Society for Psychical Research. It was discovered that Joad was not present at séances he had claimed to have attended. Price later suspended the operations of the council. Joad opposed the spiritualist hypothesis of mediumship. He debated the psychical researcher Shaw Desmond on spiritualism. He argued against immortality and spirit communication, preferring his "mindlet" hypothesis which held that bundle of ideas which were formerly regarded as the mind of the dead person may survive death for a temporal period of time. During the later years of his life he published articles on how extrasensory perception may fit into a Christian framework. The Brains Trust Joad's prominence came from The Brains Trust, which featured a small group including Commander A. B. Campbell and Julian Huxley. His developed and matured discussion techniques, his fund of anecdotes and mild humour brought him to the attention of the general public. The programme came to deal with difficult questions posed by listeners, and the panellists would discuss the question in great detail, and render a philosophical opinion. Examples of the questions ranged from "What is the meaning of life?" to "How can a fly land upside-down on the ceiling?" Joad became a star of the show, his voice being the most heard on radio except for the news. Joad nearly always opened with the catchphrase "It all depends on what you mean by…" when responding to a question. Although there was opposition from Conservatives, who complained about political bias, the general public considered him the greatest British philosopher of the day and celebrity status followed. Rise and fall As Joad had become so well known, he was invited to give after-dinner speeches, open bazaars, even advertise tea, and his book sales soared. He stood as a Labour candidate at a by-election in November 1946 for the Combined Scottish Universities constituency but lost. Joad once boasted in print, "I cheat the railway company whenever I can." On 12 April 1948 Joad was caught travelling on a Waterloo to Exeter train without a valid ticket. When he failed to give a satisfactory explanation, he was convicted of fare dodging and fined £2 (£ as of ). This made front-page headlines in the national newspapers, destroyed his hopes of a peerage and resulted in his dismissal from the BBC. The humiliation of this had a severe effect on Joad's health, and he soon became confined to bed at