Number 697 - 2nd November 2013
Derren
Brown: The Great Art Robbery. Innovative entertainer Derren Brown returns to
our screens in a brand new one-off special Derren Brown: The Great Art
Robbery for Channel 4 in December. Master illusionist and showman Derren
Brown plans to pull off the perfect crime. He’s bet renowned art collector Ivan
Massow that he can steal a painting from right under his nose. In true Derren
style, he will tell Ivan exactly which painting he plans to target – a work by
Turner-nominated British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman no less – as well as
what time the theft will happen. He’ll even give him a photograph of the person
that’s going to take it. In order to pull off the theft Derren recruits a crew.
But he’s not going to use career criminals or skilled cat burglars. He’s going
to use members of society that tend to slip by unnoticed. He’s going to use old
age pensioners. Over a series of uplifting tests and training missions viewers
will see Derren teach his senior citizens the core skills needed to pull off the
gallery theft, how to move together in perfect synchronicity and with perfect
timing, how to deceive a security guard who will be expecting the theft and how
to hold their nerve when they’re most under pressure. This builds to an
edge-of-seat finale: The attempt of the team to steal the painting under
impossible conditions.
Derren Brown said: "This has been nerve-wracking for me and my team, leaving
such an extraordinary task entirely in the hands of a group of contributors to
pull off. The idea was to use the fact that the elderly tend to be treated as
invisible as a strength. There’s only so much training you can give, so many
worst-case scenarios you can try to cover. I’m used to feeling in control with
these shows - but not with this one. It’s a big caper: fun, edge-of-seat,
hopefully taking you to unexpected places." Derren Brown: The Great Art
Robbery was commissioned by Tom Beck for Channel 4. Executive Producers for
Objective Productions are Martin Dance, Andrew Newman, Derren Brown and Anthony
Owen.
2.11.13
Evening
magical happenings in London. As part of the London Festival of Magic there
are three different evening shows of magic taking place at the Bridewell
Theatre, Bride Lane, London EC1 on Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th November at
7.30pm. Monday features The Wizards of Odd, Jon Armstrong, Terry Ward and Pete
Turner; Tuesday, Young and Strange, Ed Hilsum, Steve Best and Chris Cox and
Wednesday, Florian Severin, Patrik Kuffs and Chris Cox amongst others. Tickets
available at
www.internationalmagic.com - £20 for one night, £30 for two and £35 for all
three.
A minute by minute itinerary for both the London Festival of Magic and
International Magic Convention is now available through the Zwoor App, which
allows you to keep fully up to date on any mobile device with all the lectures,
shows, performances and experiences during these two events. The App can be
downloaded at www.zwoor.com
and the codes to load on the itinerary for the events are RONS2013 and LFM2013.
Those of you thinking there may be clues as to who the recipient of the David
Berglas Award for 2013 will be, and the exact nature of the special day on
Monday 11th, will be disappointed, I'm afraid! Noel Britten. Organiser.
2.11.13
The
Young Magicians Club, the youth initiative of The Magic Circle, held their
annual J-Day convention on Sunday 27th October with 100 young magicians in
attendance. Angelo Carbone and Steve Evans lectured and the celebrity guest was
Marvin Berglas of Marvin’s Magic. As always the two competitions were keenly fought.
For the Wayne Fox Magic Home Counties Trophy for stage, the results were, in
third place: Jay Borthwick, second Fletcher Ransberry and the winner was William
Tibballs (top photo). William also won the Pete McCahon Originality Trophy and
Roman also won the Kaymar Komedy Kup. For the Mark Leveridge Cup for Close-up
Magic, in third place was Roman Armstrong, in second Callum McClure and the
winner was Joe Oyelade (second photo). The YMC Member of the Year was announced
as Elizabeth Rogan. The day finished with a gala show featuring L’Homme Magique,
David Weeks, Marvin Berglas and Young & Strange. The photographs show William
and Jay receiving their awards from President Jack Delvin.
www.theyoungmagiciansclub.co.uk Kevin Doig MIMC, Chairman YMC.
2.11.13
The
50th Anniversary Portsmouth Jumbo Day is on tomorrow, Sunday 3rd November.
Doors open at 9am for a full day of magic. There will be mini-lectures by Jozsef
Kovacs and Jimmy Carlo and a balloon workshop from Graham Lee. Bob Hamilton will
present his magic films. The Close-up sessions will feature Andi Gladwin, Mike
Sullivan, Jozsef Kovacs and Myles Thornton. The Star Lecture will be by Fay
Presto. At the end of the day, the Gala Show will be compered by Sean Lobban and
stars Fay Presto, Nick Einhorn, Jimmy Carlo, Kockov and James Brown. All-day
tickets are £20 for adults and £10 for Under 16s. Full details at
www.jumboday.co.uk Sean
Lobban.
2.11.13
Edinburgh
Magic Circle are delighted to be hosting a lecture by Dave Forrest on Monday
11th November. This is (for the most part) the lecture put together especially
for The Magic Castle, Hollywood where Dave performed twice. The lecture
consists of some off-beat close-up magic and mentalism and also some items more
suited to parlour type situations. "Wow! Many people said that last night was
our best night ever. Dave Forrest is a great magician, a clear thinker and full
of practical ideas. What an amazing session. There was so much that I wanted to
remember! Still buzzing from the great magic!" John Field, The Surrey
Society of Magicians. The lecture is being held at our headquarters at Myreside
Pavilion, The Watsonian Club, 79 Myreside Road, Edinburgh EH10 5DB (Map)
at 8pm. Entry is £5. Ian Buchan.
2.11.13
Magicseen
Issue 53, November 2013 - out now! "Comedy magician Matthew Wright is a
seriously good magician. Well, it took the amazing Yann Frisch to stop him
winning the close-up at FISM in Blackpool, which tells you all you need to know,
and we have an enjoyable chat with our affable cover star in the latest issue.
Matthew is ably supported by feature articles on Patrick Kun, Steve Evans and
Sebastian Walton, all of whom also have a story to tell. Last time Neil Roberts
arrived with an excellent article of advice on how to put together a stage act,
and in the November issue he returns with the concluding part that is once again
full of important info. We also invite Scott Watson to give us a starter guide
to how social media can help magicians to promote themselves, and Jay Fortune
presents the 2nd part of his chat with Tobias Beckwith, manager of Jeff McBride,
on the business of show business. All this plus two effects in the Masterclass,
loads of show and product reviews, letters, news and more, plus we even manage
to squeeze into a phone box to spend 30p chatting to none other than Penelope
Cruz! Yep we aim high and so can you by getting your hands on the latest
Magicseen, sponsored by Merlins of Wakefield, which is available now from
www.magicseen.co.uk."
2.11.13
The
Bradford Magic Circle are hosting their annual Dinner and Cabaret on Friday
22nd November at the
Mercure Bankfield, Bradford Hotel featuring a host of magicians including,
the chairman of The Magic Castle, Jon Armstrong (photo). It is the only
opportunity to see Jon, previously named "Close up Magician of the Year" perform
close-up around the tables and also in cabaret, during his short visit to the UK
for a lecture tour this month. Tickets are available from
k.pickles@btinternet.com or 01274
818805. Steve Gore.
2.11.13
The
Card Collection's Autumn Sale is now on! The
www.cards4magic.co.uk
sale will run until 10am on Monday 4th November. Receive a 10% discount on
orders over £25.00 and 15% on orders over £40.00. Hurry - don't miss out!
www.cards4magic.co.uk.
2.11.13
East
Coast Magic Collective groups inaugural meeting, Thursday 14th November, Great
Yarmouth. Following on from the news of the formation of a new magic group,
the East Coast Magic Collective are thrilled to announce their inaugural meeting
will take place at 7pm on Thursday 14th November in the function room of the
Avenues Public House, Beatty Road, Great Yarmouth NR30 4BJ (Map)
followed by a lecture from 'Control Freak', Ollie Mealing. This young, dynamic
performer will give us an hours lecture - it will be an amazing event to mark
the start of this new group. The meeting is free to attend and the lecture is
£7.50, but free to anyone signing up to Premium Membership of ECMC! Paul Henri.
2.11.13
Magician
and Hypnotist Damien O'Brien took to Twitter in an attempt to hypnotise
people via the social network for Halloween: "It was a strange test that I had
been thinking about doing for a long time. I contacted Ravi Mayar and Anthony
Jacquin to gain some advice about this experiment to see if it could be possible;
without these two guys the experiment would never have happened. Throughout the
week I dropped minor hints as to what would be happening to people without giving
anything away. Then on the 31st at 7.30pm the challenge began. Within 10 minutes
I was being bombarded with tweets from people all over the world, saying they
was either stuck to their chairs or phones! This was an incredible feeling to
know this had worked as I was still very unsure - it was a huge risk, but it was
a complete success and I was still receiving tweets the next day from people
being stuck! It was an incredible experience. Thank you to everyone who took
part and helped me make it a success." Damien. "Magician Damien O'Brien
'hypnotises' Twitter followers to be GLUED in their seats"
Click Here.
2.11.13
Reigning
Magic Circle Young Magician of the Year Sebastian Walton will be appearing
on The Slammer at 5.30pm on Friday 8th November on CBBC. In March, 2014,
after a visit to Las Vegas to attend the Jeff McBride Magic School, Sebastian
will be moving further west, performing at The Magic Castle, Hollywood, 3 times
a night, for a whole a week.
2.11.13
Gary
Jones Liverpool Magic Circle lecture: "Gary
Jones has, without doubt, one of the best magical minds in the business today.
Both as a creator and a performer of magic. He also carries the respect of
fellow magicians around the world. His lecture is not to be missed." Thursday
7th November at 8pm. Liverpool Magic Circle, Crown Inn, Leyfield Road, Liverpool
L12 9HA (Map).
£5 members, £8 visitors. Richard Smith, Secretary.
www.liverpoolmagiccircle.co.uk.
2.11.13
Mystic
by Steve Drury, Roni Shachnaey. "Mystic encapsulates a lifetime of Roni's
Shachnaey's mentalism and bizarre knowledge. Hardbound, with over 250 pages, it
features 40+ effects and ideas from his professional repertoire plus his
personal approach to Numerology, Tarot and Palm readings. Foreword by Docc
Hilford and personal notes from Todd Landman, Sheila Lyon, Lior Manor and Guy
Bavli. For more information and to order
Click Here.
2.11.13
The
Lost Lectures ‘Big Fight Live’. The Lost Lectures is a unique series of
‘Enchanting Talks from Secret Locations’ that are all about taking lectures out
of traditional corporate and academic environments and into incredible secret
spaces that surprise, delight and bring the imagination to life. An immersive
world of inspiring talks and unforgettable experiences, featuring a world-class
mix of scientists, artists, techies, designers, entrepreneurs and entertainers
and many more... Pickpocket
James Freedman will be among the speakers at this year’s final event this
month in the Lost Lectures
Big Fight Live
on 22nd November. It looks set to be an unforgettable evening. Full line-up of
speakers:
Click Here.
2.11.13
Home
Counties Magical Society are to host a lecture evening by Liam Montier on
Thursday 7th November. This is a rare opportunity to see this very creative
magician lecture. Shinfield Parish Hall, Reading RG2 9EH (Map) at 8pm (doors 7.30pm).
Non members are welcome for a charge of £10. For more details visit
www.hcms.org.uk Andrew
Lewis.
2.11.13
Watford
Association of Magician's Stage Magician of the Year Competition. Andy
Clockwise writes: On Tuesday 5th November (yes, bonfire night), it's the annual
Watford Association Of Magician's Stage Magician Of The Year Competition and
fighting it out for this year's title are Dee Riley, Andy Clockwise, Steve Rowe,
Lee Bell, Darryl Rose and Julie Carpenter. As this is an "open" night - anyone
over the age of 16 years is invited and it's free entry! Doors open at 7.30pm
upstairs at the Bricket Wood Social Club, Oak Avenue, Bricket Wood, St. Albans,
Herts. AL2 3LQ (Map).
The competition will start at 8pm prompt.
2.11.13
Chris
Dugdale Supports Madness and Simple Minds in Spain. On October 29th Chris
Dugdale supported Madness and Simple Minds in the Palau de Congressos in
Barcelona. Chris was invited back for the second time to the World Conference
after being voted the audience's favourite act beating Queen's Roger Taylor and
The Who's Roger Daltrey! An international audience of 700 enjoyed a 40 minute
segment of Chris's Edinburgh show Magic and Mischief. "Gigs don't get much
bigger or better than this! And Simple Minds were incredible," Chris commented
afterwards. He was immediately invited to take the show to Chicago and to
Florida.
www.thinkofacard.com.
2.11.13
Enterteasement:
Comedy, Magic, Burlesque. "Enterteasement is a premier Comedy Magic
Burlesque show with an average customer rating of 4.6 stars! Our magician for
Saturday, November 9th four times SCA Close-up Magic Champion and regular on the
Scottish comedy circuit Chris Dinwoodie aka Woody The Magician. The line-up also
boasts Burlesque from Sukki Singapora, highly regarded as one of the most
phenomental burlesque artists of our time." 8pm - 10.30pm. £14 Standard, £10
Student... book via www.enterteasement.com. Venue: Admiral Bar, 72 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2
7DA (Map).
www.enterteasement.com.
2.11.13
Magic
Martyn James. Philip Partridge writes: “My local Grosvenor Casino (Didsbury
in Manchester) had the comedy magician Martyn James performing last Friday
(25th). This is the third month they have had a magician but the first time we
were able to attend. On Friday and Saturday nights they book acts and you do not
have to gamble to watch the show. Martyn was a true professional – you forget he
has been there and done that in all aspects of our magical world of
entertainment; I personally would not have liked to take on this gig. The
majority of the audience were not there to see Martyn but had other things on
their mind including speed dating! It was a master class in stand-up comedy
magic; I think Martyn deserves a mention in the next edition of Ian Keable’s A
Professional Guide to Comedy Magic. You can see Martyn in CITV’s Sooty
playing himself at the end of the month – as I said a truly versatile
performer.”
2.11.13
"Uri
Geller, CIA Masterspy?"
Click Here • "That gave her the willies! Actress Helen Flanagan is
spooked by magician on live TV as part of festive Halloween prank"
Click Here • "Criss Angel to undergo shoulder surgery and shutter
‘Believe’ at Luxor for three months"
Click Here • "Criss Angel celebrates fifth anniversary of ‘Believe’
at Luxor with show and after-party"
Click Here • "Criss Angel Attempts To Reanimate A Human Corpse
(Exclusive Video)"
Click Here • "Has Criss Angel gone too far in his attempt to raise
the dead on Spike TV’s ‘Believe’?"
Click Here • "Magicians will be amazed by James Randi"
Click Here • "Video: Attleborough magician Harry is set for TV
stardom"
Click Here • "Leicester Square hotel plan would destroy historic
Tommy Cooper pub… just like that"
Click Here • "Tommy Cooper Society’s fez sale for heart kits"
Click Here • That's it for another week, see
you next week, Duncan.
2.11.13