Peter is a psychologist and a former Oxford don. For many years he was a member of staff at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, where he taught and did research. His research interests have covered a broad range of topics, including body language, culture, management style and television audiences.
Peter has made numerous appearances on TV – in various documentaries, on News at Ten, Newsnight and This Morning. He was a resident psychologist on Big Brother for the first four series.
His books include Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution (with Desmond Morris), Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car (with Peter Marsh) and Social Psychology at Work (edited with Adrian Furnham). Peter is the author of Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms. His latest book is The Book of Tells: How To Read People’s Minds From Their Actions, which has been published in ten countries so far.
This formed the basis of Body Talk, an award-winning two-part TV series that he presented on Channel4. The series attracted an enormous amount of media and public attention, as well as excellent ratings. The Daily Mail described it as being “drenched in the sound of authority”, The Times called it “a funny, merciless expose”, Broadcast Magazine said it was “remarkable”, The Sunday Telegraph said it was “compelling” and the Mail on Sunday described it as “brilliant.”
During the 2006 general election Peter presented What They’re Really Thinking, a programme about the revealing mannerisms of British politicians, which attracted more viewers than any other programme about the election on Channel4. His analysis of the relationship between Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness formed the basis of The Honeymooners, which was shown on BBC Northern Ireland.
In 2010 Peter co-presented an eight-part series on psychology and body language for Sky1. He was the body language expert for Sky News during the general election and he provided commentary during the FIFA World Cup. He has written articles for several newspapers and magazines, including the Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Daily Mail and New Statesman.
Peter has given talks to a wide range of organisations, including the CIPD, ICA, the Royal Institution, the Cheltenham Science Fair, The British Association of Science, The Humber Book Fair, MOD, Time-Warner, Citywire, PHmg, moneysupermarket.com, Luxury Briefing, HSBC, Barclays Wealth, Unilever, Deloitte, Norman Broadbent and the BHBIA (where he won an award for the best presentation at their winter conference).
For several years Peter has provided consultancy and done research projects on communication and marketing. His clients have included the Newspaper Publishers Association, BSkyB, Euromedia, First Direct, Zurich Bank, Crown Paints, Supa Dog, Scottish Courage, Intel, DeVere, Barclays Wealth and a number of advertising agencies and PR firms, including Bell Pottinger, GCI, Grayling, Cake and Blue Rubicon. He has done media presentations for several PR firms and he has also run training workshops for several clients, including Unilever, YSC, Invesco Perpetual, DeVere, J.P. Morgan and HSBC.
Peter is widely acknowledged to be a world expert on body language. The Guardian called him a “body language guru” and the Mail on Sunday described him as “a grand master of the secret code of fleeting gestures, signs and expressions that give us all away.” Reviewing one of Peter’s books, Sir Peter Ustinov wrote that he “displays razor-sharp observation ... There can hardly be a more astute and mischievous handbook than Peter Collett’s.”
Peter has made numerous appearances on TV – in various documentaries, on News at Ten, Newsnight and This Morning. He was a resident psychologist on Big Brother for the first four series.
His books include Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution (with Desmond Morris), Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car (with Peter Marsh) and Social Psychology at Work (edited with Adrian Furnham). Peter is the author of Foreign Bodies: A Guide to European Mannerisms. His latest book is The Book of Tells: How To Read People’s Minds From Their Actions, which has been published in ten countries so far.
This formed the basis of Body Talk, an award-winning two-part TV series that he presented on Channel4. The series attracted an enormous amount of media and public attention, as well as excellent ratings. The Daily Mail described it as being “drenched in the sound of authority”, The Times called it “a funny, merciless expose”, Broadcast Magazine said it was “remarkable”, The Sunday Telegraph said it was “compelling” and the Mail on Sunday described it as “brilliant.”
During the 2006 general election Peter presented What They’re Really Thinking, a programme about the revealing mannerisms of British politicians, which attracted more viewers than any other programme about the election on Channel4. His analysis of the relationship between Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness formed the basis of The Honeymooners, which was shown on BBC Northern Ireland.
In 2010 Peter co-presented an eight-part series on psychology and body language for Sky1. He was the body language expert for Sky News during the general election and he provided commentary during the FIFA World Cup. He has written articles for several newspapers and magazines, including the Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Daily Mail and New Statesman.
Peter has given talks to a wide range of organisations, including the CIPD, ICA, the Royal Institution, the Cheltenham Science Fair, The British Association of Science, The Humber Book Fair, MOD, Time-Warner, Citywire, PHmg, moneysupermarket.com, Luxury Briefing, HSBC, Barclays Wealth, Unilever, Deloitte, Norman Broadbent and the BHBIA (where he won an award for the best presentation at their winter conference).
For several years Peter has provided consultancy and done research projects on communication and marketing. His clients have included the Newspaper Publishers Association, BSkyB, Euromedia, First Direct, Zurich Bank, Crown Paints, Supa Dog, Scottish Courage, Intel, DeVere, Barclays Wealth and a number of advertising agencies and PR firms, including Bell Pottinger, GCI, Grayling, Cake and Blue Rubicon. He has done media presentations for several PR firms and he has also run training workshops for several clients, including Unilever, YSC, Invesco Perpetual, DeVere, J.P. Morgan and HSBC.
Peter is widely acknowledged to be a world expert on body language. The Guardian called him a “body language guru” and the Mail on Sunday described him as “a grand master of the secret code of fleeting gestures, signs and expressions that give us all away.” Reviewing one of Peter’s books, Sir Peter Ustinov wrote that he “displays razor-sharp observation ... There can hardly be a more astute and mischievous handbook than Peter Collett’s.”
