But in my half century plus of magic there are not one but three magicians who impressed me the most -Dai Vernon, Fred Kaps and John Ramsay, particularly the latter. I saw Dai Vernon when I was in my twenties and whilst I was nowhere in that league I was impressed with the sheer breadth of his knowledge and ability and particularly with the fact that he was not just a specialist in one faction of magic technique. He was as adept at doing a bottom deal as he was in using a hook coin, a faked card or a pull to achieve the miracles that he presented. All credit to Harry Stanley who first brought him over to this country.

Then Fred Kaps. His perfection in thinking and handling was superb and whatever he turned to was the result of outstanding natural ability and technique at which he practised much more than most. To present the floating cork on television with Michael Parkinson, so casual, so natural and then hand the cork to Parkinson was masterly and made you believe in magic. And if you see his tapes note his facial expressions both on and off stage. He showed real surprise and enjoyment in what he was doing and that emotion was conveyed to the audience who joined in. He was magic.

And lastly Johnny Ramsay. I was privileged to see this Scottish grocer and amateur magician in many private sessions in our hotel bedroom at conventions along with other Ramsay fans Jack Avis, Roy Walton and Bobby Bernard.An event that was photographed and published by the national press. But it was Johnny’s naturalness, timing and misdirection that would beat you, long before such strategies blossomed in the USA. Vernon praised Ramsay as the finest close-up magician he had seen and many overseas magicians travelled to his little town on the West coast of Scotland just to witness first-hand his unique and very personal magic. I could write reams about Johnny Ramsay (and probably will) for he was well ahead of his time with outstanding magic that was disguised with his Scottish mannerisms and quaint ways. There are a few (very few) films of him working around today but if you want to get a very good idea of his magic and his way of working get hold of a tape of his magic performed by Scottish magician Andy Galloway (available from International Magic U.K.) who was a protege of Johnny and who was taught his methods and presentations for over a period of seven years. You’ll be fooled (as you always were with Ramsay) and its the nearest thing you’ll see to the original. Or if you fancy diving into the very special world of Johnny Ramsay and his routines, Galloway has published many of his original  effects in several books available from Andy Galloway and dealers.

You’ll probably gather from the above wordage that I am a great fan of Ramsay but I also would count as great close-up workers Vernon and Kaps. There aren’t so many around like that today. They had a very special charisma. They were something special that made them stand out in the crowd. More about Ramsay later and a few routines perhaps that I published based on his style.

I was reminded of this when speaking recently with Roy Walton, he told me of one Saturday morning when we were all assembled in Davenports when someone told of a new, unknown (to us)  magician appearing at the London Palladium. A certain Jay Marshall.

Moments later Jay Marshall walked in and introduced himself to George Davenport. The conversation turned to us and we expressed our intention to visit and see him at this famous London theatre. We had never seen this visitor from the U.S. but a billing at the London Palladium certainly indicated an act worth seeing.

Someone in our group said to Jay “We sadly haven’t seen your act but what do you do?” He smiled ruefully and said  “Well I tie a knot in a handkerchief and it unties itself. Then I link a number of steel rings together and I finish by putting on a glove and talking to it!” On the face of it it didn’t sound too exciting but we thanked him and looked forward to the show.

Imagine our faces when we witnessed in number three spot on the bill, one of America’s finest, funniest entertainers with magic, closing with his unique and quite brilliant “Lefty” vent routine that became world-famous.

Similarly, in my business years away from magic I never got to see Al Flosso although I did manage to get hold of some tapes of his act at a later date. I spoke to Pat Page who knew him well and said “Did he ever get any of the top bookings in his hometown New York” Pat said “He played them all - the Waldorf Astoria, The Plaza, the St. Regis, he did all the best corporate dates and got top money”

I said “He must have been good – what did he do?”

Pat replied “He did the miser’s dream, cards across, 20th century silks, paper tear to hat etc. It wasn’t the tricks they booked him for – they booked Al Flosso!”

Surely these two examples of  top,  successful magicians prove the validity of the claim – It’s not what you do………..!

He has now lived there for the past forty something years, in a delightful Victorian House in Helensburgh just outside of Glasgow, bringing up his two daughters, Sarah and Julia who now work in that famous little magic shop on Queen Street. He has also been the fountainhead of inspiration of some of Scotland’s finest card magicians – Peter Duffie, Gordon Bruce, Jerry Sadowitz and many others.

 It was an excellent meeting that revealed our joint  realisation and gratitude at what we have both witnessed and been part of for the last half century. In terms of card work he reveres natural card handling, the philosophy of his idols Johnny Ramsay and Dai Vernon and he is dismissive of what he terms “card juggling”

He believes that a card should be simply selected, placed back in the pack, handed to the spectator to shuffle and then returned, the magician having the selection totally under is control throughout the whole procedure. Roy does exactly that and it is sheer poetry to see his work and style that has sixty years of study, research and practice behind it. The world acknowledges Roy Walton as one of the greats of close-quarter work and I am honoured to have been his friend.

It was a wonderful afternoon of reverie and nostalgia recalling the time we were all part of a group of six young magicians of which sadly three have passed on. Jean too, looking the image of her father George “Gilly” Davenport has many memories of magic having been brought up in one of the leading magic families of the land although her chosen career was in nursing.

Both now retired, both looking well although Roy now has impaired hearing but  still enjoying their business, their family and keeping connections with the magic world.

Roy is now sought as a world figure, author and skilled card  technician notably for his effect “Card Warp” which has put food on the table of magicians the world over. Not a vindictive man but he is saddened at the way that the effect is now sold shamelessly all over the world with little or no credit as to it origin. He shrugs his shoulders and says it’s the way the world is today. Roy told me that at one time a magician came into the shop with some tricks to sell. When he opened his case it was full of “Cascade” – a trick that was originated by Roy years ago! Another who feels the same is Angelo Carbone whose effect “Out of Order” is on sale at dealers all over the world with no acknowledgement or permission from the originator. Angelo at FISM in Stockholm complained to the organisers at the effect being offered for sale in the dealer’s hall. The organisers then asked him to prove he was the originator of the effect! A man who is very adept with computers he pulled up a mass of documentation  proving his claim which only resulted in the effect being removed from the stands despite the trading rules stating that anyone selling unofficial magic items would be ejected from the convention.

Despite all this Roy is still upbeat about magic, doesn’t worry too much about exposure, has a strong belief in the genesis of magic and the work of the early masters – Vernon, Marlo, Paul Le Paul, Leipzig, Malini and many others.

It was an afternoon I will long remember and I am very proud  to have enjoyed his friendship for over half a century.

I’m thinking here of far-flung magical thinkers like Stewart James, buried in the wilderness of Canada whose output and ideas were revolutionary. Others like Peter Duffie, a man who is largely incommunicado, hidden in the outskirts of Glasgow and his nearby neighbour Roy Walton who is rarely seen but whose original output over the years has led to world fame. Another was Jack Avis who published over six hundred effects and routines during a lifetime of reading and research pursued in an armchair in Sydenham and who presented magic to an audience on less than six occasions.

But there is another ghost, also hiding in a tree-lined street in SE26, not a cough away from Jack Avis. Lewis Jones. Whose close proximity led to regular weekly meetings that resulted in a huge output of magic ideas that were jointly published in a book “Ahead of the Pack.” You may have seen his name in books and magazines from time to time but are not familiar with his work. But many of the greats have applauded his ideas and creativity. Paul Daniels admits to having included several of Jones’s routines in his permanent performances. Michael Close has compared him with Stewart James. Ian Rowland says he has a remarkable mind with alarmingly baffling plots. Al Smith compares him to Paul Curry and Stewart James. Steve Beam states that Jones is in his top ten card men of the world and Penn & Teller said “Don’t buy his books – they give away too many secrets!”

Jones has spent a lifetime in pure magic creativity lubricated  by his academic background in languages and science. He has come up with some quite brilliant ideas and filled twelve books with some of the most profound thinking to be seen this side of Annemann, T.A. Waters and Larry Becker. A quiet, polite, retiring personality who looks something like a university professor and whose dogged pursuit of magical knowledge is prodigious. He has authored hundreds of ideas with cards, coins, small magic, mental magic, mathematical principles and others utilising his probing mind.

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne his first contact with magic was a performance by Dante at a local theatre, a casual interest that stayed with him throughout his childhood. Later he won a state scholarship to Cambridge University where he graduated in modern languages. With a vivid imagination and a natural aptitude for writing he created a number of radio drama scripts and short stories for the BBC at the same time feeding his interest in magic theory and detail throughout his academic years. Like Avis he is an avid reader and collector of information and he began to amass books and references on magic and other subjects relevant to his profession. A habit that continues today where the walls of his home are hidden by thousands of books, a collection that required him to move to a larger house some years ago. At one time he was regularly in touch with famed magic bookseller George Jenness who kept him fed with volumes of the latest magic.

On leaving university he wrote scripts and took a number of teaching posts and was then offered a position in Singapore working as a script writer and producer in national radio. The opportunity to work in a small, flexible, creative environment suited his temperament and he stayed for eleven years. Not only was he writing plays, scripts and producing programmes, but he became a broadcaster and commentator on various events including badminton which had become a passion and an active pastime.

It was here that he met Susheela Devi, the lead violinist in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra that led to their return to England where she took up a position with Sadlers Wells. Lewis became a freelance writer and scripted a number of science series for the BBC for many years. Today, in semi retirement he still makes contributions on scientific matters to American publications.  It was in England that he recognised a face in a TV magic show of a former pupil at his school. It was Martin Breese and the two met and celebrated their hitherto unknown interest in magic.

His analytical and encyclopaedic mind has devised many codes, cryptographic and mathematical methods that have led to the publication of several highly praised magic books and manuscripts. His long distance thought-reading effect “Transmission Impossible” was used by Paul Daniels as a climax to one of his TV magic spectaculars.

In constant touch with many of the scattered, like-minded, worldwide magi he continues today developing ideas, making notes and observing the world scene of serious magic. To this end he flies back to Singapore twice a year to keep contact with his friends in and out of magic. Here they made him an honorary member of the IBM. This octogenarian wizard shows no let up in his output having just completed and published his twelfth book “The Magic Gourmet” which has received enthusiastic reviews worldwide.

On the shelves of many of the world’s finest creators of magic you will find Jones’s lifetime output – Shampagne, Imp Romp 2, The Spring of 52, Cardiograms, Con Sessions, Lusions, Counter Feats, The Paragon Move, Person to Person – a book of teleohone telepathy, Ahead of the Pack (with Jack Avis), Seventh Heaven, Encyclopedia of Impromptu Card Forces and now The Magic Gourmet. He must be currently Britain’s most prodigious magic author.

Now then all together, what about a quick riffle of the cards around the world for Lewis Jones.

They were Bobby Bernard, Ted Danson, Roy Walton, Jack Avis, Alex Elmsley and myself.

The proprietor George Davenport was a kindly man who tolerated our using his premises as a clubroom, knowing that many of us had few pennies to spend which we did from time to time on the latest trick or book. But he was always most generous in advising us of items that were not suitable for our emerging skills. He encouraged us in our regular visits knowing that we would one day emerge from our chrysalis and become regular magicians and repay his kindness with future patronage.

His kindness went beyond the doors of that Oxford Street magic shop. At the IBM convention banquets he always used to send over a bottle of wine to Jack Avis and myself and at Christmas gave us magically meaningful presents like a large bath-towel covered in playing cards. George was one of magic’s real gentlemen and we’ll never forget him.

At lunchtime we would repair to a nearby Greek cafe sited ironically in Vernon Place. Here we would spend hours over a plate of spaghetti Bolognese and a cup of coffee interspersed with card moves, the latest from the U.S. and discussion on a recent performance of a name magician. In the mid-afternoon we were often joined by Al Koran, film director and magician Cy Endfield and a largely unknown but excellent card worker Hugh Scott. His visits were infrequent being fitted in between his duties as a royal bodyguard Scotland Yard detective.

Later onto Soho where we would often have a brief visit to Harry Stanley’s studio followed by tea and strawberry shortcake in an Austrian cafe welcomed by the amply bodied Haus Frau Madame Maurier. Then the evening was usually filled by an underground trip to one of the circuit of variety theatres around central London to see a magician appearing on the bill. I remember them all. Benson Du Lay, Douglas Francis, Francis Watts, Shek Ben Ali, Kardomah, Lionel King, Howard de Courcy, Robert Harbin, Donald B. Stuart, Pat Hatton & Peggy, Deveen and his New York Blondes, Cingalee, Reg Salmon, the list is endless. None of them top of the bill but always good, entertaining acts that worked week after week all over Britain. These were halcyon days indeed.

Is it any wonder that my magic is so influenced by my years of seeing stage magicians who only got regular bookings because they were entertaining? Sorry for the drift into nostalgia but I am delighted to know that there are still many magicians today who also have a regular get together with colleagues where I believe some of the best magic is originated. The tradition continues.

It would have been invaluable to see Nate Leipzig actually performing  and Max Malini whereas we have the descriptions that were written by some of their contemporaries, but the nuances of performance, subtleties and misdirection really had to be seen.

 I knew Johnny Ramsay quite well and other than a few clips of amateur 8mm film showing him throwing a thimble into the air and making vanish and his legendary four coins hung in the air, I don’t think there is any other evidence. His protege Andy Galloway who studied with Ramsay for seven years has some of these clips and Andy’s own performance of Ramsay’s routine closely echo the masters style and luckily have been recorded for future generations courtesy of Martin MacMillan

We have had a few scattered clips turning up around the world. I’ve seen Roy Benson’s TV act with the Chinese Sticks and the Salt Pour also his stunning Billiard Ball routine (taught to him by Leipzig!) but it’s his unique personality and style that is so valuable in studying magic presentation. And his voice and style of humour isn’t a bit like I imagined before seeing the film.It’s better.

I never saw Al Flosso but someone sold me a clip of his famous act and his wonderful Miser’s Dream and then you realise why he was so unique and good. Don Alan, another idol of mine appeared on TV and fortunately there are some recordings available notably the Magic Ranch TV series where he had many  guests of the 50’s and 60’s. Clarke Crandall, Richard Himber, Johnny Platt and many other names of that period.

If you pull up You Tube on the Internet and insert Cardini you can see a clip of his act – cigarettes, cards, billiard balls and realise why he was so good and everyone raved about him. And to back up your interest in this icon of the last century somehow get a copy of John Fisher’s fabulous book “Cardini – the Suave Deceiver”. It’s worth every penny of the near £100.00  it’ll  cost you to secure a copy in the U.K.

With the mainstream of magic performance today being close-up, I think that the study of the performance style of some of the greats of the last century is valuable and could lift some close-up performers to much higher levels of entertainment. Pat Page once said to me that some of our best close-up workers are magicians who have worked on stage. He said it shows in presentation.

For a long time I begged Jack Avis, one of Britain’s top card and close-up magicians,  who was not a performer, to let me privately  film some of his unique work on a camcorder but self-effacing man that he was he never said no but never got round to it before he died four years ago. This saddens me.

Fortunately Alex Elmsley was not so shy and his unique work has been recorded by L&L Publishing in the U.S. by The Magic Circle during their centenary celebrations and by Colin Rose of Five of Hearts Productions who has two discs of Alex in session in their studio. Effects and casual talk and demonstrations to a private group of magicians at Colin Rose’s studio. It’s priceless and preserves the legacy of one of the last century’s greatest magician’s.

And lastly the third member of the great triumvirate – Jack Avis and Alex Elmsley is famed card magician hiding in Scotland - Roy Walton. I’ve known Roy since we were teenagers and again I’ve implored him to put some of his work on film or tape perhaps in the company of his close magic friends Gordon Bruce and Peter Duffie. Again a slightly self-effacing individual and whilst I have pestered him many times fearing that we would lose a permanent record of his magic, he told me recently that it is being done within the Davenport family and will be available through that source at some time in the future.

I am delighted and relieved at this news as I am passionate about preserving the performances of some of the greatest magicians of our time.

( Steps down from the soap box).

Despite the fact that we were from different sectors of magic ( I was into performance stage and close-up and he was a non -performer but a brilliant thinker and worker) we had many deep discussions and he was a most kindly and astute friend who helped me immeasurably in ideas for my stage work and close-up shows. But his skill and knowledge was way ahead of mine and he deserved the world reputation that he held with his close friends Roy Walton and Alex Elmsley. 

When he died I sadly had the job of disposing of his huge library of books that took a year to catalogue and sell world wide. He left me many little things – tricks, gizmos, books and odds that he had collected and later I found twenty eight notebooks in which he had recorded for years his original ideas and things he had seen in sessions with many of the greats. (He kept up a correspondence with Ed. Marlo for thirty years but sadly never got to meet him).

 Some of those  were published in a book Rara Avis (Latin for rare bird – apt eh?) but later I found even more private notes on his ideas which I have been going through. I am not a prolific or skilled card man as he was but there is some good thinking  to be found in these pages. Perhaps we will publish them sometime.

 As a taster he is one item that I thought really simple and powerful in performance.

“Make up a deck of of half normal index cards and half a deck of giant index card but both of the same size and back. Any card chosen from one half and replaced in the other is instantly located”.

He goes on.”Place a giant index card in a normal deck – back matching. Force a regular duplicate card and hand the deck to another spectator. Ask this second spectator to glance at the face of the cards and think of just one card. Of course he sees the giant index and will play along. Take back the pack and cut the giant index card to the bottom and if you’re sitting down lap it or palm off”.

“Give the pack back to the first spectator and ask him to remove his selected card and place it on the table. The second spectator names the card he thought of and the tabled card is turned over”

This is very much Jack’s style, simple and positive. Or as Alex used to say “Low Cunning!”

“What’s your name?”

“Isaiah sir”

“Why do they call you Isaiah?”

“Cos one eyes ‘igher than the other!” 

Later we were both members of the group that used to meet every Saturday in London with Jack Avis, Roy Walton, Alex Elmsley and others and Bobby was always at every magic event in the magic calendar. He is part of the scenery of the last half century and nobody has had more contact with the greats all over the world or has more detailed knowledge of magic, its methods and its practitioners than most other people of that era.

He is truly a walking magic encyclopedia.

Which is why it is somewhat sad but timely I suppose that I read that he is putting his lifetime’s collection of magic, apparatus, ephemera and souvenirs of his close relationship with magic and magicians, carefully gathered for  the last sixty years up for auction.

I’ve been to his flat and it is truly an Aladdin’s cave. It is packed from floor to ceiling with wonderful items. Tricks that you cannot buy any more. Gifts from many of the greats he has met. Exquisite paintings of himself and other magicians, signed photographs, one off items made by the legendary magic craftsman Martin and much more.

It’s sad that such a loving collection is being released to the magic world but Bobby as well as many of us is getting older, not always in the best of health but still turning up every week at The Magic Circle and conventions and unable to care for the wonderful souvenirs of a lifetime in magic.

I’m glad that a professional auctioneer is to handle the sale of his collection, the same company that did so well in disposing recently of part of John Fisher’s vast collection. The date was fixed for 3rd April but I understand that it is now to be staged in May the date to be announced.

 If you’d like to possess a unique part of the history of magic from the last half century then you’d do well to grab the catalogue when it is published and get yourself along to the auction when the date is announced. Watch this space.

It’s sad that Bobby is giving up his lifetime’s acqisitions but generous that he is passing real magic  gems onto the next generation so they may enjoy their real worth.

I’ll tell you more about Bobby in a later item.

Elmwood Magic from the USA had some good items particularly a wallet in which the spectatot could write a name or number, place it in the wallet and hold it on their open hand or place it on the table. Some cute optics involved as the magician could read the number through the wallet but nothing was visible from any other direction, No itys not like the Cornelius wallet which was illuminated from inside. It was good.

 Pat Page back from surgery in hospital doing well with his diary effect, just about the best version since Ted Danson came up with the concept years ago. You choose a card and name your birthday, turn to the date and there is your card printed in colour on your birthdate. It’s very good.

Martin Sanderson had a cute version of the Flying Ring which vanishes and appears tied on the collar around a soft toy puppy dog. It’s called “My litle sausage” but be careful where you use that patter in some audiences.

Geoffrey Durham did great business with his new book(told you so!), bought the new Mel Mellors video from Rus Stevens (not your cup of tea if your not into aceric humour) but I struck gold when I found a copy of the new Caedini book by John Fisher, unavailable normally in Britain as the publishers are not making it available wholesale for dealers but of course a few copies are being smuggled across.

First night in bed I read the first 50 pages. If you’re into magic history it’s great – wonderful in fact and packed with lots of photos, hitherto unknown fcts and detailed to the nth degree. John Fisher has done a great service in penning this outstanding book. It’s not cheap – I pai £95.00 for a copy off a dealer in the exhibition but if you’re really into magic in a serious way it’s a great buy.

Biggest thrill of all was in meeting a lifelong friend who never comes to conventions – Roy Walton. He of the card warp and one of the most respected and featured card workers in the world today. We were teenagers together and close friends until he married one of George Davenports daughters and moved to Glasgow to manage Tam Shepherd’s Magic Shop. He became the Mecca for all card workers in Scotland and his influence has been prodigious and is associated with some of the great card and close-up workers from Scotland today. Peter Duffie, Gordon Bruce, Jerry Sadowitz and many other who owe their early interest and influence in magic to Roy. Now over seventy, hard of hearing but still bristling with ideas and enthusiasm for pasteboard wizardry. Sometime I’ll tell you more about the early days of the great triumvirate of close quarter magic – Jack Avis, Alex Elmsley and Roy Walton when we were all a part of a lille group who wrote a book called “Come a Little Closer” (hence the title to this blog. Phew! More later.