Studio 54, Pete Gleason

If I could have been a cowboy, I’d have been Gary Cooper — the cool, fearless hero of High Noon who in real life was a champion of Native American rights.

Of course, the cowboy who really saved my neck was Lee Marvin. But that part of the story comes later.

The guy with me is Hawaiian-born James Dayley, who helped the Bee Gees to become disco’s biggest stars. James was personal assistant to Robert Stigwood, the boys’ manager, and I would often begin a wild night out with drinks at Robert’s luxurious apartment overlooking central park.

Then we’d head to Manhattan, because everybody wanted to get into Studio 54. The biggest celebrities of the era strutted on that dance floor — Elton John, Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli and Andy Warhol were all regulars.

James sent me this photo to remind me of good times, and to tell me that I inspired him to open his mind, investigate the science of strange phenomena and become a mentalist.

But you don’t spend years working with a business genius like Robert Stigwood without picking up a lot of economic know-how too — and James isn’t relying solely on his mind-reading skills. He also owns a bar in Utah!

Studio 54 closed down long ago, and New York is a very different city now. It needs strong leaders to hold back the menace of drugs and organised crime, and I was delighted to learn that my friend Pete Gleason, a retired firefighter who was at the World Trade Center’s twin towers on 9/11, is running for the city council.

Pete and I tried to buy Elvis Presley’s former home in Memphis, Tennessee, a few years ago, and I was impressed then by his breadth of experience: as well as being an ex-firefighter, former NYPD police officer and one-time coastguard, he is a lawyer and civil rights activist.

As an attorney, he does extra work for free, to help animal rights charities.

The more I learn about Pete, the more I think he shouldn’t be running for councillor… he should be New York’s governor!

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All aboard the Uri bus, for my latest live extravaganza. I will be hosting The Greek Uri Geller from the end of this month (October), broadcasting from Athens, as contestants with incredible skills and mental powers battle it out for the right to be named my successor.

The prospect of getting back to television after a long summer break has me buzzing with adrenalin. I was thrilled to see the publicity campaign my producers are running, with a bus rolling through the Athens streets with my face and the show’s logo on every inch of metal.

I can’t wait to get on board and give the passengers a shock. Hanna says they should have used a bendy bus…

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If you can’t wait for the Weekly News and you want to see my photos every day, take a look at the snaps I’m sending from my Blackberry on the Twitter website. I love the way I can zap pictures striaght from my phone to the internet.

Barney, my greyhound, is the real star — you can see him energising by a gigantic rock crystal, and having a snooze with his muzzle on a velvet cushion. He’s a natural celebrity.

The countryside around my home provides wonderful backdrops for photographs, and when we had the most spectacular sunset of the year, while Shipi and I were strolling by the Thames, we took shots to capture all the amazing colours.

One silly pic that I love shows my gardener, Chris, with a small bush that has been trimmed into the shape of a crosed knife and fork. He spotted it at a garden centre, and couldn’t resist buying it for us. Chris made me promise not to bend the fork, though.

If you do log on to the website at twitter.com/gelleruri, make sure you leave me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

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The Irish mentalist David Meade visited our home this week to bring Hanna and me some chocolates. I don’t know how he knew which centres we love best, but I suspect he used his mind-reading powers — David is a master at interpreting people’s secret thoughts through body language and psychology.

He is also a genius at suggestology, the art of planting ideas into other people’s minds with imperceptible hints. So maybe I don’t really adore the hazelnut clusters and strawberry cremes… David just makes me think that I do!