South Tyneside convention 2010

Surprisingly, fewer people came to the South Tyneside convention this year, although the line-up was, in my opinion, excellent.

Some of the highlights for me were:

Lennart Green, the Swedish world-champion close-up/card magician. This man is amazing. He is famous for his careless and chaotic handling of cards, which is amusingly convincing yet covers a frighteningly sharp awareness of exactly what is going on at all times. I was lucky enough to be involved twice: once in his lecture and the second time for the close-up. The trick I helped with in the lecture turned out to be self-working (!), although the presentation was so engaging that I doubt anyone would have guessed this. Lennart’s close-up act was fabulous and, as well as the cards, I enjoyed his version of the three-shell game, done with scarab beetles.

Lennart Green

Brad Manuel, the Australian comedy magician. Far too many people seem to think that ‘comedy’ is an easy way into magic and that standing around telling dirty, corny jokes - and/or insulting the audience - passes for entertainment. Brad, however, understands both comedy and magic and does loads of clever tricks as well as being (genuinely) funny. His trademark running gag is producing a shot-glass of drink from his shoe, over and over again.

Richard McDougall, the wonderful close-up magician I saw at Simon Drake’s House of Magic last Hallowe’en (see my review on this blog). Sadly, he wasn’t doing close-up at this convention but he has a great stage act too, which we did get to see. Richard also gave a lecture, though by no means of the usual sort. It was an analysis of the state of the magical art. I found this riveting and will be writing more about it in subsequent posts.

Simon Drake, who attended only virtually. Martin Duffy, one of the convention organisers, interviewed this legend via Skype, which worked surprisingly well. I’m a huge fan of Simon’s and it was cool to hear his news and find out more of his views on magic how to create it.

The gala shows were of a very high standard. The first was compèred by Brad Manuel and the second by John Archer. Our friend Matthew J Dowden did an impressive manipulation act and Shahid Malik, whom I’d never seen before but certainly want to see again, showed us some fantastic illusions. Jeton, the gentleman juggler from Germany, presented an extraordinary series of feats, including balancing an enormous mirror on his forehead, making it turn a revolution in mid-air and then catching it back on his forehead.

This is a well thought-out and well organised convention, different and stimulating. I always enjoy it and I’m looking forward to the next one already.

Blackpool convention 2010

I greatly enjoyed Blackpool, as always. It was a different shape for me this year because I didn’t go to many lectures and spent far more time than usual socialising. I met lots of interesting people I had never actually spoken to before, although I’ve known who they were and admired their magic. Among these were Gary Jones from Exeter and John Bannon from Chicago, both of whom I liked enormously.

For me, the Friday evening was dominated by the British Magical Close-Up Championships. Here’s what happened:

First prize was won by Min Hyung Kim from Korea, who didn’t seem to me to be the best but was certainly very good and I liked the way his bottle cap kept reappearing on the bottle.

Second prize was won by Johan Stahl from Sweden, who was fantastic. He set the scene for coffee and cake, and made cups, pens and coffee pots appear, disappear and float in the air with graceful skill and aplomb.

Third prize went to our friend John van der Put. His act was the usual cleverly organised chaos, witty and different.

The other contestants all also put in performances of a very high standard. They were:

Iain Moran, who showed us traditional, skilful close-up magic with cards, coins and ballbearings
Will Gray, who did a great trick with a sealed pack of cards as well as his famous goldfish production
Craig Petty, who did clever close-up to snippets of appropriate songs
Russell Leeds, who revived my soundly dormant interest in elastic bands
Rob James, who gave us high-tech magic and a comedy insight into his thinking, via a voiceover
Stephen Ablett, who remained admirably unfazed after he was interrupted and had to start his act again because the camera battery went dead.

Well done to everyone who took part. It was great fun to watch.


The Saturday evening show was excellent – and more so for being compèred by the marvellous Tony Stevens. The first half was the Intercontinental Stage Magic Championships, five very good acts from Korea, Austria and the UK. I particularly appreciated Dave Allen and Carl Charlesworth’s spoof on an American private-eye sketch. Dave played a ‘magic dick’ and Carl dressed up as the mysterious woman who always appears in such stories.

The second half was Cirque du Magie, an eclectic mixture of acts, mostly from America. I especially enjoyed David Kaplan’s juggling and comedy magic and David & Dania’s incredible quick-change act. I’ve seen David & Dania perform many times now but they’re so good I’m always happy to watch them again.


Those were the main events, for me. It all went very quickly and I’m now looking forward to the South Tyneside convention in the middle of March.

Thoughts after South Tyneside

The magic convention that's been held in South Shields, near Newcastle, for the past few years is going from strength to strength. There was an excellent line-up again this year and some of the highlights for me were:

Paul Daniels, who, as we all know, is an outstanding magician and entertainer and is also a very nice, straightforward man. Paul performed some wonderful magic at the gala show. It was the first time I'd seen him live and he was great. I was also lucky enough to be standing in the dealers' room at the right time and had a little chat with Paul about Manchester and the theatres he's played there. I'd thought he might be a bit scary to talk to but not at all.

Banachek, the amazing mentalist. During the gala show, he picked a few audience members at random and divined facts about them that he couldn't possibly have guessed. Unless he set this up in advance, which I know he didn't, I can't begin to imagine how he achieved this. I'm not normally very excited by mentalism but this was truly astonishing.

Paul Romhany, whom I didn't know before but whom I liked very much, particularly his lecture. He is from New Zealand, lives in Canada and travels almost constantly, so he knows a lot about packing small and playing big, as well as how to cope with airlines losing one's props. He gave us some nifty ideas for how to create the same effects with everyday objects rather than expensively gaffed equipment. Apart from the nightmare of losing one's luggage, this is handy for those of us who can't afford to buy pricey props in the first place.

Bob Sheets, who is famous for his three-shell game (find the pea under one of the walnut shells) but also does a lot of other cool tricks. I particularly enjoyed his lecture and was inspired to make my only purchase of the convention, a version of the three-card monte, done with jumbo cards.


John Archer was at his best compering the Friday evening show and his friend Tim Vine compered on Saturday. Tim Vine is not a magician but he is a great comedian. I went to his show at The Lowry Theatre in Salford a few years ago and John Archer was his warm-up. My friend and I had a drink with them afterwards, which was lovely. My sister really wanted to come to the show but she was in the middle of exams in Oxford so she couldn't. I told this to Tim and he wrote her a long and friendly note wishing her good luck. What a nice bloke!

Tim Vine (my own pic, not very good - sorry, Tim!)

Apart from the magic convention, I always enjoy visiting South Shields. It's a smallish town on the north-east coast, with a few good restaurants (we had an excellent dinner at Pacino's) and a relaxed atmosphere. I love the sea and it's also handy being 20 minutes on the metro from Newcastle. If I didn't live in Manchester, that area would definitely be my second choice.

South Shields park and harbour

Thoughts after Blackpool

Another fantastic convention at Blackpool this year. It's always interesting to see the different ways different magicians think and to be exposed to a wide variety of attitudes and approaches to magic. For example:

Rudy Coby has made himself into a cartoon character. His magic is wacky and off-the-wall and amazing. As part of his lecture, he showed us some clips of TV shows he's starred in and he's done all sorts of wonderful things (many of which you can see on YouTube). The real Rudy seems to be a straightforward, generous guy and I liked him a lot. How many other magicians will give you stuff for free if you can't afford to buy it?

Rick Merrill's character is a contrast to Rudy's. He wears a business suit and presents himself as a preppy type who spends his life making Sharpies and coins appear, disappear and behave randomly. He sends himself up too but in a quite different way from Rudy. Rudy, the mad scientist, is cool, in an over-the-top style. Rick is more of an accountant than a superhero and his magic is with everyday objects - and yet he's cool because he's funny and he's SO good at what he does. I love his act and could watch it all day.

Arthur Trace is a more serious character and a deep thinker. His lecture was well honed and I loved the way he gave it a premise (that magic should generally have a premise and then illustrate it) and then illustrated it. Of course, it's not a new idea that tricks should have a story and a point, rather than just being a demonstration of the magician's skill, but Arthur takes this to a new level.

Jeff McBride is a fabulous magician, who has taken magic into his soul. In his lecture, he quoted Shakespeare - All the world's a stage - and said this is why he's always the magician; he's never off stage. His huge energy and enthusiasm for magic and for life are inspiring. Jeff is a larger-than-life character who tells the world he's a superstar and the world believes him. This, in my opinion, is the way to behave.