Scouring the globe for skeptical activity, it's not long before one's eyes are drawn down-under, and the fantastic and vibrant antipodean skeptical community in Australia - headed up in part by QED speaker and vice president of the Australian Skeptics, Richard Saunders. Having been involved in the skeptical movement for over a decade, Richard has become one of the key skeptical voices in the Australian media, with regular radio appearances under his belt and a recurring role on psychic 'talent' show The One - Australia's televised quest to uncover the country's least worst psychic claimant.
The show, which has recently begun it's second series on Australia's Seven Network, features Richard in something of a Simon Cowell role, running the rule over the various contestants as they seek to demonstrate their proficiency with the paranormal. Demonstrations often proved somewhat patchy, with Saunders himself admitting the claimants were less than convincing:
"In fact they failed over 94% of the time. I never once on the show validated what they were claiming as, apart from anything else, in my view none of them did anything paranormal."
Identifying what Richard's best known for is a near-impossible task. Besides his TV work, he's an expert origamist, having authored over thirty books on the Japanese paper-folding art - an art we're certain he'll merrily demonstrate to anyone lucky enough to be sharing his table at the QED Gala Dinner. He also makes up one half of 'The Mystery Investigators' duo (alongside fellow skeptic and blogger Dr Rachel Dunlop), bringing engaging and fun demonstrations of critical thinking into the classroom. What's more, Richard edits and fronts the hugely popular Skeptic Zone podcast, now well into it's third year and going strong (even with the sad loss of the world's most gleefully cheesy theme tune).
Always happy to demonstrate how paranormal appearances can be faked, Richard bends a mean spoon, and was prominent in the very public debunking and evisceration of the 'shonky' Power Balance bracelets - the rubber bands which claimed to improve balance and circulation, but became the subject of mammoth negative publicity after the Australian Skeptics exposed the claims made for the bands as little more than carnival trickery and simple psychology.
Finally, a little known fact - Richard's eclectic career includes background appearances on screen in the film Superman Returns, and Australian TV shows All Saints and Home and Away. Plus we hear he has excellent taste in listening material...!
Richard Saunders can be found on twitter @SkepticZone.