Jack Stephens


 

I have been performing magic professionally for over 25 years. I grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa and then came to live in the UK in 1980. I matriculated with distinctions in English, History and Geography- and then wasted any career path by becoming a magician!!! Mind you I was a computer programmer for a while before that, writing programmes for main frame computers (Cobol) Now that is a long time ago!

I entertain with close-up magic and also run children's parties. Allied Dunbar, Marconi, Renault, Whitbread, Mercedes Benz, Nationwide, Hewlitt Packard, Distillers, Goodyear, BMW, Anglia,...feature amongst many of the largest commercial organisations in the country who have used my services time after time!

I have also entertained at venues such as Wilton House, Longleat, Bowood, Hurlingham Club, House of Commons, Barbican Centre, the Natural History Museum. I have performed in America, South Africa, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. I have appeared with artists such as Jimmy Tarbuck, Craig Charles, Simon May and have entertained such personalities as Duncan Goodhew, Frank Bruno, Ken Livingstone, Michael Ancram, George Baker, Michael Buerk, Nina Myskow and others. When it comes to entertaining children I support my magic with presentations of puppetry, balloon modelling, origami and games. I have entertained the children of celebrities such as Bob Geldof, Barry Gibb, Jools Holland, Annie Lennox, and many others.

Top Trick
Any good version of the Just Chance effect has always been my favourite, as the spectator always feels they have a chance to win something. They never do of course!

Top Book
How does one pick out one book? It is from books that I learned my trade, as my formative years in magic were way before the advent of video, let alone DVD! The Kark Fulves series of self working magic I thought were so good, as they were the first books I read that made magic entertaining. The Garcia/Schindler book Magic with Cards, for the same reason, is also a top class book. It showed that card magic could be entertaining, with a capital E.

As I perform both close-up and children's shows, I have always read books by David Ginn, the American magician, and they are full of good advice and routines for the children's entertainer. But my all time favourite book has to be Magic for Every Occasion by Graham Reed. I bought this over 25 years ago and it is as good today as it was then. What a gem. The sponge heart routine in this book is what helped cement the relationship with my girlfriend at the time....who is now my wife!!

Top Magician
Oh dear, so many to choose from! I have always liked the offbeat style of Simon Lovell and Stephen Tucker. Mark Leveridge's easy going manner has always been appealing. Wolfgang Riebe from South Africa is a man with wonderful ideas, novel twists, and he sure knows how to make magic entertaining. I first met him at The Magic Circle in 1990, where he gave a mini-lecture, which just wowed everyone. Since then I have kept in touch with him and I would say he is certainly my top magician.

Top Magic Quote
"Pain is temporary - Pride is forever"

A champion cyclist friend from Canada always used to race with this slogan. This could easily apply to practicing our magic craft.

Top Magic Moment
Without doubt, entertaining Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11 personally, with my close-up magic, at a small private lunch party two years ago has proved to be my top magic moment. I doubt I could ever better that. I mean, how much higher can one go??

A top magic moment in my world of children's entertainment occurred after a show, when one of the children, picked up my magic wand and started tapping all items in the room with it, seeing what would happen to them. I thought this a beautiful moment and so very magical. I will always remember the way this young boy thought that the wand is what did the magic. Lovely!

 

© MagicWeek 2006

 

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