At just four years of age Colin Fry was the first person to know his great grandmother was dead. One Sunday tea time, he told his grandfather his mother had passed away.

His parents told him off. How many four-year-old tots know what death is, let alone predict it?

Sure enough, the next day a telegram confirmed the time of the grandmother’s death.

His mother,however, was not surprised to discover the boy had the incredible gift of being a spiritual medium. It ran in the family — her own grandmother was one.

At first she played it down but when he turned 13 she helped him, taking him to the spiritualist centre at church, which helps people develop their abilities.

The young Fry hated school. He said: “I felt life could teach me more and that proved to be right.

“I was confronted with teachers I psychically sensed didn’t believe what they were teaching. I knew they felt it was a load of rubbish. Once we went from a science lesson where they taught us the universe evolved over millions of years then we had a religious class which said the world was created in seven days. I always asked why, so I was made to stand outside the classroom.” Since Fry started his popular TV series, 6ixth Sense, he has had to give up private sittings. Over the past year he had a whopping 94,000 requests and said: “How do you choose the most urgent cases out of that?” People come to Fry to be reunited with loved ones who have passed away. Fry receives messages from the spirit world but says they are often difficult and moving to relay. A huge responsibility goes with the job. He will not always tell people every message he receives.

“There is no point saying to someone you’re going to die tomorrow. You can never be absolutely sure if the message or its source are correct. It’s irresponsible.

“My job is to try to bring forward people from the spirit world.” Fry receives messages all the time but he says ones which are always memorable to him are those he receives from a child to a parent.

The strangest message Fry ever gave was explaining to a widow who had had an unhappy relationship with her husband that before he died he converted all their savings into bonds and burned them. Not surprisingly, the suspecting wife was furious!

Colin Fry is delighted to be returning to Fairfield Hall for this evening of communication. The fifth time he is taking his show to the venue, he especially asked to have the final night of his 2003 tour there.

“It has been an incredible venue for us this year. The Croydon audience is great. I wanted to end the tour there,” he said.

An Audience with Colin Fry, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, Dec 3, 8pm, £17.50, 020 8688 9291