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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Rob.

And I'm Sam.

Now, Sam, look into my eyes. You are feeling sleepy. Relax.

What are you doing, Rob? Trying to hypnotise me?

Well, since hypnotism is the topic of this programme, I thought I'd give it a try.

So, how do you feel, Sam? Are you under my spell?

Hmm, I don't think so, Rob. It's not so easy to put me into a hypnostic trance.

That's the word to describe the state of mind of someone who's been hypnotised and isn't completely

in control. Ah, you mean like those stage magicians who trick people into

clucking like a chicken or playing an imaginary violin.

Yes, some hypnotists make people do silly things for entertainment,

but hypnotism has real benefits as well. Curing phobias, for example.

Maybe so, but for other people, the very idea of a hypnotic trance is nonsense.

And even if hypnotism is real, why would you let a complete stranger inside your head?

Don't worry, Rob. I won't make you cluck like a chicken.

Oh, please don't. At least not before my quiz question, which is about a well-known 20th

century hypnotist. One of the first Europeans to hypnotise people, this man became so famous

that his name is forever associated with hypnotic trances.

But who was he? Was it a Sigmund Freud, B Franz Mesmer, or C Harry Houdini?

Well, people who want to quit smoking sometimes use a kind of therapy-involving hypnotism,

...