Marcello came into my life much, much too late, in the 1980s. He was the most prismatic thinker I’ve ever come across and the surely the most generous academic in the world when it came to sharing his wisdom.

    He was more than a distinguished sociologist; his immense learning, on which I relied shamelessly for several of my books, covered psychology too, and it is as a psychologist that I remember him—and miss him—fondly.

    He was animated, original and fascinating whether discussing the psychology of his favourite topics—magic, con men, the circus, the bizarre and the outlandish—or, a favorite bugbear of his, the ergonomics of everyday electronic gizmos.

    He particularly hated TV remote controllers and, I believe, tried to convince several manufacturers to simplify them along analog lines a decade before anyone else recognised the coming “technofear” engendered by our over-complicated digital age gadgets.

    Marcello was like that—always ahead of the wave, a barometer for tomorrow’s cultural weather.

    I never did discover why his email was truzzi@toast.net, but I still sometimes imagine I can see his wonderfully funny and interesting emails each time I turn on my computer.  RIP, Marcello, thank you for everything and maybe you could try and find a way of emailing again one of these days. If anyone can, you will.