Number 19 -
4th November 2000
The Magic Circle Close-up Magician of the
Year Competition took place on Monday October 30th at the Circle's Headquarters
The Centre for the Magic Arts in London. Etienne
Pradier (centre) took 1st prize with a very stylish performance full
of skill and charm, Lee Davis came 2nd with a well constructed card
sequence and an engaging manner, and Bharat Patel came 3rd with card magic and a
strong string and finger ring routine. The overall standard was high, and two of the other
competitors could easily have been placed in the top three. Alan Bertin
organised the event and Richard Pinner, Terry Guyatt and Alan
Shaxon judged.
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On October
31st, to mark the anniversary of Houdini's death, escapologist Shahid
Malik presented a stunning escape suspended upside-down 18 feet above the
ground in London's Trafalgar Square. Crowds cheered as he managed to free
himself from a straight-jacket in just 40 seconds - knocking 5 seconds off
his previous record. "I train very hard mentally and physically," he said.
"When I work, I have to forget about everything, block out all the noise,
and just think as fast as possible." Shahid, who was sponsored by an
Internet bank, scattered 100 £5 notes over onlookers as he broke free of
the jacket's restraining belts.
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The Magic Circle Dealers' Day is today, Saturday November 4th. Admission is free to members and £5 to non members. From 10am to 5pm at the Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1. 4.11.00
Dr.
Richard Wiseman, co-author of last year's Magic in Theory: an introduction to the theoretical and psychological elements of
conjuring appeared in Children's Past Lives on Sunday evening
on channel 4. The film looked at the global phenomenon of children who
claim to have had a previous-life experience. A fascinating subject, but
in need of a little harder evidence than was produced for this particular
programme. Richard argued intelligently against the whole
"phenomenon."
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BBC Radio 4 will be repeating "A Magic Day," Hugh Levinson's short programme about a day in the life of Davenport's, considered the world's oldest magic shop, at 3.45 pm on Friday the 15th of December. The programme was originally broadcast in 1999. 4.11.00
ELMagicShop.com (Earth's Largest Magic Shop) have started to advertise with MagicWeek from this issue. They have a comprehensive range of magic, and offer an excellent service. Do pay them a visit - see their advertisement to the right. 4.11.00
David Berglas, Graham P.
Jolley (photo with Ruby Wax), Derren Brown, Andy Fisher, Ali Bongo, Chris Hare, Brian Barnes and Danny
Buckler, together with mentalist magic dealer Paul Hallas, will be
appearing at MindMagic 2000, the Thistle Lancaster Gate, London, on
Sunday November 12th. For ticket availability Email: mindmagic@trillusion.co.uk
To visit the MindMagic website Click
Here 4.11.00
Paul
Gordon known to many readers for his lectures and books on card
magic, is now advertising with MagicWeek . Don't forget to scroll through
all the advertisers on the right to see what's new each week!
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Magician Dale Shrimpton has sent in an international website recommendation: http://questx.com/magic! "The site has thousands of messages to and from all the top guys in magic over the last 20 years, some containing routines and effects, many containing historical information, probably unpublished elsewhere." Thanks Dale. There are a number of 'magic related' programmes listed in TV Magic this week. You will see that I've added a new button to MagicWeek under 'Links.' Here, Magic Dealers and Commercial Magic Sites can have a permanent link to their site - click on the 'Dealers' button for more information. Tha... Tha... Tha... That's all folks - see you next week, Duncan. 4.11.00