Sydney Piddington

Sydney Piddington
Born	1918 Australia
Died	January 29, 1991

Sydney Piddington (1918-1991) performed with his wife Lesley (b.1925) as the mentalism team called The Piddingtons.

Sydney Piddington was born in Australia. During World War II he served in an artillery regiment, but was captured and imprisoned for four years. As an escape from the harsh treatment, the prisoners staged theatrical entertainments. An article by Dr. J. B. Rhine on parapsychology in a stray copy of Digest magazine gave Piddington the idea to entertain with a telepathy act with Russell Braddon (who would later write a book).

After the war, Piddington returned to Australia where he met and married a radio-actress named Lesley Pope. They put together a telepathy act based on Sydney's experience, and The Piddingtons became a successful in Sydney and Melbourne on radio and with live stage shows.

In 1949 they went to England, where they became a success on BBC radio programs.

References

• The Piddingtons by Russell Braddon. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1950.
• Radio National, Australia http://www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight/stories/s98346.htm
• http://www.answers.com/topic/sydney-and-lesley-piddingtons