Meet our February speaker

Patsy Payne chats to handwriting expert and forensic graphologist Adam Brand, who is coming to speak to Dorking U3A on 10 February

I’m almost sure you’re not a forger, but a leaning towards this lifestyle might be identified in your handwriting… that’s if international graphologist Adam Brand had been called in to assess it.

As present chairman of the British Institute of Graphologists and past chairman of the Association of Qualified Graphologists, Brand is very much the genuine article.

His reputation as a seriously accomplished authority in graphology, or “frozen body language” as he calls it, is backed with years of study and dedication and today he boasts an impressive CV. You may well recognise him from his many appearances and interviews on radio and television, including BBC, ITV, Sky News and Sky Arts.

I was intrigued to find out what made Brand eventually take the path that today sees him using his skills working for solicitors assessing forgeries, for companies assessing candidates for jobs, and personal graphology. He thinks before answering: “Well, it could be said that as a small child my mother inadvertently stuck me in the wrong queue outside Selfridges.

“She thought it was for Father Christmas, but it turned out it was for a graphology reading. He just talked about T-bars. I hadn’t a clue what the man was going on about,” he adds with a laugh.

But it was much later as an adult during a parallel career in the business world when Brand started to study his interest more intently, taking a three-year degree with the British Institute of Graphologists and qualifying in 1990.

He recalls one case when an employee handed him a piece of handwriting. “I looked at it and said, ‘Oh no! This could be disastrous,’ thinking it was a potential boyfriend. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘he’s a salesman who has just been locked up for stabbing his wife 22 times!'”

In 1997 Brand became specialised in recruitment and forensic graphology and, in particular, issues related to the integrity of so-called “expert” witnesses.

He will tell about this and much more when he guests as speaker at the 10 February meeting.