The lecture was attended by over fifty members, visitors and juniors. Eddie began by introducing David who describes his job as a Magic Man, Book Writer and Funny Talker.David began with an opening routine in which he made a one litre Cola bottle disappear and demonstrated his tape measure wrist watch. David went on to perform tricks in which sponge balls vanished followed by the appearance of sponge rabbits and sponge hand.

Various other tricks were performed and explained including the Flower Wallet, Big Red Nose, Hocus Pocus Hare, Future Fungus, Glow Loop Bottles, The Big Black Hat, The Snake Cans and many more.David demonstrated silent magic to music using Rocco D’Lites which ended by changing the lights into a rainbow silk streamer.Throughout the lecture David emphasised key words by sticking them on a back drop. These words described elements he used in his show that allow him to get the best reaction from his audience.The routines demonstrated were contained in his lecture notes and many of the props and gimmicks required to perform these routines were available at a very reasonable price.Eddie thanked David for an enjoyable and informative evening and the reaction from the members and visitors showed that they fully appreciated and enjoyed this lecture.

Ten members competed in this heat. David Hand opened the competition by performing Compact Discovery – a trick identifying a free selection of a tune from a CD. Rex Stott followed by having a freely selected pair from a deck of cards being identified using two jokers. Brian Wilson demonstrated Supermatic from Magigram. This was followed by Eddie Dawes performing a Jack Hughes trick with jumbo cards. Arthur Setterington performed a trick using alphabet cards in which a selected word was correctly spelt out. Jim Hyam performed a giant card mind reading trick. Malcolm Bromwich followed this by mysteriously knotting a ring on a rope. Walt Lees went on to perform a trick using dice and a deck of cards. Brian Waltham correctly identified a card using a coloured tube. Roland Tuplin closed the competition by performing a trick involving a colour changing house. The result was a win for Eddie Dawes with Walt Lees in second place.

Brian once again entertained members with a range of tricks from Magigram. Brian performed the following:Nine a Side – Effective Conjuring by Will Blyth, Sticky Fingered Jack by Ken de Courcy – Magigram vol. 9, no.2, Optical Illusion by David Britland – Magigram vol 9, no.2, A Novel Colour Force by Arthur Carter – Magigram vol 9, no.2, Seeing Red by George Blake – Magigram vol13, no3, Two of a Kind by I Rowland – Magigram vol 9, no 3, Fantastic Figures of Fu by Jack Hughes, Spirit Slates by Douglas Parker – Magigram vol6, no 3. Following his performance, Brian was thanked by Eddie Dawes on behalf of all members present.

The first heat of the Simpson Shield was organised by Ron Thompson. Eleven members competed in this heat. A variety of tricks were performed and the result was a win for Paul Kitchen with a Russian Roulette effect using Party Poppers.

Roni began his Theatrical Magic evening by performing a trick in which ice was placed into two boxes, mysteriously the ice in the colder box was seen to melt rapidly whilst the ice in the warmer box remained frozen. He then went on to perform a trick assisted by Sylvia in which a card was selected from a tarot deck using a crystal pendulum. Roni then entertained members with a story of Eva and Raphael Frankintoff during which photographs vanished and were replaced with the words Save our Souls and Shame the Satan, after the pair had made a pact with the devil.He finished with a story about a seamstress called Eva who magically made a continuous red thread from numerous small pieces of thread. The thread was then lit from a match which had already been struck and extinguished.Eddie thanked Roni for an extremely entertaining and theatrical evening.

Eddie Dawes began by introducing Chuck Hickok to the forty members and eight visitors attending the lecture. Chuck began by talking of his passion for Mentalism. Focusing on Corporate work, he sees himself firstly as an entertainer and secondly as a mentalist. Chuck said he gets people to relax, have fun and experience something amazing and he achieves all this through his Mentalism.Chuck went on to demonstrate and explain his Magic Square; a quick, interesting and amazing demonstration of rapid mathematics. This was followed by a postcard memory performance which was three quick, amazing and amusing demonstrations of memory skills using a stack of fifty postcards.Chuck went on to influence selections made by three members of the audience whilst performing Triple Influence. Each selection correctly matched what was printed on a banner that was on display before the demonstration started. The lecture ended with a Final Forecast in which he revealed predictions he had made before the lecture based on several free choices made during the show.

The Pocket Trick Drive, well organised by Rex Stott, proved to be an event enjoyed by all. Twenty-five members filled five tables with a few onlookers. A variety of tricks were shown including cards, dice, chains, sponges, ropes and coins. There were old and new ideas and everybody had the opportunity to watch the magic performed by all other members as participants swapped tables between fifteen minute rounds.

Born May 8th 1915. Of the many magicians who appeared at the Tivoli Theatre in Hull, Douglas Francis was one of the most popular with his act On The Way Home. There have been many drunk acts and Douglas Francis’ was a classic example, playing the part of a late-night reveller in the street clinging onto a lamppost. Douglas has signed this to Bert - All the very best from Douglas Francis ‘Still on the Way Home’. It is interesting that Bert Dexter himself often performed as a drunk.Douglas Francis was born in Liverpool, his real name according to Bart Whaley was Douglas Francis Jones. He wrote two magical booklets Right Under Your Nose and Spectator’s Choice published in 1947 and 1953 respectively.

Well, actually Arthur enters his sixtieth magical year in 2005 but rather than wait until January we celebrated on Thursday November 18, fairly close to the date of his original initiation show on November 1. As Arthur said, “At my age I want to be sure I am at the celebration!” And we can have another one next year.

In 1945 when HMC President, Ernest Connolly (of Connolly Shield fame), and about ten other members watched Arthur’s audition act they would have no idea that here was a young man destined to become internationally known for his writing, his creativity in dreaming up new effects and his knowledge of magical history. In those days HMC met at The Lord Collingwood public house (no longer in existence, but not far from The Sailmakers). Arthur performed Vanishing Wand, caused a thought of card to vanish from an envelope and appear in a matchbox, vanished a cigarette, changed a cigarette to a ribbon and a silk to a ball. Despite a slight slip – a wand tip fell from the wand shell as Arthur was screwing it up - Arthur was unperturbed, he picked it up and vanished it with a French Drop, and reproduced the wand. He was accepted into membership.

At this celebration of Arthur’s tremendous achievement, HMC President, Eddie Dawes introduced the evening by describing Arthur’s many talents and mentioned some of the awards that Arthur has received. Eddie acknowledged the enormous contribution that Arthur has made to the development of many young magicians. The evening was divided into two parts – the first consisted of presentations by some of Arthur’s friends performing tricks that Arthur had selected.Arthur called it, Tricks I Remember.Eddie Dawes was first on with Visible Penetration by Charles Waller from Greater Magic – one of Arthur’s early magical books. In this effect a silk, representing Houdini “escapes” from the prison of a glass covered with a larger silk. Arthur spoke about the background to his writing The Joe Smith Mysteries and his liking for monologues. He invited Bernard Reubens to perform The Indian Rope Trick and Richard Morrell to perform Joe in London. Then followed a blindfolded card divination effect by Arthur, sans glasses. Arthur is credited with starting the magical Elastic Band movement and Ray Burrell presented Stargazer with elastic bands to mark this. One of Arthur’s favourite tricks – Selbit’s Blocks was shown by Michael Harrop. A regular visitor to our Annual Dinner and old friend of Arthur, Irwin Wallace, had made the long trek from Penrith, in Cumbria, to be present. Irwin paid tribute to the hospitality, help and friendship he and his friend Alan Workman had received from Arthur over the years. Irwin and Alan had appeared on television with Arthur at the time of a book launch of the Dawes and Setterington Book of Magic, and we were able to view the video of the broadcast.Malcolm presented Tom Harris’s version of Gasometer, lighting a gas mantle with his breath! Arthur has had a great interest in Houdini and invited Jon Marshall to perform his Siberian Chain escape and Seven Keys routine with patter about the famous German Houdini Libel trial.Finally Derren Litten, having driven up specially from London, performed an excellent Book Test.

After the break it was “My Latest Trick” and Arthur showed several of his latest creations, some published and some shortly to be seen in Abra.They included Four Aces, a Jumbo Card routine and Word upon Word - a trick with alphabet cards (to appear in the January 2005 Linking Ring). After a trick with a tube and ball was explained, Arthur showed Colorite, published recently in Abra and followed-up by Phil Goldstein. From The Oracle Arthur presented Calendar Cards. The Card Gadget and Spin a Ring completed the lecture demonstration second half. Elsie was present and Arthur thanked her for her support and help over the years.The evening can be summed up by Derren’s comments, he said, “I wouldn’t have missed this night for the world. I’ve known Arthur and Elsie since I was ten and a magical beginner. I have received and valued their kindness, help and magical advice. I had to be there.” Those who were enjoyed an outstanding and entertaining night and Eddie thanked Arthur, and the performers, on behalf of the members.

This is the second year of this competition for the trophy so generously donated by Arthur and Elsie Setterington, and the six competitors, introduced and well managed by former members of Humberside Young Magicians, provided first-class entertainment for Hull Magicians’ Circle and guests.

Thomas Collinson started confidently with the production of a red silk and then went into his excellent Ring and Rope routine which he performed to music. Other items in his programme involved the mental classic Thought Transmitter and Jay Sankey’s In a Flash. Jay himself would have been pleased with his confident handling. Thomas set a high standard which was to be maintained throughout the whole competition.Dale Constable, looking every inch a magician, performed with confidence. His was a patter act and he spoke clearly and amusingly. He exhorted those in the audience to cut down on their smoking and eventually produced a mini cigarette. His colour-changing CD routine showed good handling throughout.It was Joe Harper from Driffield’s first appearance in the competition but, you would never have guessed, watching him perform his impressive range of close-up magic, producing eggs, releasing blocks and finding selected cards. He related well with the audience and had a good running gag with Danny Hargreaves who was compèring the competition.

Danny then introduced Grant Constable resplendent in his fez. Grant did some good magic to which he brought his own personal twist and it was really effective. Instead of ropes he used gold and silver chains to perform Paul Curry’s classic routine. His version of Cups and Balls involved pet hedgehogs. Therefore you clearly felt this was the magic he wanted to do and his patter was made to measure. (One of my pet dislikes apart from the Frustration Count is seeing young magicians doing tricks and patter totally inappropriate to their age and it was delightfully refreshing to see that none of the competitors fell into this trap.) Grant finished on a high note with a very, very good handling of Rainbow Cascade – Elmsley Count and all!Alan Underwood went on next and again you would not have thought that this was his first time in a close-up competition. After a good Cups and Balls routine he made lollipops change colour and turned a light bulb on and off at his command. He finished with the David Regal version of Jim Steinmeyer’s Nine Card Trick. The final revelation of all the other eight cards being blank was a stunner.The final act was Dan Taylor, another first-timer who had only finally decided to enter the competition ten minutes before it was due to start. He impressively performed two items recently purchased following the David Ginn lecture and concluded with a prediction using Jumbo cards.

So ended a strong and successful competition. Danny Hargreaves as compère and Marley Rudland as stage manager deserved a lot of credit for ensuring everything went smoothly. Judges, (all the HMC members) placed Grant Constable first and Thomas Collinson as runner-up. The competition was well attended and it was good to see so many Mums, Dads, grandparents et al, supporting their youngsters. Ray Burrell, as Vice President, made the presentations and everyone seemed happy. With youngsters like these waiting to join HMC the future looks bright. But just a note of caution. As things stand, sixteen-year-olds still at school will now have to find £50 (entrance fee and subscription) before they can become members. Food for thought!!

Rex Stott reports. As I left Walkington, just before 7.00 p.m. to drive the few miles to Brough, it started to rain. Three miles and five minutes later as I descended from Welton Top the heavens opened. I sat in my car outside the Church Hall for at least ten minutes waiting for the deluge to ease off. I certainly didn’t fancy the thirty-yard dash to the door. I also began to wonder if there would be any audience at all for the event. I knew all the competitors would turn up but Joe Public was another matter. Eventually about a dozen drowned rodents appeared. They were joined by several members of HMC and a goodly number of Humberside Young Magicians and their friends and family giving a total of about a couple of dozen ticket holders. But, my, didn’t they do well! What they lacked in numbers, they more than made up in enthusiasm. It was a delight to sit at the back taking these notes and hear the number of spontaneous “oohs and “aahs” as the competition progressed.Michael Harrop had planned to use two tables but the reduced numbers caused him to halve his plans. So this year the competitors performed at one table instead of the three of last year.

First on was Richard Morrell, last year’s winner. His skilful Rope Routine, confident patter and obvious audience management skills ensured that the competition got off to a good start. His strong finish, which included the appearance of a Plant Pot full of pennies, must have caught the judges’ eyes.

A previous winner, Ray Burrell, was next on and, once again, an easy and comfortable rapport was established with the audience. In his relaxed style he told of his early interest in magic and did a very basic plastic Cups and Balls routine using apparatus from a magic set. This was eventually followed up by a full-sized version of the effect and his kicker finish was to produce the small set of cups from under the larger – very neat and very clever.Roland Tuplin started his act with the Chains and Knots routine, which had so impressed HMC members recently on the My Latest Trick evening. Members of the lay audience were completely mesmerised by this and by his Ring and Rope routine during which one youngster on the front row was heard to say, in a loud whisper, “It’s magic!”It was nice to see the next competitor, Kevin Ward, so often the winner of the stage competition, venturing into the field of close-up. Kevin is an experienced working semi-professional and, oozing confidence, he soon had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. They liked his Floating Card and his Invisible Deck routine and marvelled at the appearance of a borrowed ring on a key ring. On a personal note I was very impressed by his routine using a banded-deck where the face card dramatically changes to the selected card. Why not ask him to do it on Request Night? It’s a stunner!

Everything was going well and Domanic Li maintained this momentum with some very skilful card work. Then disaster and the curse of HMC competitions struck and Domanic did well to regain his composure and bring the act to a successful conclusion.Another previous winner, Tom Wilkinson, then took to the floor and, strangely seeming a bit nervous, took a while to settle. But settle he soon did, and Flash Cash and Sidewalk Shuffle were obvious winners with the audience. No cups and balls this year but a very baffling disappearance and re-appearance of a marked coin in a small envelope produced a strong reaction.Paul Kitchen must have gained maximum points for appearance. His infectious smile won over the audience as did his excellent version of Richard Pinner’s Casino Melt where three spectators cards appear in a glass. Paul finished with a well routined Coins-Across effect.

When the next competitor came forward it appeared as though he hadn’t any props with him. This was a ruse because once Malcolm Bromwich had produced some items from a glasses-case he did a wide range of bewildering impromptu magic that Martin Gardner would have been proud of. I know he’s going to share some of that routine with the Young Magicians at the next meeting and they are in for a treat.The final act (and how the time had flashed by, so good was the magic) was Gordon Stow. The audience liked his gentle, dry humour and his confident magic. The feature of his act was a Card-Printing routine, which produced several bursts of spontaneous applause from the audience.

An excellent competition came to an end and it was clearly obvious that the judges, Phil Peters and Mark Lee (of Merlins Magic) and a lay member of the audience, would have a difficult job in placing the competitors in order of merit. This is exactly what happened because half a dozen points separated the first five competitors. HMC President, Eddie Dawes, made specific reference to the very high standard as he presented the prizes to Richard Morrell as winner, Tom Wilkinson, runner-up and Roland Tuplin, third.The men from Merlins were very impressed with the standard, which they said would not have been out of place at an IBM close-up competition. What they particularly liked, they said, was that the competitors did good, strong, entertaining magic and, be fair, you can’t ask for much more. Despite the appalling weather, the evening raised nearly £60 for Brough Methodist Church. Another success for HMC – an excellent competition, well organised by Tom Wilkinson and Michael Harrop and well supported both by HMC and HYM.

Emagic brings you news of two new magic sites. Ryan Pilling has undertaken a very exciting project - his Magic Broadcast site (http://www.magicbroadcast.com). He hopes to broadcast magical radio twenty-four hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. To log on and listen to the content you’ll need software, the best being Winamp (http://www.winamp.com) if you have it, or you can use Windows Media Player which should be installed by default on your PC. Ryan is currently building up the site and is testing his concept with a few programmes that repeat. He has an interview with Michael Ammar, an episode of Dunninger’s original radio show, where you can hear him read the minds of the studio audience, and the premier episode of Ryan’s Brain Poke series. You can join in the discussions on the forum and take part in competitions. If you are feeling brave you can even contribute to the programmes by leaving a short message on the Talkback Line; for those of us not in the U.S. this requires e-mailing an audio file to the show. You can even host your own show or apply to appear on one of the shows as an expert.

The second site to bring you in this issue of Oracle is actually a rebirth of an old site. Cheaters Cheater (http://www.thecheaterscheater.com) caused a ‘bit of a stir’ the first time it was launched. It vanished but is now back with a brand new look. Essentially it is a site where you can download video clips of magic that people have recorded and uploaded. You can see clips of moves, short routines and tricks, and they also have a section for comedy clips, which are those funny videos you sometimes get sent via e-mail! You can rate the videos, and join in the discussion forum.Talking about sites coming back from the dead, Sleightgeek (http://www.sleightgeek.com) has just re-opened after being hacked. In a similar vein to the Cheaters Cheater this is a forum where you can post videos of yourself doing tricks and chat to the other members.Have you ever wondered what the big stars demand when they do a show? Well now you can find out. The Smoking Gun site (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/) which publishes copies of interesting documents, has opened a Backstage section (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/index.html) where you can read the rider documents of lots of big name celebrities, including David Copperfield (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/dcopp/dcopp1.html) and Penn and Teller (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/pennteller/pennteller1.html).

If you are planning to buy some magic around this festive season, beware of the pirates. There has been a lot of talk on the internet magic boards recently about rip-off products, mostly coming from certain dealers. The ‘finger of blame’ is pointed at such dealers as Magic Makers (http://www.magicmakersinc.com) who are very closely aligned with Penguin Magic (http://www.penguinmagic.com/). You can read all about the rip-offs at the Bazar de Magia site (http://magia.com.ar/robstiff/) who seem to have fallen foul of Rob Stiff and Magic Makers. Tim Ellis lists products of a dubious nature and the source of the original on his site - Magic Fakers (http://www.magicunlimited.com/magic_fakers.htm). It pays to support the originators of magical routines.

Read some interesting comments on this at John W. LeBlanc’s excellent new weblog, Escamoteurettes (http://www.escamoteurettes.com/blog/) where he expands at length. It’s required reading! Finally something to keep you amused over the holidays, in the form of puzzles. Sam Loyd was a famous American puzzle creator, whom I first became aware of through the work of Martin Gardner. Possibly one of his most famous puzzles was entitled Get Off The Earth and involves the vanish of a Chinese Warrior. You can see it working at a French site, Les Guerriers Chinois de Loyd (http://tinyurl.com/42mwz). You will need the FLASH plug-in to get this to work and you can actually rotate the globe and see how the warrior vanishes. For a fuller explanation head over to Jim Loy’s puzzle site where he explains the theory behind it (http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/getoff.htm). Another of Sam’s famous puzzles was The Trick Donkeys (http://www.defectiveyeti.com/images/trickmules.jpg); you’ll need to print the page, cut the figure into three parts and position the jockey strip onto the other two pieces so that it looks like each jockey is riding a donkey, and folding is not allowed. If you really need to peek at the solution it can be found here - (http://www.defectiveyeti.com/mules/mules-solution.jpg). Have fun!

Member of HMC for two years and long time member of the BMS (British Magical Society - Birmingham) Ron Thompson has retired and moved to Nafferton in the East Riding. Their loss is our gain, members will have seen Ron participate in club nights and he is now the Simpson Shield host. He is presenting It's a Gamble, an evening with, of course, gambling as its theme on February 17. Something Ron knows a little about as he spent over forty years in the casino business progressing from croupier to Gaming Director. The Spotlight asked if Ron ever used his magic skills in the casino - his reply, “What! And get lynched!”

When and how did you become interested in magic?
There was an advert in the Wizard comic, in about 1947, for the Boy's Magic Service, Prestatyn. I sent for a catalogue and was hooked.

Who is your favourite magician?
Ken Brooke rates pretty high with me.

What book are you reading at the moment?
One of my hobbies is reading, I enjoyed Poisonwood Bible and I like Bruce Elliot's magic books. My first magic book was Magic as a Hobby.

How did you join HMC and how long have you been a member?
Well I'm a fairly new boy to HMC. Having been a member of the Staffs Magical Society and then the BMS for many years I just had to join a local society to keep up my interest when I retired to Yorkshire. My son and family live around here and we followed in 2002.

Close-up or Stage?
I enjoy close-up and stand up and I also admire some of the fine illusion acts around.

Best Night at HMC and why?
I love them all! Gazzo performed very well but talked crap!

Anything you would change at HMC?
I like the fact that we're not lectured at every week. You have to get off your ass and do tricks.

Red or Blue Backed Cards?
Strippers every time!

David Copperfield or David Blaine?
How about an Englishman? - Gordon Stow gets my vote.

Do you have a favourite film?
Brassed Off - a good Yorkshire film.

What is your all time favourite trick that you perform?
Charlie Edward's Flick Book.

Rope Tricks or Card Tricks?
Cards. And I'm not a coin magician - I can never tell copper from silver.

Your best magical experience?
Being asked to open the BMS Diamond Jubilee close-up show in 1964. I was on the bill with Francis Haxton and Tom Harris. Funny they never asked me back!

Sawing in Half or Levitation?
I'd rather have a rise anytime.

Many magicians know the wonderful act of Mr. Electric – Marvyn Roy. The subject of my In Town Tonight article, Voltaire, was the progenitor of this dynamic act when, on his retirement, he sold the rights to a number of his electric effects to Marvyn Roy. Voltaire was the stage name of William Jean Arrendorff. Known as Bobby Arren he was born in Britain on December 7 1909. While still a child he moved to Canada and later became an assistant in a Medicine-Show. Bobby returned to Britain and performed various acts without great success. On one occasion he appeared in Hull in a Wonders of the World show presenting a robot that carried out domestic chores including shaving an audience volunteer with a cut-throat razor. Then he created a novelty magic act that was very popular.

He was the first person to perform an entire magic act using electric light bulbs. I saw him in August 1945 at The Tivoli Theatre. Voltaire began his act by Voltaireproducing light bulbs from the air and causing them to light in his hands. He took a red bulb and it changed colour to yellow. He continued with a neat Floating Bulb routine. The sensational part of his act came when, after donning gloves and a pair of tinted goggles, he magically illuminated a huge lighthouse bulb which lit up the whole theatre. Rapturous applause followed this feat but his next and final effect was, I felt, an anti-climax. Voltaire showed a number of bulbs in a box, placed the front on the box and lit the bulbs. It could be seen that the front had the word EXIT cut out and the lights shone through. He explained that “exit” meant go and with that the box front dropped open and the bulbs had vanished, a cue for his exit.On his retirement he became a farmer and he died on April 26 1986.

Eddie welcomed Tony who is currently on a world tour, having travelled from his home in New Zealand to America and then onto the UK and Europe. Tony is the first I.B.M. president to come from the Southern Hemisphere. His presentation took the form of a twenty-minute stand-up routine, and then twenty minutes of close-up magic. Following which he invited questions on any of the material. His idea was to show what could be done with props that would pack small, and would play to both a lay audience and to an audience of magicians, as he would be encountering both on his travels. Tony’s stand-up routine incorporated a novel Wayne Roger’s touch on the Monkey Bar, and also good use of Wayne’s appearing Opinion Pole. We also saw the New Zealand Compass, Phil Goldstein’s Jumbo B’Wave, Ribbon, Ropes and Rings, Supreme Magic’s Ribbon Rings and a Finger Ring Vanish to a Ring Box, in a glass, wrapped in a silk, in a nest of paper bags.

After a short interval, Tony was ready to do twenty minutes of close-up magic, all his props coming from a small chocolate box. He showed us his Sponge Bunny transformation, a Peter Marucci idea from The Linking Ring which was a two-in-the-hand, one-in-the-pocket trick using the three little pigs. A novel version of the haunted Glorpy handkerchief had members intrigued, and a stand out item was Tony’s take on Ken Brooke’s Okito Box routine. Tony finished his close-up set using New Zealand’s national symbol, the Kiwi Bird. This was in the form of a wind-up toy which went on to find a chosen card. Lots of questions were asked about the material shown, and Tony’s ideas’ and approaches to magic.Eddie thanked Tony for a wonderful evening, and Tony then presented Eddie with the Fiftieth issue of Magicana magazine and a Ring 160 Newsletter and IBM Ring banner. He also presented him with an IBM President’s citation.

The five teams taking part in this year’s quiz were Huddersfield, Barnsley, Hull, York and, new-comers, South Lincs. Mike Shepherd was the quizmaster and with his usual jovial humour he managed to put the contestants at ease and provide some ongoing entertainment. Almost an hour of questions made up the first half. Rapidly fired at the fifteen individuals, they could pick from categories of Magical History, Magical Literature, Magical Dealers, General Magic and Magicians, Old and New. A quick interval provided much needed refreshment, with a veritable feast laid on by our friendly innkeeper, Dave, and enjoyed by the teams, local supporters and visiting friends.

Mike started the second half by showing various replica magic posters and he asked the teams to come up with the date of the subject of the poster. Examples included Kellar’s Golden Butterfly (1906), Nelson Downs – King of Koins (1900), Chung Ling Soo and his Ten Assistants (1905) and the Davenport Brothers Cabinet Séance (1865). The second half closed with one more round of individual questioning. Then it was time for the scores, in reverse order, South Lincs., York, Barnsley, runners-up Huddersfield, and the winning Hull team of Arthur Setterington, Eddie Dawes and Richard Morrell. Second place Huddersfield were the proud recipients of the now legendary CD, and if you are passing through Huddersfield listen for the sounds of Scottish Bagpipe melodies! And for first place Hull received the Castle Magic Quiz Trophy, and each team member an ornamental paper-weight.

Throughout the evening Mike also ran an audience quiz, including the question ‘Who is the current I.B.M. International President?’ The fact that Tony Wilson, the current I.B.M. International President, happened to be sat in the audience was no coincidence, I wonder if he got that one correct? The audience quiz came down to a tie-break between Jan Stott, and Roxanne Broadbent, Jan finally relented when she found out the prize was… a Scottish Bagpipe CD and a Paper-weight!The whole evening was being video taped by Bernard Reuben to show to our member Chris Pawson who is currently too ill to attend meetings. Eddie thanked the other teams, and quizmaster Mike for another superb evening of fun and camaraderie.

Free And Easy The evening was attended by approximately twenty members and informal and relaxed. There was plenty of time for members to socialise, talk about magic and perform some close-up tricks. Whilst some members preferred to listen and watch, others performed their tricks, all were seated around a large table.

Rex Stott impressed Karen with a rope trick routine which he has been working on. Arthur Setterington demonstrated the versatility of everyday objects in magic as he performed a clever trick using his belt. Tom Wilkinson and Alan Johnston entertained Sylvia Harrop with a gambling trick using a looped chain. Ron Thompson performed a trick with a borrowed ring and a handkerchief. Malcolm Bromwich showed an elaborate card trick. One advantage of this evening was that members were willing to repeat their tricks a number of times when requested, providing the opportunity for those interested to learn the method.

Alan Shaxon on Robert Harbin - Alan Shaxon, President of The Magic Circle, made the trip to Hull despite having been involved in a car crash the day before! He said that Robert Harbin had been one of the main influences on his own magic and called him a modern-day David Devant. Not only was he an ingenious inventor but also a marvellous performer. Alan presented an affectionate and humorous description of Robert Harbin and his magic and this was richly illustrated not only by short clips of his performance on T.V. but also by showing some of Harbin’s actual props.

We were told how his Zig-Zag Lady illusion took the magical world by storm and we were regaled with anecdotes of his time cruising and working the halls. We were also treated to a video clip of Alan himself performing, on The Paul Daniels Show, the illusion Little by Little. In the second half Alan, ably assisted by Anne, gave a stunning presentation of the Blades of Opah and a very clever walking-through-rope routine.For many people one of the highlights of the evening was to see Alan perform Harbin’s Sawing in Halves using the original props. We were told of Harbin’s lasting contribution to the world of origami and the generous legacy he gave to The Origami Society.

How do you finish an evening like this? Well, Alan had the answer. He performed one of his own favourite pieces which included a whisky bottle, a cigar box and a pack of cards. This was good old-fashioned conjuring at its best and Alan’s explanation of the ingenious way the bottle was switched produced gasps of admiration. The loud and sustained applause at the end of the evening showed how much the members had enjoyed the lecture. But it was more than a lecture. It gave us a privileged insight into the mind of one of the true legends of magic and was presented in a delightful, affectionate and humorous way by Alan Shaxon. All in all it was a memorable evening and members spontaneously expressed their gratitude to our President for providing such a fitting end to our 70th year.

Born John, known as Jack, Milton was inspired at age five, obtained a box of tricks at age ten and made his magical debut at age fourteen. After a spell in the drapery business he became a professional in 1937 and toured with great success being particularly known for his “Wonder Bar” act. The Fred and Dorothy referred to are of course Bert and his wife (Bert’s real name was Fred Sowerby). Rita later became Rita Budd, partner to David Budd touring a very polished silent act with silks and flowers, ‘Magic in Lavender’. Milton became British Ring IBM President in 1963 but died in office.

I was always taught that a story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but, as Eric Morecambe used to say, not necessarily in that order. So let’s start at the end of the story with Daniel Hargreaves being declared the winner for the sixth time in succession. I was always taught never say never but, let me tell you, this feat will never be repeated. What an achievement!

The five competitors collectively put on what was acknowledged as the best show for many years and with only one point separating first and second it could not have been closer. Compère Paul Kitchen got the show off to a good start and then kept things moving very smoothly between the performances with funny gags and strong visual magic.

First up was fourteen-year-old Alan Underwood, showing no signs of nerves on his debut appearance in The Spooner Trophy. His act included Card in Bottle, a version of Jim Steinmeyer’s Nine Card Trick, a block release and a stage version of The Clock Trick, constructed by his father. Next on was Grant Constable, at 12 the youngest competitor and another Spooner debutant. His cheeky smile and engaging patter soon had the audience on his side. He did some good magic which ranged from a skilful performance of Rainbow Cascade, through a neck penetration, to a sack and chains escape. Thomas Collinson was impressive with a skilful Ring and Rope routine performed to music. Amazing the audience with his polished performance of The Perfect Match, he closed with colourful silk productions. Five times winner Daniel Hargreaves then took to the stage. His opening trick, disappearing cane from silk foulard, was a real stunner – thanks to the wonder of Pledge! (see me for details). He then proceeded to perform a very well rehearsed act which featured a rope escape, a Magic Colouring Book, Ali Bongo’s multiplying straws and a card trick about Aliens. The final act, another new kid on the block, was fourteen-year-old Dale Constable. He looked the part and did some good stage magic which included a Billiard Ball routine, a Book Test and the sudden appearance of balls from inside a previously seen-empty casket. Here was another well structured act which had a strong opener – disappearing flames.

After just over an hour of excellent magic it was time for the judges, Joe Gray, Joan Wadsworth and Dot Prescott under the chairmanship of Arthur Setterington to reach a decision. It was not going to be easy.After the break Paul Kitchen entertained the audience with more excellent and original magic before introducing Malcolm Bromwich and Roxanne Broadbent who performed, inter alia, their Maskelyne Silver Wand Competition winning act. There was an audible gasp throughout the theatre when Malcolm banged the two sides of the screen together and all were relieved to find Roxanne unharmed.Then it was presentation time and HMC Vice President Ray Burrell presented The Tadman Trophy to Thomas Collinson and The Spooner Trophy to Daniel Hargreaves. All the competitors received a certificate and a cash prize. The replicas which were given to the two winners were provided by the family of Geoff Bell in his memory.

The show ran like clockwork and credit for that must go to Richard Morrell, Brian Wilson and Tim Cockerill who followed absentee, Jon Marshall’s, written instructions to the letter. Elsie Setterington and Sylvia Harrop performed their front-of-house duties expertly and Janice Stott ran a lucrative magic raffle for HYM funds. Hull Magicians’ Circle was well represented in the audience and Roni, Malcolm Bromwich, David Hand, Brian Waltham, Rex Stott, Domanic Li, Alan Johnston and Ray Burrell entertained the audience prior to the show.See you all next year.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a reunion at The Central School of Speech and Drama (or Central School of Screech and Trauma as we used to call it) and I must say an old saying of my Grandmother’s sprang to mind, “I’d rather go and boil my head”. You see I went to drama school to ‘do plays’, something I wanted to do ever since I had my ‘theatrical appetite’ whetted by Richard Green of Northern Theatre (hmm, something tells me that last bit doesn’t look too good in print). But in the first two years of drama school all we seemed to do was lie on the floor with a book under our heads reciting John Dunne and when we weren’t doing that we were jumping around pretending to be the animals we’d been ‘observing’ that morning in Regents Park Zoo (yes, sadly, your tax really did go to support me jumping from desk to desk as a meerkat).

Anyway, the point of me telling you all this is because it got me thinking how I started as an actor and I remembered the reason I got my first few jobs was not because I’d studied the Alexander Technique or that I could scuttle across the room with a more than a passing resemblance to an African mongoose, it was because I was a magician. Minder, Pie in The Sky (Series V), A Touch of Frost; in all of these jobs I remember getting on much better with the director at the casting interview after I was asked what I did before I went to drama school. There can’t have been many actors who said, “I was a magician”. I feel very lucky to have been able to make my living from acting over the past ten years (and more recently by writing for television) but it is my association with magic that has provided me with so many great memories and even greater friendships. While planning a recent holiday to Las Vegas I decided to look at a few web sites to see what shows would be on offer. I noticed a special show at The Monte Carlo hotel that had a tremendous line up including Lance Burton (its resident star), The Great Thomsoni, Jeff McBride and Norm Nielsen.One minute led to a couple of hours (as surfing on the internet can) and I found myself on Norm’s web site marvelling at the wonderful original posters he has for sale. I saw a Sorcar poster I remembered admiring in a book years before and wondered if I should treat myself; the holiday would, after all, be during my birthday! I fired off an email to Norm Nielsen immediately asking if it was still for sale and suggesting I could maybe pick up the poster while I was in Vegas (name dropping our President as a mutual friend of course; thanks Eddie!).

The next day I received a very nice email from Norm giving his home number and telling me to give him a call when I got to Vegas. Fast forward a few weeks and I found myself sitting in my hotel room at The Aladdin Hotel (where Elvis was married!) and calling Norm Nielsen! It was, I thought, amazing that I am in a profession where I meet television ‘celebrities’ as a matter of course but there I was getting very excited about calling a magician I had grown up watching on The Paul Daniels Show. I remember as a teenager watching Norm’s act over and over again, I was familiar with the back palm but trying to work out how on earth those cards continued to appear from his empty interlocked fingers nearly wore out the tape. Not only did Norm and Lupe (his charming wife) invite me to their fabulous Las Vegas home to chat about magic and to view his astonishing collection of original posters (most of which are hung in a climatically controlled building adjacent to their house) but he insisted that they pick me up from my hotel and take me back again (they live some forty minutes away from the ‘Strip&rsquo. Where else but in the world of magic would you find such generosity between relative strangers? Acting has been very good to me and something I feel very privileged to call my job but magic will always be my first love. All together now, “aaaaahhhhhhhhh”.

There are loads of general auction sites, ebay style, on the web but now there is a new one specially for magicians. It's a brand new UK web site launched and written by Kevin Gallagher. After being disappointed and concerned by some of the professional magic items that appeared on eBay, Kevin decided to launch an auction website which offered the same type of facility but which was restricted to magicians.The website has been live since the middle of August and has slowly risen in popularity and usage. Take up has inevitably been a little slow until the site gets established but there is no risk to the seller since it is possible, if desired, to set a minimum bid and reserve price to ensure that no valuable items go for silly money (unlike most magical society auctions!).

A Dutch Auction facility is also provided which allows numerous identical items to be sold at the same time with bidders indicating how many items they are bidding for. At the end of the auction, the items are awarded to the highest bidders in the order they were received until there are none left. It is hoped to encourage magic dealers to place clearance items here.The website basically provides the service of placing winning bidders in direct contact with sellers. There is no charge for either selling or buying, all costs are currently being absorbed by Kevin. To bid for an item or put one up for sale, it is simply a case of registering at http://www.magic-auction.co.uk and, after responding to the automatic confirmation email, the account is activated and ready for use.Some very worthwhile items have so far been sold so it is well worth taking a look from time to time. If you have a number of magical items you would like to sell, this will hopefully provide the perfect forum.It's very easy and quick to sign up, and you will be instantly ready to buy and sell items, it's like a HMC auction night 24/7!

Now to other web-news, there has been a number of new magical weblogs springing up. As you may recall from previous articles, a weblog is generally described as a chronologic, constantly updated site consisting of links and commentary, usually run by an individual or small group. I believe my site at http://www.magician.org.uk was possibly the first proper magical weblog to exist when it started over four years ago; it seems that just recently this has caught on, possibly due to the publicity given to weblogs by the media, as they begin to realise what this corner of cyber-publishing has to offer.

Steve Pellegrino has just started two new blogs. He updated the L&L publishing site and replaced the message board there with a new L&L blog (http://www.llpub.com/weblog) and a personal weblog (http://magic.atomicbrew.com/) which is subtitled ‘Magic rants from the Web’ and is quite a hard-hitting blog focusing on dodgy magic dealers and message board exploits.Kellar’s Nightmare (http://magic.typepad.com/kellar/) is a new weblog with categories focusing on General Info, News, Stage, Television and History, and the last new blog I have spotted is Gordon Meyer’s Rebuilding a Mystery (http://gordon.typepad.com/magic/).That’s it for this issue, don’t forget to sign up for Kevin Gallagher’s Magic Auction site, tell him Oracle sent you!

Popular member, Roni, makes one of the longest treks to HMC events – Scarborough and back! And he rarely misses a meeting. Roni was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel. He has always been creative. He enjoyed playing music and drawing, but magic became his consuming passion. In 1980 he founded the Israeli Magic Club and served as their President for three years. Before his move to England the Israeli Society awarded him the honorary lifetime title of ‘Grand President’ in recognition of hi promotion of the art of magic. Most of his adult life he has spent as a professional entertainer, first as a musician then as a magician. Although he owned and ran other businesses magic was his first love. In his own words:-“I consider myself a very lucky person as I have always done what I loved best. The honest truth for me is that with the art of magic being such a wide and deep art, even now, I still feel as if I am but a humble beginner. To me Magic means exactly that”.

When did you become interested in magic?
In my youth I used to be a bass guitarist for a rock band, I composed music and wrote lyrics. In 1969 we became very popular and decided to put on a short cabaret. I bought a few magic tricks, Feather Flowers and such like. It went well and I left the rock band to perform magic.

Who is your favourite magician?
It would have to be the late Fred Kaps. I learnt a lot from watching him and my second manipulation act was built with Fred Kaps in mind. My first Manipulation act was my Dove act. I was inspired to do this act by a magician who was my mentor, his name was Jimmy Rogers.

What book are you reading at the moment?
At the moment I am very interested in Mediums. The book I am reading now is Behind the Scenes with the Mediums.

When not doing magic what do you do?
When I am not doing magic? Strange question to ask me. Sleep, I suppose.

How did you join the HMC and how long have you been a member?
I used to come as a visitor quite often to the HMC. On one of those visits Eddie asked me if I would like to join. I have never looked back. To my mind the HMC is one of the best magic clubs (if not the best) and I am grateful to Eddie for his very valuable suggestion. Members of the HMC should know, that it is a superbly run club and should seriously value their membership..How long have I been a member? Sorry Alzheimer’s is revisiting.

Close-up or stage?
It used to be stage; as I mentioned before, I performed manipulation acts when variety used to be the in-thing. These days I rather like the intimate type of close-up magic. Psychic work, mentalism, and readings are the subjects I like best.

Best night at the HMC and why?
It has to be the nights that the members take the stage. I like the camaraderie that we all enjoy at the HMC and there is no doubt in my mind that the knowledge possessed by our members is at least as good as any lecturer can offer.

Anything you would change at the HMC?
I can’t think of anything (which is unusual for me) but there you go.

Red or Blue backed cards?
Is this a psychological question?

Choose any car and put your own number plate on it.
It would have to be a Robin Reliant with the number plate UPM 10 IUP, which stands for ‘You Pay Me £10 If You Pass!’

David Copperfield or David Blaine?
It would have to be David Hand. After all he has all of our money.

Do you have a favourite film?
No.

What is your all time favourite trick that you perform?
There are a good few but the two that I like best are The Good Luck Charm and Ghostly Touches.Both are my own versions of mental effects.

Rope tricks or card tricks?
Definitely not Card tricks (Does this answer your question?)

What is your favourite colour?
It would have to be green and smell like a Dollar.

Best magical experience?
Finding my Queen of Hearts some thirty-two years ago.

Do you have a favourite card in the pack?
Yes. The one that wins.

Sawing in half or levitation?
Levitation I suppose. Reason? Why spoil a good-looking lady if you can levitate her?

Fire-eating acts were few and far between at The Tivoli. I can only remember three the whole time I visited the Theatre. One was our own Jon Gresham who launched his professional career as, “Europe’s Youngest Fire Eater”. Jon appeared in theatres, circus, cabaret, films and television.

The second was Koringa, who could be described as a lady fakir. Her act consisted of fire eating, climbing a ladder of swords and hypnotism. She had a number of crocodiles on stage, one by one she hypnotised them, leaving each creature with its jaws wide open. They remained like that until the end of her act. Two men, picked from the audience, laid Koringa on two trestles, her neck resting on one and her feet on the other. Despite the space underneath, she remained rigid. A concrete block was placed on her stomach and the men were given sledge hammers, with which they smashed the block. The lady remained rigid and was apparently none the worse for her ordeal. To conclude, she was placed in a box and a quantity of sand was tipped Fire Eatersover her. She remained in the box, under the sand for a lengthy period of time. The sand was removed and she emerged from the box to loud applause. Koringa gained plenty of publicity because of her unusual act.

The third fire eater was Donna Delbert, billed as the “Demon Fire Eater” She was beautifully gowned with shoulder length hair and striking features. She greatly impressed the Tivoli audience as she extinguished lighted torches in her mouth and blew a veritable inferno of fire to conclude her act.After leaving Hull she appeared in Newcastle where she was arrested by the police. Acting on a tip-off the police went to the theatrical digs where she was staying. The United States Air Force later accused Donna Delbert of leading a double life. It was revealed that “she” was in fact a “he” - Private Delbert Hill of Philadelphia, a deserter for four years. A girl who assisted in the fire eating act said she had been with Delbert for a month without suspecting anything. Hill was later court martialed. Jon Gresham continued his fire eating career for many years and often appeared on HMC shows, a welcome breath of variety amongst all the magicians. How good it is that our member Tim Cockerill has recreated Jon’s act and the tradition continues.Jon GreshamJon Gresham posterTim Cockerill