Gallery
There is a small selection of pictures here. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Some more here (temporary more of julie later...)

WAM v Zodiac September 2007
It was proud moment for WAM members as they narrowly beat the Zodiac Club in what was a fantastic evening of magic and laughter from top class performers on both sides.

The competition, compered by John Wright for WAM and John Eaton for Zodiac, began with the category "Trick with a Rabbit" ....and what an opening! In rushed Colin, one very large clumsy 7-foot white rabbit, carrying WAM's Magic Dave inside an equally large top hat. How can anyone beat that intro! Magic Dave's torn corner from chosen card trick just seemed so superfluous with Colin the rabbit successfully stealing the show.
This was followed by Zodiac's Fay Presto and her well known routine with Harvey, the pink suited, possibly gay rabbit. This also included an escape hatch, rope ladder - think WAM vs Zodiac 2004.

Julie Carpenter for the "War Trick" category began with the introduction of Mark Chudleigh, the bombardier showing the audience his bomb; Steve Middleton-Lawler the lance corp. showing his lance; and John Wright the private who complained that he keeps getting arrested! Then Julie, a fusilier, began showing her fuses by utilising the classic Professors Nightmare. There's something about women in uniform but we best not go there.
Zodiac's Bob Sacco marched in with that well-known 'Dad's Army' theme music, dressed in (almost) full WWII Home Guard uniform, looking uncannily like Clive Dunn's character Private Jones. His torn and restored newspaper trick unusually began with the newspaper already cut into clippings which he flicked through and read the funniest ones to the audience. After picking up a wad of clippings and reading about half a dozen funny jokes he simply restored the newspaper and marched off. Brilliant!

I thought the evenings opening trick couldn't be beaten, but Andy Clockwise's "A Super Hero Trick", well, how can I best describe it.... Think Rik Mayall &Ade Edmondsons 'Bottom' mixed with 'Spiderman' , and what do you get....one very mad, hilarious act. Andy began with a not-so-quick change into a full spiderman outfit (and a lunch-box that would've made Linford proud) as the stereo sounded out the original Spiderman theme. The act continued to the sound of a rock version of the Spiderman theme while the anarchic Spiderman trapped the Green Goblins head in a chest, pushed dozens of daggers through, and then by removing the front panel effectively made our "villains" head disappear. Fantastic.....
Zodiac's Chippy Wood followed with his act as Captain Birdseye (never had him down as a super hero!). He performed a very good cups & balls routine while reciting an amusing nautical themed rhyme.

WAM's Martin Cox chose to be the Cockney Card Shark for the category "A trick in Character", demonstrating his card hustling skills with great success. He performed some impressive card cheating techniques by continually dealing himself the four aces, followed by how this was achieved by demonstrating 2nd dealing and bottom dealing. He concluded his act by dealing four piles of cards which, when turned over, were dealt in perfect suit and value order. Here's a tip: never play poker with the Hardman of Magic.
Jean Purdy from Zodiac, dressed as a Hogwort sorceress, responded with a well presented Harry Potter themed book test. Julie Carpenter was chosen to select & write any word from any page from the latest Harry Potter book. After asking a few Muggles in the audience to verify the tomes integrity, the chosen word was magically announced.

Colin Watkins performed an entertaining ring on rose for the category "Trick with a Ring". In a nutshell, an audience members ring was shown and then vanished, finally ending up on the stalk of a rose sealed in clear true. The highlight of the act being Colins struggle to pull the rose out of the tube. The act ended with the rings owner being presented with a rather beaten up rose! Superb act.
Zodiac's Chippy Wood followed with his second act of the evening, choosing to perform the mini linking rings while telling a story about a couple of vampires blood. Very entertaining stuff which ended with laugh out loud punchline.

The category "A prediction" was chosen by Ian Manly and his superbly well delivered deadpan one-liners. He produced four items, unfortunately I can't remember what they were at time of writing this, and then an audience member was chosen to call out a random total price for all four items (£14.92). Next a calculator was loaned to Zodiac's sharply dressed Joe Stone, the prices of the items were shown one by one as Joe totted up the values on the calculator, and guess what? It equalled £14.92......
Mark Chudleigh entrance on stage was greeted with boos, hisses, and a barrage of abuse (in good humour of course). As a member of both clubs, he chose to bat for the opposing team for the evenings competition. He began by wearing a hat with a rubber chicken on it (which looked remarkably like a marigold glove). An audience member was asked to cut a deck of cards several times under a large hank, then a card was then chosen. With a knife the helper cut the chicken, while it was still on the the Magi's head, and produced a plastic egg. The egg was opened and inside was a prediction, "You will not choose a joker". On spreading the deck it was found that the chosen card was indeed the only regular card in a deck of Jokers. What a kicker!

"A trick with a wallet" was performed by our very own president Terry Seabrooke in his usual comical way. An audience member was asked to nameany card, and the ten of diamonds was chosen. Terry then produced a card from his wallet and revealed it to be the nine of diamonds! But it all ends well as on the back of the card were the words 'Just one out'.
It was most unfortunate for Zodiac's Joe Stone as he immediately scrapped the very same effect and resorted to his backup trick. This involved a wallet and three bills of different denominations. A member of the audience was invited to choose each bill in turn and place it into one of his four trouser pockets while Joe had his back turned. To end the trick he attempted to guess which pocket contained which bill. Unfortunately the trick went a tad wrong at this point, but hats off participating.

For the final category, simply titled "Ghost", Rob Cox gave us an act that (I believe) finally won us the competition. With his familiar booming tones he introduced to the audience, who participated with 'oohs' and 'arrhs', a large hankerchief called 'the schmutter of doom', a well used biro called 'the pen of fate', and finally a business card called 'the business card of death'. A member of the audience signed the business card which was then wrapped in the hankerchief along with the pen. A card was chosen at this point and returned to the pack.
Suddenly, under cover of the hank, the pen very spookily moved and jiggled about. When it stopped the hank was unwrapped, the pen removed, and the business card was shown to have the name of the chosen card written on it. Finally the card was waved over a flame and the writing disappeared!
Zodiac's compere John Eaton ended the competition quietly by introducing a large tin box to the audience. He took the lid off and pulled out a hammer, a 6" nail, and a solid 10" wooden coffin. The inside of the tin box was shown to be empty, and then the hammer, nail, and coffin were placed back inside the tin. The scene was set as a candle was lit, the lights were dimmed, and silence covered the room. Suddenly the sound of a hammer tapping the tin was heard. All very spooky indeed. The lights were switched on, the lid was taken off, and the coffin was revealed to have the nail firmly knocked into the coffin. The act lacked a bit of oomph as John bumbled through but nevertheless it was an excellent effect to end a great evening.

The evening ended with John Wright announcing WAM'S victorious results.
J W Wootton

Gazzo Lecture 18th May 2004
Gazzo is one of the world’s foremost street entertainers. He has worked in major cities all over the world, working festivals, fairs and other outdoor events.

He came into magic through a book, given to him by his grandfather. It was called, Phantom of the Card Table, by McGuire. The book talked of the greatest card cheat ever, Walter Irvine Scott.

Gazzo learnt his trade with the notorious Cracker Parker's Three Card Monte gang. Then, concerned about the principles of gang, he left England for America to find his legend, Walter Scott. Gazzo tracked him down to a retirement home in Rhode Island, and soon become Scotts only student for several years.

On Tuesday 18th May we were very privileged to have Gazzo include us in his whirlwind tour of Britain.
The event started with the Cups and Balls workshop reviewed separately by Jay J Jaxon. After an introduction by our new secretary Jay J, Gazzo began the evening by showing us his working table, which he then covered with a velvet curtain. He asked us to imagine that we were a street audience and explained how he gathered his crowd. He performed a cut and restored rope routine, a floating signed card, and his famous cups and balls, ending up with 6 oranges and a melon under his hat.

These routines took over an hour. The real magic came from what he said. He had jokes covering every aspect of society (not for the easily offended). The audience folded their arms, or answered back at their peril. He had a one-liner for everyone. I have never seen the club so animated. This man knows no bounds, and admits being very tough on his audience. He explained that this was the only way to succeed in Street Magic.

His approach to corporate entertaining is rather less abrupt. After a short break Gazzo continued with a question and answer session which covered his early career and performing style.
Thank you to Gazzo for giving us such an entertaining evening.

Colin Bunting Evening 6th July 2004
This evening was never going to be easy to review. I was going to list the tricks and effects Colin performed, however, that would not do the evening justice. I will refrain, and try to describe, what was in my view, a very funny and informative evening.

The stage was set for a very professional show and we were not disappointed.

The evening started with a brief biography of Colin and his life. This was for me one of the highlights of the night. Colin was not born deaf. Sadly he contracted meningitis early on in his childhood which caused him to lose his hearing. His love of magic started at a very young age and was encouraged by his father. Colin then went on to discuss his other early profession which was professional wrestling. The demonstrations caused a great deal of laughter (I was shocked to hear that it’s all fixed). He was a printer by trade but this was heavy work, which added to the tag wrestling gave him a back injury which meant he had to give it all up.

Then Colin started his magic show. There were too many tricks for me to explain but it was all performed to the sound of us laughing. One highlight was Colin cutting off Nick’s shirt, (you had to be there) and pulling Dean’s shirt off his back.

The second half was Colin’s clown act with the psycho musical dolls (which by the way were playing "bring on the clowns", and yes, I did have nightmares). There were tons of comedy bits and pieces.

The question and answer session was my next highlight as seldom do we get a chance to find the real person behind the face paint. It also gave us a chance to find out more about British Sign Language. Colin discussed his difficulties in learning magic due to the limited mediums available for deaf people.

I also should mention Sula and her outstanding translation skills (with some adlibbing, I’m sure). Without her we would have missed Colin’s interesting life story, and some of the laughs that came from her.
The whole evening was great and everyone fully enjoyed it. The standard has now been set for the next members evening.
Darren King

The Michael Vincent Lecture
On July 20th we were delighted to welcome Michael Vincent to lecture for us. Michael is currently The Magic Circle Close-Up Magician of the Year (beating our own Tim Shoesmith into second place) and he proceeded to show us exactly why he won that title.

In the first part of the evening Michael showed us his Close-Up act in which he truly stunned us with his skill and artistry. Gasps were heard and heads shaken in disbelief as coins and cards were used to baffle our senses. I think it was Michael's coin work that particularly impressed and left us all eagerly awaiting the second half of the evening.

If anyone expected that second half to be a trick-by-trick exposition of his act they were to be disappointed. It was far more than that!! For those who had ears to hear, Michael taught us principles that could be applied to our own effects. He concentrated on mis-direction, or Audience Attention Control as he preferred to call it.

We were shown how to use our bodies, with tension and relaxation, to hide the 'secret move'. We were shown how to use eye-contact and head movement to direct the audience's attention. We were shown how to prepare the audience in advance for gestures that we would use to execute a sleight. Michael used some of his effects to illustrate these principles but the challenge is for us each to apply them to our own performances.

Michael acknowledged his debt to many of the 'greats' in magic but particularly to Tony Slydini under whom he had studied for a short time. He emphasised the benefit of that being a 'short' time. It meant he had been able to learn from the master without becoming a clone! My personal style of performance is far removed from Michael's but there was much for me to learn from him and I will be trying to put it into practice in my forthcoming bookings.

In my view this was one of the best evening we have ever had at WAM!

Rob Cox
July 2004

Peter McCahon Lecture 21st September 2004
Peter McCahon is a versatile actor, magician and television presenter. After studying graphic design at Guildford Technical College, he went on to train at Moorlands Bible College. In 1991, having already taken a short course in magic he passed his exam to become a member of The Magic Circle and with a huge desire to perform full time, he turned professional. January 2003 saw Peter starring in Channel Five’s new prime time comedy magic show ‘Monkey Magic’. This was followed up by a series entitled ‘The Greatest Magic Tricks in the Universe... Ever.’

Our evening was introduced by Barbara Gold.

Peter began the evening by teaching us about locks. We learnt about the locks that can be picked and those that cannot. He showed us a few tools of the trade and how to use them. He then showed us his handcuff collection. He had about 20 different types of handcuffs from around the world, and a few stories to go with them.

The second half of the evening concentrated on escape from ropes and chains. He showed us a very simple rope escape and a full chain escape. Firstly Pete was tied up by members of the audience, and then, some members had a go themselves.

Thank you Peter for a very enjoyable evening

WAM v Zodiac 2004
Well - the bad news is that the Zodiac Club beat WAM this year in another keenly fought contest!! But what a great night it was!

WAM were missing many of our regular 'stars' but that gave some of our newer members chance to shine. The first category was 'A Trick in Time' and Jay-J Jaxon kicked off for WAM with a trick with a watch borrowed from Chris Hare who happenned to be his competitor in that category!! Five other cheap watches were shown and all were put into separate bags. Five bags, chosen by the toss of a die, were destroyed with a hammer but, after a clever and amusing comedy twist, the last bag contained the borrowed unharmed watch.

Then it was the turn of Chris himself who used a diary to divine a card and birthdate.
The next category was 'Evangelism' which saw Colin Watkins perform 'Electronic Sawing Through' for WAM with tongue firmly in cheek. Roger Dunlop used the 'Pom Pom Sticks' to put over a traditionally Christian message.

An 'Adults' Trick Performed in a Kids' Way' was 'Professor's Nightmare' for WAM courtesy of Julie Carpenter and 'Twentieth Century Silks' for Zodiac courtesy of Peter Pinner. Julie got good reactions from her patter and Peter showed his experience in handling spectators.

The most obscure category ever must have been 'A Trick with reference to 8th September 1911'!!! But both WAM and Zodiac picked up on the fact that it was the date when the first airmail letter was sent so both clubs presented 'Cards Across' using airmail envelopes! Curtis Whitehead, one of our youngest members, did the honours for WAM (and very well too!) and Russell Levinson performed for the Zodiac. WAM compere, Mandy Davis, fielded some very corny and punny gags before introducing Curtis.

After a short break it was back to the action with the category of 'Lego'. For WAM New Zealand born Mark Begg presented an original trick in which one lego wheel was continually turned by another lego wheel no matter how far apart and unconnected they became! His opposite number, Jack Cohen, built a Formula 1 lego car which then contrived to find a chosen card!!

'Nil Desperandum' was the engmatic title of the next category which saw Rob Cox, for WAM, trying, and eventually succeeding after many gags, to find a correct prediction for a randomly chosen 'identikit' picture of a person's face. Fay Presto, for the Zodiac, performed her well-known routine with Harvey the Rabbit complete with escape hutch, pink suit and rope ladder. Great stuff!!

A Telepathic Trick was supplied by Mark Foot, for WAM, and Richard Pinner, for the Zodiac and both elected to use a card trick.

Finally we came to a 'Death defying Trick' which saw WAM's Herb Everest, swathed in bandages, attempt (3 times) to swallow a balloon before throwing up a balloon animal. The Zodiac response was Pete McCahon (our next WAM lecturer!) who performed 'Electronic Sawing Through' (the second time that evening) with some hilarious patter and bits of business.

Jean Purdy, who compered for the Zodiac, announced the result. Although disappointing for WAM, our young team can hold their heads up high. It was a great evening of magic and they did us proud.

Barbara Gold


THE GIL LEANEY SHIELD COMPETITION FOR STAGE/CABARET MAGIC
There were only six competitors this year and the judges were comprised of two magicians, Nicholas Einhorn and Jeffrey Marco as well as a lay judge – Bob Loomis, President of the Society of Magical Spectators.

The first act was The Great Marco, better known as Mark Foot. After a stumbling start he introduced us to a large metal staircase and platform which he had set up in front of the stage. After many attempts, Mark managed to climb this using a unicycle – his problem was that in rehearsal he had pushed his head through one of the ceiling tiles and was fearful of doing so again. He then took to the stage and vanished a botania on a table before re-mounting the unicycle and performing Drink in News.

Magic Dave (Allen) sadly had his music and microphone turned up far too loud. Despite this he won the audience over with his taped instructions for a David Copperfield kit which comprised a wig and tailcoat. Dressed in these, he was able to perform Nick Einhorn’s In Flight. Dave then introduced us to a little girl puppet which he put into a magical trance. Using her under a cloth, Dave performed an Asra Levitation and vanished the puppet, only to have her return from the wings of the stage.

Ian Manly opened with a great George Bush gag before asking a spectator to name a card. Ian took this card and placed it into the middle of the deck inside the card box. The spectator was asked to blow up a balloon and attach a dart to a ribbon tied around the box. When the balloon, which Ian held, was burst with the dart, he was now seen to be holding the chosen card. Lots of gags followed and a neat newspaper tear with the torn up pieces placed inside the paper enabling it to become whole again. Ian ended with a Confabulation prediction but sadly was penalised as his act ran over time.

After an interval Colin Watkins took to the stage. He was apparently in the process of dressing and mumbled his way through the display of a glass frame which he told us was for a dove penetration. He set this on a table and removed his shirt, then pushed it through the solid pane of glass. He then placed a cloth on the table before removing his trousers and pushing them through the glass. Then wearing only shorts and socks he picked up the cloth from the table, removed a dove from it and pushed that through the solid glass too.

Julie Carpenter, came onto the stage dressed as a WWII US Nursing Officer. Talking about choices she performed an Invisible Deck routine and then gave us a dancing lesson to some lively 1940s music. She took us back through time, using various music cues, to 1942 and The Bridge over the River Kwai. To demonstrate the fuses used to blow up the bridge she used a short, medium and long rope! Changing the subject to rationing Julie produced a toy rabbit from an empty dove pan before moving on to 1944 and air superiority, whereupon an avalanche of paper aeroplanes and paper bombs were thrown from the back of the audience onto the stage. Finally a volunteer was brought forward to select a card which was replaced into the deck and shot at. The chosen card was shown to have bullet holes through it.

The final act was Curtis Whitehead who arrived on stage in his underwear. He proceeded to remove his clothes and shoes from a flat briefcase before also removing from inside it a long pole and two large wastepaper baskets! He followed this with Drink in News and invited two helpers onto the stage. He performed Eliminator, a card trick where he was able to reveal two cards which had been looked at in selected places in a deck; these places were at numbers chosen silently by the helpers. He ended his act by producing a very long paper streamer from his mouth, filling the wastepaper basket to the brim.

The judges were taken away to deliberate and the results were:

3rd Place Ian Manly
2nd Place Magic Dave
1st Place Julie Carpenter.

MANDY DAVIS

THE ALAN SHAXON LECTURE
We were delighted to welcome Alan Shaxon MIMC, the President of The Magic Circle, who gave us an inspiring lecture. He started by telling us that he has a garage and two sheds stuffed full with magic – but in reality he only uses about ten tricks!

He advised us to keep trying out tricks until we find the ones that suit us. He then performed Hold Up – which is accredited to Oswald Rae, the first President of the IBM. Alan used a different presentation of the trick but the effect was the same. A watch, a ring and money from a wallet disappeared only to be found back where they started. As always, Alan gave very detailed instructions and tips on the handling and performance of this and all his effects.

He went on to explain how card tricks are difficult to perform using a stand microphone but he showed us one that worked very well – a version of Cards to Pocket incorporating Diminishing Cards and ending with Jumbo cards. He explained that he has double pockets in all his trousers and explained how to make the dimishing effect. Alan demonstrated an Invisible Card routine which used small brown envelopes to contain the selection and, what was for me, the prize of the evening – a trick in which a cover was torn from a magazine, vanished and reappeared on the magazine at the end. This was a real ‘miracle’ and had several pros in the audience declaring that they would add this to their repertoire.

This trick naturally led into a Torn and Restored Newspaper which could be done surrounded. After the break, Alan explained a book test using telephone directories and then his uses of the Bart Harding stacked deck system. He continued with Cards Across in which three remembered cards did the travelling and he ended with a chosen card being found in a previously empty whisky bottle inside a cigar box.

This was a great lecture from a great performer.
MANDY DAVIS