After completing National Service as a translator with the Royal Air Force in Iraq, he pursued a career in journalism and working for Life magazine.
In the early 1960s he moved to Rio de Janeiro where he worked for the next 10 years as a freelance journalist for a number of international business magazines, The Economist, Time, The Guardian and Associated Press.
[4] In 1973 he investigated a poltergeist outbreak in a private apartment in São Paulo, and joined the Society for Psychical Research the same year.
[4] In his first book, The Flying Cow, on the subject of Brazilian paranormal phenomena, including events connected with Francisco Candido 'Chico' Xavier and Zé Arigó was published in 1975.
[8][9][10] Playfair's belief that poltergeists are disembodied, mischievous spirits influenced the paranormal research of Colin Wilson.
[11] The sceptical investigator Joe Nickell has written "As a magician experienced in the dynamics of trickery, I have carefully examined Playfair's lengthy account of the disturbances at Enfield and have concluded that they are best explained as children's pranks.
"[23] In a review for The Geller Effect the parapsychologist Michael Goss wrote "Playfair provides little evidence to support the existence of paranormal powers.