Answer to ‘Who Is It?’ [number two] And More.

The answer to the ‘Who Is It?’ competition was Pete Firman. It was a nice easy one this time where almost everyone gave the right answer. A name was chosen at random from said people and a large bar of chocolate is now is now on its way to Alan.

In fairness to Mr. Firman, having subjected him to an optical illusion, it’s only fair to provide a link to his website and point out that he’s on tour at the moment and may be appearing at a theatre near you.

Also, to be fair to the victim of the ‘Who Is It?’ competition number one, here is a link to Max Somerset’s website.

There are two items of note that I’d like to recommend today. The first is an article by Romany, Diva of Magic. She wrote an interesting piece for the Secret Art Journal about how to build a small theatre in your own home.

The other item was twittered by R. Paul Wilson earlier this week. Madhi Gilbert is a young man of great will and determination. He has learned sleight of hand with playing cards, performing false shuffles and more. Why is this a big deal? Well, Madhi Gilbert has no hands. So I’m not entirely sure what you call sleight of hand when the magician doesn’t have any hands. Here is a link to his YouTube Channel where you can see him demonstrating his skill. I can only feel admiration for this young man, especially when people with two good hands give up on learning sleight of hand so easily because they regard it as too difficult.

One final bit of news is that the Bizarre Bath Comedy Walk begins its 2010 season next week on the 30th of March and its well worth attending. The Walk begins outside the Huntsman Inn on North Parade, every evening at 8pm.

Who Is It? [number 2]

Here is another 'Who is it?' question. I made it this morning; it's based on the Dragon illusion which can be found on YouTube but I've changed it and added to it to make it resemble a famous British magician. Just to be clear, based on the number of Harry Potter related answers I received in the last 'Who is it?', this has nothing to do with Harry Potter or any other fictional magic character. This is a real person.

Bristol Day of Magic and 'Who Is It?' Answer

This year the 50th Bristol Day of Magic is being held on Sunday the 9th of May at the Winter Gardens and Playhouse Theatre in Weston Super Mare. The performers include Geoffrey Durham, Michael Vincent, Rafael, Pilou, David Stone, Ian Keeble, Etienne Pradier, Ray Davenport, John Kimmons, Graham Jolley and Tony Stevens. During the day, at the Winter Gardens there will a one man show, lectures and close-up shows - as well as a Dealers Exhibition which includes some of the leading magical suppliers in the UK. In the evening the Gala Show takes place at the Playhouse Theatre. For more details and a downloadable application form, please visit the website of The Bristol Society of Magic.  I attended the Bristol Day of Magic last year and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in magic.

On Tuesday I posted a photo of Kong impersonating a famous British magician and asked who is it? The answer was Max Somerset (Kudos to Max Somerset, Sophie Evans, Paul Cooke and everyone else involved in The Sorcerer's Apprentice) and a large bar of chocolate is now on its way to the person who was the first to provide the correct name. For some reason, a lot of people said it was Dumbledore. What are you people like? Eh? If Kong and I get bored next week, we might post another photo of him doing another impersonation.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Who Is It?

Here is a photograph of Kong. We were both feeling a bit bored with all the paperwork we've been doing and so we did this photograph.

Kong is impersonating a famous British magician. Who is it?

PETERBOROUGH MAGIC DAY

The Peterborough Society of Magicians are holding their 21st Annual Sale, Exchange and Lecture Day on Sunday the 28th of March 2010.  Doors open at 10.00am and close at 5.00pm and it is to be held at the Millfield Community Centre, Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2PE. There will be lectures by Martin Cox and Christian Lee and a workshop by Al Smith, the editor The LaBaL. For more details, including on how to register, please visit the website of the Peterborough Society.

Sand Art

Way back when, at a time when the BBC still had the good taste to include magic shows as part of their output, Paul Daniels would include unusual acts as part of his show; one of those acts was sand art.

Fortunately these days, the internet provides access to examples of sand art.  Ilana Yahav is a world renowned sand artist appearing on television from Europe to the Far East. Of course due to British television companies' perverse stand, in complete contradiction to the rest of the world, to avoid broadcasting any act that might come under the label of variety we're unlikely to see her on British television. (Years ago, the then person in charge of the BBC who said that 'variety is dead' further demonstrated the 'accuracy' of his knowledge of public opinion by also saying that Doctor Who was unpopular and cancelled the show, apparently with the view that it would never be aired on our screens again. Hmm.)

Anyway, below is a video of Ilana's work entitled One Man's Dream. Ilana Yahav's website can be found at http://www.sandfantasy.com/