Merlin tried to convince people that he could predict the lottery 900 years before Derren Brown.
It seems King Arthur's wizard friend is the originator of the trick Brown played out in front of an audience of over 4 million on Channel 4 recently.
The illusionist claimed he had used the "wisdom of the crowd" to maniplate their brains in order for them to come up with a set of average numbers which correlated with each of the balls picked by Lottery company Camelot.
But it seems the illusionist ripped off a similar trick by Merlin who used the Knights Of The Round Table to pick medieval lottery numbers that had Lancelot raving about the trick for months.
Merlin, born in Paisley, Scotland, is written about in an early parchment which can be found in Durham Abbey, which is thought to have been long hidden because it ridiculed his speech impediment.
It reads: "Merlin proofed himfelf a right chanfer. Sword in lake probably trick too, not to mention the reft of it.'
