"I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking - but I strongly object when they start shaking them to make certain they are still going."
Lord Birkett, MP and lawyer (Attrib.)


(If you're not a magic society, this page won't interest you.  If you were looking for "Children's Magic", it's coming up next.  Nip along there, and I'll catch you shortly.)

A regular contributor to Abra and The Magician, I've also written for The Budget,  The Linking Ring and Mystery magazine.   In between, I've lectured for the Northern Magic Circle, the Bradford Magic Circle, the Leeds Magical Association, the York Society of Magicians, the Nottingham Guild of Magicians, the Merlin Magical Society, Bolton Magicians and the Pentacle Club in Cambridge.   In January 2006 I delivered a lecture to 150 magicians at the Chandannagar Jadu Chakra Magic Convention just outside Kolkata, India.  (Where, the same evening, I performed before a public audience of some 1200 people.)  

In 2008 I was one of the contributors to Peter Duffie's bestselling e-book, Mind Blasters, alongside the likes of John Archer, Marc Paul and Wayne Dobson.    In 2009  I contributed to the equally successful sequel, Mind Blasters 2.

I currently offer two lectures.   The first - 'Mind, Mirth and Magic - as well as including mentalism and easy-to-do-card magic,  examines the nature of comedy.  Drawing on my background in TV and radio gag-writing,  it offers tips on how to script your own humour.   The second,  'Think Of A Trick, Any Trick' , examines the thought processes behind magic.  As well as discussing general ideas, I will,  using my own material as a starting-point,  show you how I invent tricks and how you can use the same methods to create or adapt material of your own. 

As an alternative to the above, I am currently putting together my 'Exclusively Mental'  lecture, for which I'm happy to take bookings from January 2011, and which will focus on mentalism.  It will, among other things,  include my 'Word Deck', enabling a performer to divine a thought-of word, and my own take on memorised stacks - 'The Mnemosyne Deck'.

If your society would like to book me, or just make an inquiry,  drop me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  

 

'A real commercial effect ... a winner for formal close-up work.'   Arun Bonerjee  ('Two of a Mind' - my version of Ted Danson's famous Diary Trick)

 

 'He delivered a clear and humorous message ...  Get this man booked - you will not be disappointed.'  Rex Stott (York Society of Magicians)

 

   Runner-up in The Magician magazine's annual prize competition for my original mentalist effect, 'Sold!' (2006)

 

Winner of The Magician magazine's annual prize competition for my tongue-in-cheek mentalist effect, 'Fortitude for Boys!' (2007)