Latest news from Magicians.co.uk

Everyone on our team is very proud and thrilled that Magicians.co.uk has been chosen to represent Luis de Matos.

The BBC recently called Luis “a global superstar” and with his international reputation for stylish and sophisticated magic, we agree! Luis is the man who made an elephant disappear in under five seconds, and a Ferrari melt away whilst surrounded by members of the audience. As legendary magician David Copperfield says, “Whatever Luis does, he does it with style.”

In 2010, Luis de Matos was honoured when his fellow magicians around the world voted him ‘Illusionist of the Decade’.

You can see Luis in action starting at 7.30 tonight on BBC One and BBC HD in the new Saturday night spectacular series ‘The Magicians’. Hosted by Lenny Henry, the magical brains behind the show include R. Paul Wilson and Alexis Conran from the BBC hit show ‘The Real Hustle’. The Magicians features Luis de Matos, Chris Korn and comedy magic duo Barry & Stuart. Each week on the show, they’ll be joined by a celebrity assistant and then go head-to-head performing tricks from the classic to never-before-attempted. With no phone lines or judges, the fate of the three acts lies in the hands of the studio audience who’ll decide who wins and who’ll face the losers’ forfeit.

Good luck to all the magicians for tonight’s show.

For more information about Luis de Matos click here.

Well the big day is over and we hope you had a good one too.

For our final trick of the Christmas season, we’ve just made a whole turkey, half a pound of potatoes, a pack of mince pies and the best part of a tin of chocolates disappear!!!

Now that’s magic……..

Everyone here wishes all our customers and friends a happy and prosperous 2010. We’d love to bring our magic to your events in 2010. Do give us a call to discuss your special occasion and make your booking before our January sale ends on 29 January.

‘GHOST STORIES’ DATES ANNOUNCED

We’re really excited by the latest news from our favourite mind reader, writer, actor and all round good guy, Andy Nyman who is collaborating with Jeremy Dyson of ‘The League of Gentlemen’ fame; to write and direct a new play called ‘Ghost Stories’.

The creative team are keeping schtum about details at this stage but Andy did tell us that, “the show is an evening of terrifying tales. I’m a long time fan of Frightfest and love really, really scary entertainment so I’m very excited to be developing Ghost Stories now.”

Tickets have just been released and with Andy and Jeremy behind the project, they’ll sell out fast. The box office has issued the following warning. “Please be advised that Ghost Stories contains moments of extreme shock and tension. The show is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15 and we strongly advise persons in the late stages of pregnancy or who are of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending this show.”

Spooky stuff! We’ve booked our tickets and can’t wait. 

‘Ghost Stories’ appears at the Liverpool Playhouse from 4 – 20 February and at London’s Lyric Theatre from 24 February – 3 April 2010.

To view the trailer please click here and to book tickets for London performances click here.

We’re used to people telling us that they can’t believe it… but even we can’t believe that Christmas is next week!  And although we’re used to things disappearing around here… does anyone know what happened to 2009?

Of course, it’s traditional at this time of year to think about the past twelve months and to take a moment to consider those less fortunate than us.

We’re asking all our customers to please consider supporting Variety Club Children’s Charity. The charity helps thousands of children every year. It provides Sunshine Coaches, electric wheelchairs, outings to exciting places, equips children’s hospitals and helps in many other ways. This is all possible because volunteers from many walks of life give generously of their time and money, supported by a galaxy of celebrities from sport and show-business.
Magicians.co.uk has been a corporate sponsor since 2007. Our staff, magicians and other entertainers together arrange and attend lots of fundraising initiatives and events to raise as much money as possible for this brilliant charity. We hope our contributions will make a big difference to the lives of sick, disabled and disadvantaged young people.

PLUS when you call our bookings team and mention Variety Club, we’ll donate £5 of the booking fee straight to the charity.

To find out more about Variety Club Children’s Charity and to make a donation, please visit www.varietyclub.org.uk

International Magic Award to David Copperfield. Of course David Copperfield is the busiest magician on the planet and so he joined the event from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas via a live video link kindly provided by JJ technology. Despite some 5,000 miles between the two master magicians, they made the trophy vanish from London and re-appear in Las Vegas! After this magical presentation, Copperfield took open questions from the audience for almost an hour, talking about his career, advice for younger magicians, future plans and revealing why he still performs over give hundred shows a year… you had to be there!

In keeping with Ron MacMillan’s original vision, this year’s performers included a great many international artists, most of whom had never appeared in the UK before. A real highlight was David Minkin from the USA (pictured) whose modest, elegant and seemingly effortless style created, for this reviewer at least, the most magical moments of the whole weekend.

The 39th International Convention will take place at The Mermaid Theatre on 26-28 November 2010.

We were delighted to be chosen to perform at the Operation Smile Winter Ball last Thursday. The event was held to raise vital funds for Operation Smile UK, a charity which works with children and young adults in the developing world who suffer from facial disfigurements, particularly cleft lips and cleft palates. The charity was also celebrating its selection by the BBC’s Blue Peter as the programmes beneficiary charity for the 2009/2010 appeal. Blue Peter will be raising awareness by engaging their young audience all over the UK and asking them to turn unwanted T-shirts into hospital gowns for use at Operation Smile projects worldwide.

The Winter Ball was held at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and included a silent auction, music, dancing, a live auction and magical entertainment from our magicians Richard McDougall, Martyn Rowland and James Freedman, who amazed guests during the evening. James Freedman also hosted the live auction and worked his ‘persuasion’ magic to raise a whopping £62,500 for the charity. The total raised at the end of the evening was over £100,000 and we would like to congratulate Operation Smile on the huge success of the event. It only costs £150 and as little as 45 minutes to change a child’s life forever and give them a smile. To donate to this worthwhile cause or to find out more please click here.

If you’d like us to help raise funds at your next charity event, give us a call on 0845 00 62442.

A new book has been published on the life of David Nixon, one of TV’s greatest magicians. Written by Edwin A Dawes and Stephen Short, the book contains amazing stories from David’s life and career accompanied by fantastic pictures, magazine articles and show bills.

David was once named ‘the father of magic on TV’ and had a hugely succesful television career spanning over 20 years. The book was written with help and anecdotes from David’s close friends, family and colleagues, including the late President of the Magic Circle, Ali Bongo.

We think this is a fantastic read and offers humorous and exciting insights into the life of the most loved British magician of the last fifty years.

To find out more about the book click here or to purchase the book click here.

Magicians.co.uk was proud to provide some magical entertainment for the CLIC Sargent Bonfire Ball on Friday.  The event was held at the historic HAC (The Honourable Artillery Company) in London and saw over 350 guests arrive for an evening of music, fine dining and great entertainment. The star-studded event raised a huge £100,000 profit for the charity.

 If you would like to enquire about how we can help with your fundraising events by perhaps hosting a charity auction or providing magical entertainment please click here to contact us.

Last weekend there were lots of spooky happenings going on all over the country. Not only were there hundreds of ghosts, ghouls, witches and warlocks patrolling the streets but our magicians were out and about performing some real spooky magic! From cutting people in half to spooky séances, pulling frogs out of witches’ hats, pumpkin magic, fortune telling, mind reading and more, we were really freaking people out! 

 Halloween is just one of the thousands of events that we can customise our magic for. If you have a special occasion coming up and would like to make it extra special with some themed magic, click here to contact us.