This morning I received a letter from the president of The Magic Circle telling me that I’ve been promoted! I’m now a member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star.
Membership of The Inner Magic Circle is the Society’s highest Degree and is limited to a maximum of 300 Members at any time. Current holders include David Copperfield, Paul Daniels, Lance Burton, Andy Nyman, Hans Klok and James Randi.
I’m delighted to be honoured in this way, and makes a great start to 2013!
The GB canoe team exceeded all expectations during the 2012 Olympic Games. They won 4 medals making it their most successful Olympics to date. To celebrate the achievements of everyone involved in the team, they had a black tie event aboard The Silver Barracuda. It was my pleasure to entertain them with a mixture of close-up magic and mindreading, and to be part of such an incredible and inspirational event.
The Sealife London Aquarium and Sternberg Clarke recently created a promotional video featuring me performing some fishy magic. Have a look at the video below.
This was due to be one of the most exciting and impressive events of the year, but it was ruined by the weather! I was aboard a boat, performing magic during lunch for a small private party. What could have been a lovely, historical day on a boat on the Thames felt more like a scene from The Perfect Storm. (But with more boats, more rain and more royals with bladder infections). As The Queen passed us, guests on the boat waved flags and I managed to get the above picture of her- she’s the white dot in the middle.
It was wet and cold in Bromley, but that did not deter the thousands of people who lined the streets, shivering, hoping to get a glimpse of The Queen. I was booked to keep VIP guests entertained with close-up magic while they waited for her to arrive to pull a cloth off of a plaque. She did it very well. Bromley has not seen such excitement since Marks and Spencer opened in 1932.
Poppy is a girl you may have seen in the press recently. She was born in 2009 with a severely shortened right arm and no right hand. As she grows, she’ll need several flexible silicone false arms. Unfortunately, the NHS won’t give Poppy a silicone arm until she is 18, as it’s not ‘cost-effective’. Poppy’s family are raising £30,000 to give her the silicone arms she needs as she grows
To help reach that target, on Thursday, I performed as part of an amazing show at The Magic Circle Headquarters.
The sell-out event was a huge success and we managed to raise over £10,000 for Team Poppy and Reach, the charity for children with upper limb disorders.
The evening featured the star of Magician Impossible, Dynamo. (His suit was at the dry cleaners.)
St Audries Park is an amazing venue for a wedding. It’s set within 100 acres of deer park and overlooks spectacular rolling hills. I was performing wedding magic during the drinks reception and the wedding breakfast.
Making sure this special day was captured were wedding photographers, Lens Monkey. They kindly sent though some images of me performing (including the one above), that have been added to the gallery
It’s always nice to have a job close to home and this was one of the most local jobs I’ve ever done! I was booked to perform at the launch of the UK’s first super casino just 5 minutes from home at Westfield Stratford City. The luxurious Aspers Casino features 70 gaming tables, 150 slot machines and a 150 seat poker room.
Unfortunately, they didn’t let me near the poker tables, but the new casino drew massive crowds and had lots of people celebrating big wins, and (slightly more) people nursing big losses.
Back in 1995 I reached the final of The Magic Circle’s Young Magician of the Year competition, only to be beaten by Dominic Wood.
I’m over it now, and to prove it, I took part in a show to commemorate 50 years of the competition. It featured past competitors, many of whom have gone on to great things, and me. It was a lovely show to be a part of, and it was great catching up with people I haven’t seen for over 15 years. I also met Sooty.
I recently performed close-up magic and mindreading at a wedding at the wonderful Pennyhill Park hotel. The photographer at this event was Sarah Ronan, who did a great job. She very kindly sent me some images of me performing, and they have been added to the Gallery. If you’re looking for a great photographer, have a look at her website. www.sharonronan.co.uk
Prince William and Kate Middleton were guests of honour at the ARK 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner last night – their first public engagement as a married couple.
I was there performing close-up magic for VIPs at the £10,000 per head event. Guests included Elizabeth Hurley, Colin Firth, Sir Clive Sinclair, Jemima Khan and Prince Pavlos of Greece
After dinner, guests were entertained by DJ Mark Ronson and then treated to an amazing performance by rock band Kings of Leon.
The event raised an astounding £17.2m for disadvantaged kids.
On and off for the last few months, I’ve been working on a trick that visitors to this site can take part in. Finally it’s done. You can see the result of hours spent in front of the computer by having a look at my interactive magic trick.
I flew back from Austria yesterday to perform close up magic in Essex. It was a lively birthday party that was great fun – I had finished before it got too messy! I met a fantastic photographer, Peter Spicer, who took loads of great pictures including these shown here. If you are looking for a photographer in Essex, visit his site at www.cinnamonphotography.co.uk.
Back to Vienna tonight for another week of TV magic advising at Trick Fabrik!
During 2009, I spent several enjoyable weeks in Austria advising on a TV magic series called ‘TrickFabrik’. The Saturday morning show presented by Thomas Brezina, required magic tricks and illusions for 13 episodes – so nearly 100 close up magic effects and stage illusions with a modern twist were created.
The first series was broadcast last Summer and was hugely popular, achieving top ratings and winning industry awards. We are now filming the second series, and it’s looking even more amazing than the first! We’re creating some big things including making a major Austrian landmark disappear! The show starts on ORF1, the national Austrian Channel, in April.
This week I was booked to perform close up magic at London nightclub Chinawhite. The party, for luxury brand Porsche Design, was an amazing event at a great venue. Chinawhite reopened in it’s new location near Oxford Circus about 6 weeks ago. Not being a premiership footballer or Royal offspring, I wasn’t invited to the opening night so this was the first time I’ve been to the new club. The close-up magic went down well, and here are a couple of pictures from the party, by photographer Chris O’Donovan.
Last Saturday I worked with top magician Peter Wardell and top caricaturist David Lewis at the Specsavers annual Ball in Guernsey. I think this is about the 5th time we’ve been to perform close up magic at this high profile event. The event takes place in the Beau Sejour Leisure centre, which is the only place on the island big enough to seat everybody! Cabaret was provided by Britain’s Got Talent Finalists ‘Faces of Disco’, and the very funny Sean Lock.
Last night, over £150,000 was raised for cancer charity CLIC Sargent at their flagship annual ball. I was one of the close up magicians for the exclusive event which was hosted by Capital FM presenter Johnny Vaughn. Lord Archer was the guest auctioneer offering ‘money can’t buy’ items which included a week long stay in Charles Brockett’s Holiday Home.
Other guests included Capital FM presenter Lisa Snowdon, F1 pundit Eddie Jordan, Holby City actor Duncan Pow (pictured above) and actress Joanna Taylor.
CLIC Sargent provide vital services that support children and young people with cancer and their families. For more information on CLIC Sargent and their valuable work, go to www.clicsargent.org.uk
Yesterday was the Vegetarian Society Annual Awards. This year it was at The Magic Circle Headquarters in London and I was on hand to entertain the guests with some close-up magic at the party after the awards ceremony. Here are some pictures taken on the night by the excellent photographer Paul Darnley.
www.pauldarnleyphotography.net
The Vegetarian Society Awards began in 2001 in order to highlight those companies and services which strive to improve provision for the UK’s 1.8 million vegetarians. For more information about The Vegetarian Society, visit www.vegsoc.org
For the last six days I have been working alongside a giant Fiat 500 in London’s Oxford Street. The atmosphere was great as over 55,000 people flocked to see and take pictures of the 5-times-life-size Fiat.
I was booked as a close-up magician in London’s busiest street for visitors to ‘The Big Smile’ who also saw stilt walkers, jugglers and had the opportunity to have their portrait drawn by top caricaturist David Lewis. There’s a video here on the Fiat website – and if you watch closely (and don’t blink) you’ll see me.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of performing close up magic at the wrap party of the new Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. The event, attended by over 500 guests, was at The Worx in Parsons Green, London, which had been magically transformed into Sherwood Forest for the occasion.
The film is directed by Ridley Scott and out in May 2010
