD8 or CD4.) CD8+ T cells, also known as "killer T cells", are cytotoxic – this means that they are able to directly kill virus-infected cells, as well as cancer cells. CD8+ T cells are also able to use small signalling proteins, known as cytokines, to recruit other types of cells when mounting an immune response. A different population of T cells, the CD4+ T cells, function as "helper cells". Unlike CD8+ killer T cells, the CD4+ helper T (TH) cells function by further activating memory B cells and cytotoxic T cells, which leads to a larger immune response. The specific adaptive immune response regulated by the TH cell depends on its subtype (such as T-helper1, T-helper2, T-helper17, regulatory T-cell), which is distinguished by the types of cytokines they secrete.

Regulatory T cells are yet another distinct population of T cells that provide the critical mechanism of tolerance, whereby immune cells are able to distinguish invading cells from "self". This prevents immune cells from inappropriately reacting against one's own cells, known as an "autoimmune" response. For this reason, these regulatory T cells have also been called "suppressor" T cells. These same regulatory T cells can also be co-opted by cancer cells to prevent the recognition of, and an immune response against, tumor cells.

Origin, early development and migration to the thymus
All T cells originate from c-kit+Sca1+ haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) which reside in the bone marrow. In some cases, the origin might be the fetal liver during embryonic development. The HSC then differentiate into multipotent progenitors (MPP) which retain the potential to become both myeloid and lymphoid cells. The process of differentiation then proceeds to a common lymphoid progenitor (CLP), which can only differentiate into T, B or NK cells. These CLP cells then migrate via the blood to the thymus, where they engraft:. Henceforth they are known as thymocytes, the immature stage of a T cell.

The earliest cells which arrived in the thymus are commonly termed double-negative, as they express neither the CD4 nor CD8 co-receptor. The newly arrived CLP cells are CD4−CD8−CD44+CD25−ckit+ cells, and are termed early thymic progenitor (ETP) cells. These cells will then undergo a round of division and downregulate c-kit and are termed double-negative one (DN1) cells. To become T cells, the thymocytes must undergo multiple DN stages as well as positive selection and negative selection.

Double negative thymocytes can be identified by the surface expression of CD2, CD5 and CD7. Still during the double negative stages, CD34 expression stops and CD1 is expressed. Expression of both CD4 and CD8 makes them double positive, and matures into either CD4+ or CD8+ cells.

TCR development
A critical step in T cell maturation is making a functional T cell receptor (TCR). Each mature T cell will ultimately contain a unique TCR that reacts to a random pattern, allowing the immune system to recognize many different types of pathogens. This process is essential in developing immunity to threats that the immune system has not encountered before, since due to random variation there will always be at least one TCR to match any new pathogen.

A thymocyte can only become an active T cell when it survives the process of developing a functional TCR. The TCR consists of two major components, the alpha and beta chains. These both contain random elements designed to produce a wide variety of different TCRs, but due to this huge variety they must be tested to make sure they work at all. First, the thymocytes attempt to create a functional beta chain, testing it against a 'mock' alpha chain. Then they attempt to create a functional alpha chain. Once a working TCR has been produced, the cells then must test if their TCR will identify threats correctly, and to do this it is required to recognize the body’s major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in a process known as positive selection. The thymocyte must also ensure that it does not react adversely to "self" antigens, called negative selection. If both positive and negative selection are successful, the TCR becomes fully operational and the thymocyte becomes a T cell.

TCR β-chain selection
At the DN2 stage (CD44+CD25+), cells upregulate the recombination genes RAG1 and RAG2 and re-arrange the TCRβ locus, combining V-D-J recombination and constant region genes in an attempt to create a functional TCRβ chain. As the developing thymocyte progresses through to the DN3 stage (CD44−CD25+), the thymocyte expresses an invariant α-chain called pre-Tα alongside the TCRβ gene. If the rearranged β-chain successfully pairs with the invariant α-chain, signals are produced which cease rearrangement of the β-chain (and silence the alternate allele). Although these signals require the pre-TCR at the cell surface, they are independent of ligand binding to the pre-TCR. If the chains successfully pair a pre-TCR forms, and the cell downregulates CD25 and is termed a DN4 cell (CD25−CD44−). These cells then undergo a round of proliferation, and begin to re-arrange the TCRα locus during the double-positive stage.

Positive selection
The process of positive selection takes 3 to 4 days and occurs in the thymic cortex. Double-positive thymocytes (CD4+/CD8+) migrate deep into the thymic cortex, where they are presented with self-antigens. These self-antigens are expressed by thymic cortical epithelial cells on MHC molecules, which reside on the surface of cortical epithelial cells. Only thymocytes that interact well with MHC-I or MHC-II will receive a vital "survival signal", while those that cannot interact strongly enough will receive no signal and die from neglect. This process ensures that the surviving thymocytes will have an 'MHC affinity' that means they can serve useful functions in the body, responding to MHC molecules to assist immune responses. The vast majority of developing thymocytes will not pass positive selection, and die during this process.

A thymocyte's fate is determined during positive selection. Double-positive cells (CD4+/CD8+) that interact well with MHC class II molecules will eventually become CD4+ "helper" cells, whereas thymocytes that interact well with MHC class I molecules mature into CD8+ "killer" cells. A thymocyte becomes a CD4+ cell by down-regulating expression of its CD8 cell surface receptors. If the cell does not lose its signal, it will continue downregulating CD8 and become a CD4+, both CD8+ and CD4+ cells are now single positive cells.

This process does not filter for thymocytes that may cause autoimmunity. The potentially autoimmune cells are removed by the following process of negative selection, which occurs in the thymic medulla.

Negative selection
Negative selection removes thymocytes that are capable of strongly binding with "self" MHC molecules. Thymocytes that survive positive selection migrate towards the boundary of the cortex and medulla in the thymus. While in the medulla, they are again presented with a self-antigen presented on the MHC complex of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). mTECs must be Autoimmune regulator positive (AIRE+) to properly express self-antigens from all tissues of the body on their MHC class I peptides. Some mTECs are phagocytosed by thymic dendritic cells; this makes them AIRE− antigen presenting cells (APCs), allowing for presentation of self-antigens on MHC class II molecules (positively selected CD4+ cells must interact with these MHC class II molecules, thus APCs, which possess MHC class II, must be present for CD4+ T-cell negative selection). Thymocytes that interact too strongly with the self-antigen receive an apoptotic signal that leads to cell death. However, some of these cells are selected to become Treg cells. The remaining cells exit the thymus as mature naive T cells, also known as recent thymic emigrants. This process is an important component of central tolerance and serves to prevent the formation of self-reactive T cells that are capable of inducing autoimmune diseases in the host.

TCR development summary
β-selection is the first checkpoint, where thymocytes that are able to form a functional pre-TCR (with an invariant alpha chain and a functional beta chain) are allowed to continue development in the thymus. Next, positive selection checks that thymocytes have successfully rearranged their TCRα locus and are capable of recognizing MHC molecules with appropriate affinity. Negative selection in the medulla then eliminates thymocytes that bind too strongly to self-antigens expressed on MHC molecules. These selection processes allow for tolerance of self by the immune system. Typical naive T cells that leave the thymus (via the corticomedullary junction) are self-restricted, self-tolerant, and single positive.

Thymic output
About 98% of thymocytes die during the development processes in the thymus by failing either positive selection or negative selection, whereas the other 2% survive and leave the thymus to become mature immunocompetent T cells. The thymus contributes fewer cells as a person ages. As the thymus shrinks by about 3% a year throughout middle age, a corresponding fall in the thymic production of naive T cells occurs, leaving peripheral T cell expansion and regeneration to play a greater role in protecting older people.

Types of T cell
T cells are grouped into a series of subsets based on their function. CD4 and CD8 T cells are selected in the thymus, but undergo further differentiation in the periphery to specialized cells which have different functions. T cell subsets were initially defined by function, but also have associated gene or protein expression patterns.

Helper CD4+ T cells

T helper cells (TH cells) assist other lymphocytes, including the maturation of B cells into plasma cells and memory B cells, and activation of cytotoxic T cells and macrophages. These cells are also known as CD4+ T cells as they express the CD4 glycoprotein on their surfaces. Helper T cells become activated when they are presented with peptide antigens by MHC class II molecules, which are expressed on the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Once activated, they divide rapidly and secrete cytokines that regulate or assist the immune response. These cells can differentiate into one of several subtypes, which have different roles. Cytokines direct T cells into particular subtypes.

Cytotoxic CD8+ T cells

Cytotoxic T cells (TC cells, CTLs, T-killer cells, killer T cells) destroy virus-infected cells and tumor cells, and are also implicated in transplant rejection. These cells are defined by the expression of the CD8 protein on their cell surface. Cytotoxic T cells recognize their targets by binding to short peptides (8-11 amino acids in length) associated with MHC class I molecules, present on the surface of all nucleated cells. Cytotoxic T cells also produce the key cytokines IL-2 and IFNγ. These cytokines influence the effector functions of other cells, in particular macrophages and NK cells.

Memory T cells
Antigen-naive T cells expand and differentiate into memory and effector T cells after they encounter their cognate antigen within the context of an MHC molecule on the surface of a professional antigen presenting cell (e.g. a dendritic cell). Appropriate co-stimulation must be present at the time of antigen encounter for this process to occur. Historically, memory T cells were thought to belong to either the effector or central memory subtypes, each with their own distinguishing set of cell surface markers (see below). Subsequently, numerous new populations of memory T cells were discovered including tissue-resident memory T (Trm) cells, stem memory TSCM cells, and virtual memory T cells. The single unifying theme for all memory T cell subtypes is that they are long-lived and can quickly expand to large numbers of effector T cells upon re-exposure to their cognate antigen. By this mechanism they provide the immune system with "memory" against previously encountered pathogens. Memory T cells may be either CD4+ or CD8+ and usually express CD45RO.

Memory T cell subtypes:
 * Central memory T cells (TCM cells) express CD45RO, C-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CCR7), and L-selectin (CD62L). Central memory T cells also have intermediate to high expression of CD44. This memory subpopulation is commonly found in the lymph nodes and in the peripheral circulation. (Note- CD44 expression is usually used to distinguish murine naive from memory T cells).
 * Effector memory T cells (TEM cells and TEMRA cells) express CD45RO but lack expression of CCR7 and L-selectin. They also have intermediate to high expression of CD44. These memory T cells lack lymph node-homing receptors and are thus found in the peripheral circulation and tissues. TEMRA stands for terminally differentiated effector memory cells re-expressing CD45RA, which is a marker usually found on naive T cells.
 * Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) occupy tissues (skin, lung, etc.) without recirculating. One cell surface marker that has been associated with TRM is the intern αeβ7, also known as CD103.
 * Virtual memory T cells (TVM) differ from the other memory subsets in that they do not originate following a strong clonal expansion event. Thus, although this population as a whole is abundant within the peripheral circulation, individual virtual memory T cell clones reside at relatively low frequencies. One theory is that homeostatic proliferation gives rise to this T cell population. Although CD8 virtual memory T cells were the first to be described, it is now known that CD4 virtual memory cells also exist.

Regulatory CD4+ T cells
Regulatory T cells are crucial for the maintenance of immunological tolerance. Their major role is to shut down T cell–mediated immunity toward the end of an immune reaction and to suppress autoreactive T cells that escaped the process of negative selection in the thymus.

Two major classes of CD4+ Treg cells have been described—FOXP3+ Treg cells and FOXP3− Treg cells.

Regulatory T cells can develop either during normal development in the thymus, and are then known as thymic Treg cells, or can be induced peripherally and are called peripherally derived Treg cells. These two subsets were previously called "naturally occurring" and "adaptive" (or "induced"), respectively. Both subsets require the expression of the transcription factor FOXP3 which can be used to identify the cells. Mutations of the FOXP3 gene can prevent regulatory T cell development, causing the fatal autoimmune disease IPEX.

Several other types of T cells have suppressive activity, but do not express FOXP3 constitutively. These include Tr1 and Th3 cells, which are thought to originate during an immune response and act by producing suppressive molecules. Tr1 cells are associated with IL-10, and Th3 cells are associated with TGF-beta. Recently, Th17 cells have been added to this list.

Innate-like T cells
Innate-like T cells or unconventional T cells represent some subsets of T cells that behave differently in immunity. They trigger rapid immune responses, regardless of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression, unlike their conventional counterparts (CD4 T helper cells and CD8 cytotoxic T cells), which are dependent on the recognition of peptide antigens in the context of the MHC molecule. Overall, there are three large populations of unconventional T cells: NKT cells, MAIT cells, and gammadelta T cells. Now, their functional roles are already being well established in the context of infections and cancer. Furthermore, these T cell subsets are being translated into many therapies against malignancies such as leukemia, for example.

Natural killer T cell
Natural killer T cells (NKT cells – not to be confused with natural killer cells of the innate immune system) bridge the adaptive immune system with the innate immune system. Unlike conventional T cells that recognize protein peptide antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, NKT cells recognize glycolipid antigens presented by CD1d. Once activated, these cells can perform functions ascribed to both helper and cytotoxic T cells: cytokine production and release of cytolytic/cell killing molecules. They are also able to recognize and eliminate some tumor cells and cells infected with herpes viruses.

Mucosal associated invariant T cells
Mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells display innate, effector-like qualities. In humans, MAIT cells are found in the blood, liver, lungs, and mucosa, defending against microbial activity and infection. The MHC class I-like protein, MR1, is responsible for presenting bacterially-produced vitamin B metabolites to MAIT cells. After the presentation of foreign antigen by MR1, MAIT cells secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and are capable of lysing bacterially-infected cells. MAIT cells can also be activated through MR1-independent signaling. In addition to possessing innate-like functions, this T cell subset supports the adaptive immune response and has a memory-like phenotype. Furthermore, MAIT cells are thought to play a role in autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, although definitive evidence is yet to be published.

Gamma delta T cells
Gamma delta T cells (γδ T cells) represent a small subset of T cells which possess a γδ TCR rather than the αβ TCR on the cell surface. The majority of T cells express αβ TCR chains. This group of T cells is much less common in humans and mice (about 2% of total T cells) and are found mostly in the gut mucosa, within a population of intraepithelial lymphocytes. In rabbits, sheep, and chickens, the number of γδ T cells can be as high as 60% of total T cells. The antigenic molecules that activate γδ T cells are still mostly unknown. However, γδ T cells are not MHC-restricted and seem to be able to recognize whole proteins rather than requiring peptides to be presented by MHC molecules on APCs. Some murine γδ T cells recognize MHC class IB molecules. Human γδ T cells that use the Vγ9 and Vδ2 gene fragments constitute the major γδ T cell population in peripheral blood. These cells are unique in that they specifically and rapidly respond to a set of nonpeptidic phosphorylated isoprenoid precursors, collectively named phosphoantigens, which are produced by virtually all living cells. The most common phosphoantigens from animal and human cells (including cancer cells) are isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and its isomer dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMPP). Many microbes produce the active compound hydroxy-DMAPP (HMB-PP) and corresponding mononucleotide conjugates, in addition to IPP and DMAPP. Plant cells produce both types of phosphoantigens. Drugs activating human Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells comprise synthetic phosphoantigens and aminobisphosphonates, which upregulate endogenous IPP/DMAPP.

Activation
Activation of CD4+ T cells occurs through the simultaneous engagement of the T-cell receptor and a co-stimulatory molecule (like CD28, or ICOS) on the T cell by the major histocompatibility complex (MHCII) peptide and co-stimulatory molecules on the APC. Both are required for production of an effective immune response; in the absence of co-stimulation, T cell receptor signalling alone results in anergy. The signalling pathways downstream from co-stimulatory molecules usually engages the PI3K pathway generating PIP3 at the plasma membrane and recruiting PH domain containing signaling molecules like PDK1 that are essential for the activation of PKC-θ, and eventual IL-2 production. Optimal CD8+ T cell response relies on CD4+ signalling. CD4+ cells are useful in the initial antigenic activation of naive CD8 T cells, and sustaining memory CD8+ T cells in the aftermath of an acute infection. Therefore, activation of CD4+ T cells can be beneficial to the action of CD8+ T cells.

The first signal is provided by binding of the T cell receptor to its cognate peptide presented on MHCII on an APC. MHCII is restricted to so-called professional antigen-presenting cells, like dendritic cells, B cells, and macrophages, to name a few. The peptides presented to CD8+ T cells by MHC class I molecules are 8–13 amino acids in length; the peptides presented to CD4+ cells by MHC class II molecules are longer, usually 12–25 amino acids in length, as the ends of the binding cleft of the MHC class II molecule are open.

The second signal comes from co-stimulation, in which surface receptors on the APC are induced by a relatively small number of stimuli, usually products of pathogens, but sometimes breakdown products of cells, such as necrotic-bodies or heat shock proteins. The only co-stimulatory receptor expressed constitutively by naive T cells is CD28, so co-stimulation for these cells comes from the CD80 and CD86 proteins, which together constitute the B7 protein, (B7.1 and B7.2, respectively) on the APC. Other receptors are expressed upon activation of the T cell, such as OX40 and ICOS, but these largely depend upon CD28 for their expression. The second signal licenses the T cell to respond to an antigen. Without it, the T cell becomes anergic, and it becomes more difficult for it to activate in future. This mechanism prevents inappropriate responses to self, as self-peptides will not usually be presented with suitable co-stimulation. Once a T cell has been appropriately activated (i.e. has received signal one and signal two) it alters its cell surface expression of a variety of proteins. Markers of T cell activation include CD69, CD71 and CD25 (also a marker for Treg cells), and HLA-DR (a marker of human T cell activation). CTLA-4 expression is also up-regulated on activated T cells, which in turn outcompetes CD28 for binding to the B7 proteins. This is a checkpoint mechanism to prevent over activation of the T cell. Activated T cells also change their cell surface glycosylation profile.

The T cell receptor exists as a complex of several proteins. The actual T cell receptor is composed of two separate peptide chains, which are produced from the independent T cell receptor alpha and beta (TCRα and TCRβ) genes. The other proteins in the complex are the CD3 proteins: CD3εγ and CD3εδ heterodimers and, most important, a CD3ζ homodimer, which has a total of six ITAM motifs. The ITAM motifs on the CD3ζ can be phosphorylated by Lck and in turn recruit ZAP-70. Lck and/or ZAP-70 can also phosphorylate the tyrosines on many other molecules, not least CD28, LAT and SLP-76, which allows the aggregation of signalling complexes around these proteins.

Phosphorylated LAT recruits SLP-76 to the membrane, where it can then bring in PLC-γ, VAV1, Itk and potentially PI3K. PLC-γ cleaves PI(4,5)P2 on the inner leaflet of the membrane to create the active intermediaries diacylglycerol (DAG), inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3); PI3K also acts on PIP2, phosphorylating it to produce phosphatidlyinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3). DAG binds and activates some PKCs. Most important in T cells is PKC-θ, critical for activating the transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1. IP3 is released from the membrane by PLC-γ and diffuses rapidly to activate calcium channel receptors on the ER, which induces the release of calcium into the cytosol. Low calcium in the endoplasmic reticulum causes STIM1 clustering on the ER membrane and leads to activation of cell membrane CRAC channels that allows additional calcium to flow into the cytosol from the extracellular space. This aggregated cytosolic calcium binds calmodulin, which can then activate calcineurin. Calcineurin, in turn, activates NFAT, which then translocates to the nucleus. NFAT is a transcription factor that activates the transcription of a pleiotropic set of genes, most notable, IL-2, a cytokine that promotes long-term proliferation of activated T cells.

PLC-γ can also initiate the NF-κB pathway. DAG activates PKC-θ, which then phosphorylates CARMA1, causing it to unfold and function as a scaffold. The cytosolic domains bind an adapter BCL10 via CARD (Caspase activation and recruitment domains) domains; that then binds TRAF6, which is ubiquitinated at K63. This form of ubiquitination does not lead to degradation of target proteins. Rather, it serves to recruit NEMO, IKKα and -β, and TAB1-2/ TAK1. TAK 1 phosphorylates IKK-β, which then phosphorylates IκB allowing for K48 ubiquitination: leads to proteasomal degradation. Rel A and p50 can then enter the nucleus and bind the NF-κB response element. This coupled with NFAT signaling allows for complete activation of the IL-2 gene.

While in most cases activation is dependent on TCR recognition of antigen, alternative pathways for activation have been described. For example, cytotoxic T cells have been shown to become activated when targeted by other CD8 T cells leading to tolerization of the latter.

In spring 2014, the T-Cell Activation in Space (TCAS) experiment was launched to the International Space Station on the SpaceX CRS-3 mission to study how "deficiencies in the human immune system are affected by a microgravity environment".

T cell activation is modulated by reactive oxygen species.

Antigen discrimination
A unique feature of T cells is their ability to discriminate between healthy and abnormal (e.g. infected or cancerous) cells in the body. Healthy cells typically express a large number of self derived pMHC on their cell surface and although the T cell antigen receptor can interact with at least a subset of these self pMHC, the T cell generally ignores these healthy cells. However, when these very same cells contain even minute quantities of pathogen derived pMHC, T cells are able to become activated and initiate immune responses. The ability of T cells to ignore healthy cells but respond when these same cells contain pathogen (or cancer) derived pMHC is known as antigen discrimination. The molecular mechanisms that underlie this process are controversial.

Deficiency

Causes of T cell deficiency include lymphocytopenia of T cells and/or defects on function of individual T cells. Complete insufficiency of T cell function can result from hereditary conditions such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), Omenn syndrome, and cartilage–hair hypoplasia. Causes of partial insufficiencies of T cell function include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hereditary conditions such as DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), chromosomal breakage syndromes (CBSs), and B cell and T cell combined disorders such as ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) and Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome (WAS).

The main pathogens of concern in T cell deficiencies are intracellular pathogens, including Herpes simplex virus, Mycobacterium and Listeria. Also, fungal infections are also more common and severe in T cell deficiencies.

Cancer
Cancer of T cells is termed T-cell lymphoma, and accounts for perhaps one in ten cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The main forms of T cell lymphoma are:
 * Extranodal T cell lymphoma
 * Cutaneous T cell lymphomas: Sézary syndrome and Mycosis fungoides
 * Anaplastic large cell lymphoma
 * Angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma

Exhaustion
T cell exhaustion is a poorly defined or ambiguous term. There are three approaches to its definition. "The first approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that present the same cellular dysfunction (typically, the absence of an expected effector response). The second approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that are produced by a given cause (typically, but not necessarily, chronic exposure to an antigen). Finally, the third approach primarily defines as exhausted the cells that present the same molecular markers (typically, programmed cell death protein 1 [PD-1])."

Dysfunctional T cells are characterized by progressive loss of function, changes in transcriptional profiles and sustained expression of inhibitory receptors. At first, cells lose their ability to produce IL-2 and TNFα, which is followed by the loss of high proliferative capacity and cytotoxic potential, and eventually leads to their deletion. Exhausted T cells typically indicate higher levels of CD43, CD69 and inhibitory receptors combined with lower expression of CD62L and CD127. Exhaustion can develop during chronic infections, sepsis and cancer. Exhausted T cells preserve their functional exhaustion even after repeated antigen exposure.

During chronic infection and sepsis
T cell exhaustion can be triggered by several factors like persistent antigen exposure and lack of CD4 T cell help. Antigen exposure also has effect on the course of exhaustion because longer exposure time and higher viral load increases the severity of T cell exhaustion. At least 2–4 weeks exposure is needed to establish exhaustion. Another factor able to induce exhaustion are inhibitory receptors including programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), CTLA-4, T cell membrane protein-3 (TIM3), and lymphocyte activation gene 3 protein (LAG3). Soluble molecules such as cytokines IL-10 or TGF-β are also able to trigger exhaustion. Last known factors that can play a role in T cell exhaustion are regulatory cells. Treg cells can be a source of IL-10 and TGF-β and therefore they can play a role in T cell exhaustion. Furthermore, T cell exhaustion is reverted after depletion of Treg cells and blockade of PD1. T cell exhaustion can also occur during sepsis as a result of cytokine storm. Later after the initial septic encounter anti-inflammatory cytokines and pro-apoptotic proteins take over to protect the body from damage. Sepsis also carries high antigen load and inflammation. In this stage of sepsis T cell exhaustion increases. Currently there are studies aiming to utilize inhibitory receptor blockades in treatment of sepsis.

During transplantation
While during infection T cell exhaustion can develop following persistent antigen exposure after graft transplant similar situation arises with alloantigen presence. It was shown that T cell response diminishes over time after kidney transplant. These data suggest T cell exhaustion plays an important role in tolerance of a graft mainly by depletion of alloreactive CD8 T cells. Several studies showed positive effect of chronic infection on graft acceptance and its long-term survival mediated partly by T cell exhaustion. It was also shown that recipient T cell exhaustion provides sufficient conditions for NK cell transfer. While there are data showing that induction of T cell exhaustion can be beneficial for transplantation it also carries disadvantages among which can be counted increased number of infections and the risk of tumor development.

During cancer
During cancer T cell exhaustion plays a role in tumor protection. According to research some cancer-associated cells as well as tumor cells themselves can actively induce T cell exhaustion at the site of tumor. T cell exhaustion can also play a role in cancer relapses as was shown on leukemia. Some studies have suggested that it is possible to predict relapse of leukemia based on expression of inhibitory receptors PD-1 and TIM-3 by T cells. Many experiments and clinical trials have focused on immune checkpoint blockers in cancer therapy, with some of these approved as valid therapies that are now in clinical use. Inhibitory receptors targeted by those medical procedures are vital in T cell exhaustion and blocking them can reverse these changes.

title: T cell


text:
Dennis Price

Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor. He played Louis Mazzini in the Ealing Studios film Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and the omnicompetent valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse's stories.

Early life
Price was born in Ruscombe in Berkshire. He had distant Welsh family connections, and was the son of Brigadier-General Thomas Rose Caradoc Price (1875–1949) CMG DSO (who was a great-grandson of Sir Rose Price, 1st Baronet and, through his mother, a descendant of the Baillie baronets of Polkemmet, near Whitburn, West Lothian) and his wife Dorothy, née Verey, daughter of Sir Henry Verey, Official referee of the Supreme Court of Judicature. He attended Copthorne Prep School, Radley College and Worcester College, Oxford. He studied acting at the Embassy Theatre School of Acting.

Stage actor
Price made his first appearance on stage at the Croydon Repertory Theatre in June 1937, followed by a London debut at the Queen's Theatre on 6 September 1937 in Richard II.

He served in the Royal Artillery from March 1940 to June 1942 during the Second World War, but returned to acting after being invalided out, appearing with Noël Coward in This Happy Breed and Present Laughter and later as Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit, which he later named in Who's Who in the Theatre as one of his two favourite parts along with the title role in André Obey's Noah.

Film career
Price's first film role was in A Canterbury Tale (1944). He impressed Gainsborough Pictures, which put him under contract. According to Brian MacFarlane, Price was "mercilessly used by Gainsborough [Pictures] in one unsuitable role after another" in this period.

He was given a support role in A Place of One's Own (1945) starring James Mason. British National borrowed him for The Echo Murders (1946), a Sexton Blake film; he was then fourth-billed as the villain in a Gainsborough melodrama, Caravan (1946) with Stewart Granger and Jean Kent, playing the type of villainous part that had made James Mason a star (and that Mason was no longer interested in playing). It was a huge success.

Price was a villain again in Gainsborough's The Magic Bow (1946) with Granger and Kent. Two Cities Films used him in one of its melodramas, Hungry Hill (1947). Gainsborough used him in villainous roles in Dear Murderer, Holiday Camp, Jassy and Master of Bankdam (all 1947).

He made two films for Bernard Knowles, supporting Margaret Lockwood in The White Unicorn and a comedy, Easy Money (both 1948). He followed this with a thriller, Snowbound, and a crime melodrama Good-Time Girl (both 1948). In 1948, British exhibitors voted Price the tenth-most popular British actor at the box office.

Stardom
He was promoted to starring roles. He was given the title role in The Bad Lord Byron (1949); this was a huge flop at the box-office, and helped kill off the Gainsborough melodrama. Much more successful, both at the box-office and among critics was Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), for Ealing Films; he played the suave serial murderer Louis Mazzini with Alec Guinness playing his eight relatives.

Price was in a wartime drama, The Lost People (1949). In the same year, he was a guest judge on a BBC radio broadcast of the Piddingtons show. His role was to represent the eyes of listeners as the Piddingtons performed their telepathy act in the Piccadilly studios, and in the Tower of London. He was ensuring that no cheating was going on and overseeing the telepathy tests as a witness.

He was loaned to Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) to make two films: the musical The Dancing Years (1950), a sizeable hit; and the thriller Murder Without Crime (1950), was less successful.

Back at Rank, Price was a villain in The Adventurers, and was borrowed by 20th Century Fox for I'll Never Forget You (both 1951).

He played the lead in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951), and after a cameo in The Magic Box (1951) he had top billing in a comedy, Song of Paris (1952).

Supporting actor
Price supported in The Tall Headlines (1952) and had the lead in some B-films: Noose for a Lady (1953), Murder at 3am (1953) and Time Is My Enemy (1954). In "A" pictures he was now a supporting actor, with his films including The Intruder (1953), For Better, for Worse (1954), That Lady (1955), Oh... Rosalinda!! (1955), Private's Progress (1956), Charley Moon (1956) with Max Bygraves, Port Afrique (1956), A Touch of the Sun (1956), Fortune Is a Woman (1957), The Naked Truth (1957), Danger Within (1959), I'm All Right Jack (1959), and School for Scoundrels (1960). He was top billed in Don't Panic Chaps! (1959), a minor comedy made by Hammer Films.

In the 1950s, Price appeared in London and New York City in new plays and revivals of classics. It has been suggested that he was the first name actor on television to play a "more or less overtly gay role" in Crime on Our Hands (1954). In 1957, he made his debut in South Africa in lead roles in Separate Tables.

As a radio actor, Price was the original "No. 1" in charge of the crew of HMS Troutbridge in the first series of the long-running radio comedy series The Navy Lark in 1959, but was unable to continue the role in the second series because of other work commitments; he was replaced by Stephen Murray. His film appearances from this period included Tunes of Glory (1960) and The Amorous Prawn (also known as The Playgirl and the War Minister, 1962). In Victim (1961) he portrayed one of several characters being blackmailed because of their (then illegal) homosexuality. In the horror spoof What a Carve Up! (1961) he starred alongside Kenneth Connor, Sid James, Shirley Eaton and Donald Pleasence, while in the science fiction film The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) he appeared alongside Willard Parker and Thorley Walters.

In the BBC television series The World of Wooster (1965–67), Price's performance as Jeeves was described by The Times as "an outstanding success", and P. G. Wodehouse said Price had "that essential touch of Jeeves mystery". Working with Ian Carmichael as Bertie Wooster, this now almost completely lost series was based on the novels and short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. He also appeared in an episode of The Avengers.

Later years
In 1967, Price was declared bankrupt; he attributed his financial distress to "extravagant living and most inadequate gambling". He then moved to the tax haven island of Sark, which coincided with an escalation in his alcoholism. Towards the end of his life, Price appeared in a series of horror movies including  The Haunted House of Horror (1969), Twins of Evil (1971), Horror Hospital (1973) and Theatre of Blood (1973), as well as five films directed by Jesús Franco. One of his last film appearances was a star-studded version of Alice in Wonderland (1972) with Ralph Richardson, Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers and Dudley Moore, among others. On television, he had recurring roles in the ITC series Jason King (1971) and The Adventurer (1972).

Price died of heart failure, complicated by a hip fracture, in Guernsey in 1973, at the age of 58. He was cremated at the Foulon Vale Crematorium, Guernsey, and his ashes were buried outside St. Peter's Anglican Church on Sark, next to the traditional burial plot of the seigneurs of Sark.

In the book British Film Character Actors (1982), Terence Pettigrew wrote that Price's most successful screen characterisations were "refined, self-centred, caddish and contemptuous of a world inhabited by inferiors. Everything about him was deceptive. He could be penniless and still manage to look as if he owned the bank. But behind all that grand talk and lordly ways, there skulked, in his characters, the most ordinary of shabby, grasping souls."

Personal life
Price was married to the actress Joan Schofield from 1939 to 1950. They had two daughters. Decades after his death, it was claimed that Price was bisexual.

In April 1954, he tried to commit suicide by gas in a London guest house. Public sympathy led to a revival of his career and the offer of film roles.

title: Dennis Price


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Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936

The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 (No. 58 of 1936) was an Act of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). The Act, which was signed into law on 12 December 1936, was one of two passed hurriedly in the aftermath of the Edward VIII abdication crisis to sharply reduce the role of the Crown. It is also sometimes referred to as the External Relations Act.

Background and provisions of the Act
Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State as originally enacted, the executive authority of the Irish Free State was declared to be vested in the King and declared to be exercisable by the Governor-General as representative of the Crown. But the 1932 Irish general election was won by Fianna Fáil, led by Éamon de Valera and other republicans who had opposed the monarchial elements in the constitution, and part of their programme aimed to reduce the role and visibility of the monarch in Irish political life.

In the aftermath of King Edward VIII's signing of an Instrument of Abdication on 10 December 1936, the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State enacted the Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936 abolishing the office of the Governor-General so that thereafter the powers of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, insofar as internal matters were concerned, ceased to be exercised in the name of the King. While the Crown was thus abolished for the purposes of internal government, article 51 of the amendment allowed the Executive Council to, for the purposes of foreign relations, make use of "any organ used as a constitutional organ for the like purposes by [other nations of the Commonwealth]."

The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 was enacted the following day to implement that provision. It provided that the diplomatic and consular representatives of the Irish Free State in other countries should be appointed, and that the Irish Free State's international agreements should be concluded, by the King acting on the advice of the Executive Council (as. 1–2). Thus the Act preserved the Crown to a limited extent in the sphere of external relations.

More particularly, the Act stipulated (s. 3(1)) that:

"so long as Saorstát Éireann [i.e. the Irish Free State] is associated with the following nations, that is to say, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and South Africa [i.e. the dominions then within the Commonwealth], and so long as the King recognised by those nations as the symbol of their co-operation continues to act on behalf of each of those nations (on the advice of the several Governments thereof) for the purposes of the appointment of diplomatic and consular representatives and the conclusion of international agreements, the King so recognised may, and is hereby authorised to, act on behalf of Saorstát Éireann for the like purposes as and when advised by the Executive Council so to do."

It was in that manner specifically provided that so long as the Irish Free State was associated with the members of the British Commonwealth and so long as the members of the Commonwealth continue to recognise the King as the symbol of their special relationship and the King acts on their behalf in the sphere of external affairs, the King shall continue to act in the external relations of the Irish Free State. The meaning of this provision was a matter of considerable uncertainty.

The Act also brought Edward VIII's Instrument of Abdication into effect for the purposes of Irish law (s. 3(2)). Due to the Act's phrasing, Edward VIII's abdication was actually back-dated to the day before that on which it took effect in the United Kingdom and most of the other Dominions.

Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act 1937
Unfortunately the speed with which the 1936 Act was passed also meant that some serious legal matters had been overlooked by the draughtsmen, touching on the top of the Irish legal hierarchy. In May 1937 these were covered by the Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act 1937. As the Governor-Generalship had not been actually abolished by the 1936 Act, this Act was required to validate the otherwise-unlawful appointment of the Chief Justice of Ireland Timothy Sullivan. Sullivan had in turn questionably appointed three High Court judges. The recent appointment of Patrick Lynch as the Attorney General of Ireland and even the pension of the outgoing Governor-General needed to be legalised.

Repeal
The Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 was repealed by The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into force on 18 April 1949. The new Act vested the powers possessed by the King in the President of Ireland.