Latest news from Magicians.co.uk

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins on Friday with hundreds of unique and wonderful acts for you to enjoy including Ben Hart, Piff the Magic Dragon, Paul Dabek, Vikki Stone, Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, Ardal O’Hanlon, Christian O’Connell, Paul Zerdin, Ed Byrne, Sarah Millican, Omid Djalili, Pete Firman and Stephen K Amos.

Established in 1947, The Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival showcasing theatre, comedy, dance, music and of course magic! There’s bound to be something here for everyone. Last chance tickets are still available here.

Mystifying spoon bender Uri Geller’s secret life as a CIA ‘psychic spy’ was uncovered last night on BBC2. The programme reported that for thirty years he has been secretly working with intelligence agencies across three continents. It also claimed that the original scientists who first investigated Geller’s gifts forty years ago were actually funded by the CIA.

As always with Uri Geller, it made for a fascinating programme.

If you missed it last night, you can still catch it on BBC iPlayer.

Previews have completed for the brilliant hit show by Ben Hart. The former Magic Circle Young Magician of the Year will debut The Outsider at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

This is the first time we have seen Ben use his creative flair for his own one man show, and he has sculpted an inspiring tale showing the vulnerability behind his genius.

The Outsider is directed by BAFTA award winner Anthony Owen, Executive Producer for Derren Brown’s mind bending shows on Channel 4.

Last chance tickets are still available here, and if you would like to see Ben at your event drop a line to our friendly bookings team.

It’s that time of year again! Registration has begun for the International Magic Convention, or Ron’s day as it is affectionately known in our world.

Ron MacMillan, the “Man with the Golden Hands” was an internationally renowned magician who started the annual convention in 1972. This year the convention will take place 16-18 November and will begin on the Friday night with a superb show. Among the lectures, seminars, stage gala shows and the high calibre close up competition, there will be the presention of the coveted David Berglas International Award, won last year by Jeff McBride.

A wide range of tickets are on sale here to suit whatever you’re looking for. Whether it is a stage show, a one day ticket or just some world class close up magic, book up now before they vanish!

Mike Caveney, professional magician and co-author of Magic, 1400s-1950s for Taschen Books has been talking to the BBC about how performing magicians have been adapting to their changing environments over the centuries, whether performing on the streets, in a fairground stall or in the golden age of the music halls.

Even in this technological age, magic still keeps the general public under its spell, because today’s magicians are always finding new ways to make the impossible possible and to turn the laws of the natural world upside down.

Dynamo’s latest performance stunt was all over the news last week. The TV trickster took a ride around town, suspended from the side of a London bus. Here are the edited highlights.

Despite rumours that he’d just forgotten his Oyster card, the illusion was staged to promote Dynamo’s new partnership with Pepsi Max.

If you were there and want to share your videos & photos with us, get in touch here.

Derren Brown’s new live show Infamous opens in the West End in just a few days’ time, and now What’s on Stage is giving you the chance to win one of 25 pairs of tickets. All you need to do to be in with a chance of being a lucky winner is to visit the website and locate up to 18 Infamous competition codes which are hidden in mystery locations. Hurry though – the deadline to find the codes is 7th July.

This year has seen a lot of magic in the air at Magicians.co.uk. Last weekend was no exception when we were thrilled to celebrate with our very own Zubair on the occasion of his long-awaited marriage to his beautiful bride Runouska. Congratulations to both of them on their Nikah!

The resurgence of modern magic in Hollywood continues with the release of ‘Now You See Me’, the new big budget blockbuster from ‘The Transporter’ director Louis Leterrier.
The film, is released in the UK on 3rd July and follows four illusionists who team up to create ‘The Four Horsemen’, producing a series of dazzling shows with a twist; each illusion is a front for a daring heist against a corrupt organisation. In a moral twist, the team refuses to reap the rewards and instead showers the grateful audiences at their shows with the ‘winnings’.

From the trailer it looks like ‘The Illusionist’ meets ’Ocean’s 11’. Magic has enjoyed a huge contemporary facelift over the last few years and with its popularity still continuing to rise, heavyweight financial backing from Hollywood for magic related films shows no signs of slowing.

Of course, for all the movie and TV magic out there (and we’ve been responsible for quite a lot ourselves) there’s nothing like witnessing exceptional magic performed live. To discuss your stage show or after dinner entertainment needs give us a call, our number is MAGIC.

David Threlfall has been cast for the lead role in a new drama about the late Tommy Cooper.
The film, written by Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye, will recreate the agony Cooper faced during the period he was in love with two women – his assistant Mary Kay and his wife Gwen, whom he nicknamed ‘Dove’.
Cooper, a proud member of The Inner Magic Circle, is still fondly remembered for his iconic red fez and unique comedy style where tricks were performed tongue in cheek to produce great laughs from his audience.

Tragically, Cooper died when he suffered a heart attack on stage, but at the height of his fame in the mid-1970’s, he was one of the most famous and successful comedians in the world.

Magic Circle member John Fisher, will be consulting on the film.