Derek Acorah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Derek Acorah
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Acorah in 2013
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| Born |
Derek Francis Johnson
27 January 1950 Bootle, Lancashire, England
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| Died | 4 January 2020 (aged 69) Scarisbrick, Lancashire, England
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| Occupation | Spiritual medium, author, TV celebrity |
| Known for | Most Haunted Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns |
| Spouse(s) |
Joan Hughes
(m. 1972; div. 1982)Gwen Johnson
(m. 1995) |
| Children | 1 |
Derek Francis Johnson (born 27 January 1950 – died 4 January 2020), known as Derek Acorah, was a British spiritual medium. He was famous for his TV shows, especially Most Haunted on Living TV (from 2002 to 2010). He was known for trying to talk to spirits.
Before becoming a medium, Derek Acorah played football. He was even part of the famous Liverpool team for a short time. Sadly, an injury stopped his football career early.
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Early Life and Football Dreams
Derek Francis Johnson was born on 27 January 1950 in Bootle. His father, Frederick Johnson, was a merchant sailor. His mother was Elizabeth Courtney. Derek grew up in Scarisbrick, near Southport.
Derek Acorah said his first experience with spirits happened when he was six. He claimed to see his deceased grandfather at his grandmother's house. His grandmother was a psychic, and she later encouraged him to become a medium.
Derek went to secondary school at Warwick Bolam. He loved football when he was young. He played for Bootle Boys and then for Wrexham's youth team when he was thirteen. He later signed a schoolboy contract with Liverpool. At that time, the team was managed by the legendary Bill Shankly.
Acorah often shared a story about telling a teammate, Emlyn Hughes, to be careful with his new car. The next day, Hughes was late for training because he had crashed his car. Shankly heard about Acorah's psychic abilities. He told him, "Son, where did you get all this from? You leave that at home, you just bring your boots here and play football." Acorah also claimed he spoke to Shankly in the spirit world after Shankly passed away.
Derek Acorah never played for Liverpool's main team. He briefly played for their reserve team. After that, he played for Wrexham again for about a year. He also played for Glentoran and Stockport County.
After his son was born, he moved to Australia to play football for USC Lion. His time there ended because of an injury. This injury stopped his football career. He then returned to England. After this, he started working as a medium. He chose the surname Acorah, saying it came from a Dutch ancestor.
Television Career
Derek Acorah first appeared on TV in 1996. This was on a satellite channel called Granada Breeze. He started with a show called Livetime. Later, he appeared weekly on Psychic Livetime. He also had a show called Predictions, which later became Predictions with Derek Acorah.
In 2002, Derek Acorah was part of a TV series called Antiques Ghost Show. In 2004, he received an award. It was the Multichannel TV Personality of the Year Award from the Variety Club of Great Britain.
Most Haunted Show
In July 2001, Derek Acorah joined a new British TV show. It was first called Haunting Truths. Later, it was sold to Living and renamed Most Haunted. He worked on this show for six seasons.
Yvette Fielding, a presenter and producer of Most Haunted, first said the show was completely real. However, in 2005, there was a lot of media attention. This happened after Acorah claimed to contact spirits with unusual names. These names were later said to be made up by the show's sceptic, Ciarán O'Keeffe. The names were "Rik Eedles" and "Kreed Kafer," which are anagrams for "Derek Lies" and "Derek Faker." This led to questions about the show's authenticity.
In 2006, Yvette Fielding said that Acorah left the show because of these issues. Derek Acorah was often made fun of on other comedy shows. For example, he was parodied by Marc Wootton as Shirley Ghostman. He was also parodied by Dawn French and Jon Culshaw.
Other TV Appearances
After leaving Most Haunted in 2005, Derek Acorah made other TV shows. He filmed a special called Derek Acorah's Quest for Guy Fawkes. Then he made Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, which ran for three seasons. In 2008, he was in two series for Sky Real Lives called Derek Acorah.
In July 2006, he had a small role in the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts". In November 2009, Acorah appeared in Michael Jackson: The Live Seance. In this show, he tried to contact the spirit of the singer on live television.
Derek Acorah also appeared on many other TV shows. These included Celebrity Five Go to..., Harry Hill's TV Burp, and Paranormal Egypt. He was also a guest on shows like Celebrity Juice, Richard and Judy, The Paul O'Grady Show, and Loose Women. He had small roles in two films, Big Fat Gypsy Gangster (2011) and Crispy's Curse (2017).
In 2015, Acorah appeared in a TV show called The Past Hunters. He also competed in the twentieth series of Celebrity Big Brother. He finished in fourth place on the final night.
Personal Life
Derek Acorah was married twice. His first marriage was to Joan Hughes from 1972 to 1982. They had one son together. He later married Gwen Johnson in 1995. They remained married until his death in 2020.
Derek and Gwen Acorah supported a charity called Pathfinder Guide Dog Programme. This charity helps provide guide dogs for people who are blind.
Derek Acorah passed away on 4 January 2020, at the age of 69. He had been ill for a short time. His wife later shared that he was in the hospital with pneumonia. He then developed sepsis, which led to his death.
Images for kids
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Acorah in 2013
