NOTHING ON THIS BLOG SINCE DECEMBER. No I haven’t retired, demised or emigrated. Firstly I had a lot of work, magic, publicity and design over Christmas and I was churning out a blog almost on a daily basis prior to that. I did not get many responses, messages etc from magicians so I eased up a [...]
Posted on March 21st, 2009 by John
Filed under: Magic News | 1 Comment »
FOLLOWING MY ENTHUSIASTIC BLOG YESTERDAY about the outstanding lecture I saw on Tuesday by Pat Page, I had a sudden thought. Some time ago Matt Field, Editor of The Magic Circle magazine and one of magic’s most experienced and prolific writers, told me that he was in the process of writing a new book with Pat Page. [...]
Posted on September 18th, 2008 by John
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THE ANNUAL MAGIC CIRCLE DEALERS’ DAY, popular with magicians at the beginning of their busy social season, takes place this year on Saturday 1st November. It is staged again at the The Royal National Hotel, Bedford Way, Bloomsbury WC1. in the Edward and Alexander rooms from 10.00am until 5.00pm. Early indications suggest that over 50 dealers [...]
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 by John
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LAST NIGHT, RICHARD MCDOUGALL GAVE A MASTERLY AND COURAGEOUS LECTURE at The Magic Circle. He commanded immediate silence by declaring to the assembled one hundred plus practitioners of the ancient art that magic in Britain today is in his view “lamentable!” He asked the audience to consider when did they last witness a magic performance that truly made the [...]
Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by John
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JUST HEARD THE SAD NEWS OF THE PASSING OF CHRIS PRATT yesterday. An excellent magician and performer, an outstanding servant of The Magic Circle, their most efficient secretary for many years and a real gentelman. My wife said he would always come up to her at social events, give her a kiss on both cheeks and engage in [...]
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by John
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ONE EVENING AT THE MAGIC CIRCLE Alex Elmsley was asked to show something to a group of card magi. A man with an open mind to any method required to achieve a magic effect, be it a set-up deck, a sleight or a gimmick, he pulled the following stunt which later he told me he’d drummed up [...]
Posted on July 13th, 2008 by John
Filed under: Magic Ideas, Magic Miscellanea | 1 Comment »
NO BLOGS OR NEWS FOR THE PAST WEEK as we have been away on holiday in Portugal. Great villa with pool and air conditioning but 100 degrees all week. Not enough energy to shuffle a deck and too much food and drink. However, back to the world. I have a show next Tuesday at The Magic [...]
Posted on July 5th, 2008 by John
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I WAS RECENTLY INVITED to give my 0ne hour lecture/show “Behind the Doors of the Magic Circle”to patients at The Putney Hospital for the Neuro-Disabled in London. At the time I didn’t remember that this used to be called The Putney Home for Incurables which is where the first president of The Magic Circle David Devant spent his last [...]
Posted on June 8th, 2008 by John
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IN COMMON WITH MANY MAGICIANS I have the highest regard for the magic and thinking of Patrick Page, one of the most inventive and practical performers in the business. And a hell of a nice guy to boot. So I was delighted to hear that there is a new Pat Page book in preparation being [...]
Posted on May 29th, 2008 by John
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BOBBY BERNARD AND I have been friends for over sixty years. As teenagers we were in concert party together – he did vent dressed as a schoolmaster with a naughty boy pupil and I did magic. I remember it well. “What’s your name?” “Isaiah sir” “Why do they call you Isaiah?” “Cos one eyes ‘igher than the other!” [...]
Posted on March 14th, 2008 by John
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