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and little-known gift. In scientific terms, it’s the complete opposite of “prosopagnosia”, or facial blindness, a condition in which sufferers cannot remember a face.

Super recognisers can never forget one. “It’s a blessing but it can also be a curse,” Emma smiles. “I might go up to someone at the school gates, smiling because I recognise them from when they once served me in the supermarket five years ago, and they just look back at me blankly. It’s a bit embarrassing.”

Emma, who lives in Essex, used to work for the Metropolitan Police but it was after she left the force that she became a super recogniser, freelancing for an organisation called Super Recognisers International, which covertly deploys people like her at large public events such as concerts, football matches (Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace) and, for the first time, the 2019 Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

She discovered her ability when she started to notice extras who popped up in different films.

Her husband used to joke that she pointed out random actors rather than the main stars. Like other super recognisers, she’s also creative, working as a graphic designer. And she sees days of the week and people’s names in terms of colours (Friday is blue, David is red), suggesting an element of synaesthesia, a neurological trait that merges senses and can aid memory. “Super recognisers tend to peak in our 30s and 40s,” she says. “It’s not meant to develop when you’re young, but I can already see it in my seven-year-old daughter, who’s also started to recognise random faces on TV.”

Since I co-wrote a book with the former world memory champion, Dominic O’Brien, back in 1993, I’ve always been interested in feats of memory.

He is brilliant at memorising decks of cards and we had a lot of fun playing blackjack in casinos in France, where he used his skill to count cards and beat the bank.

In my new thriller, The Other You, my main character, Kate, 34, is a former super recogniser who is slowly recovering her powers of recognition after a near-fatal car crash. To add to the mystery, her wealthy “techpreneur” boyfriend is himself

IF YOU think you might be a super recogniser, you can take a simple test at

For more information about super recognisers, visit

a regulatory body set up to represent those who possess super recogniser skills or

specialists in CCTV investigation.