Winston & Me

We go back a long way, me and the Great Man. When I was first getting into magic, age 13, my favourite book was 'Magician's Magic', which describes how Churchill was repeatedly fooled, one wartime evening, by a trick called Out of This World. It's such a classic that magicians still perform it regularly, and no less than Derren Brown featured a version not long ago. I've been a Churchill fan for as long as I can remember, so it was both a surprise and a total delight, when his Memorial Trust agreed to include Moi, in their annual round of Travel Fellowships.

What this means, is that I can fulfil a long cherished aim of visiting Las Vegas, and studying there with the world's best magic teachers! I'll be attending an extended Masterclass with the astounding Jeff McBride (recently featured on Criss Angel's shows among others) and the remarkable Eugene Burger (ditto the Beeb's recent series on magic, and a zillion others). Then since they know everyone who's anyone, hopefully I will get to meet them too, and suck their brains dry. In a nice way, of course. Previously I only experienced Jeff & Eugene's teaching in Amsterdam, for a visiting Masterclass. For a magician, it's life-changing. In an age when Magic, like everything, is increasingly commodified, (ie made into something you can supposedly buy), it's amazing to have the experience of learning it the 'old-fashioned' way - aka the ONLY way, until about 100 years ago. Thank you, Winston.

FAME AT LAST!

Made it to the dizzy heights of the Bath Chronicle today, all to do with this Travel Fellowship thingy I have just been awarded. Of which more anon, but now, in the absence of a hot Valentine date (though the night is young), time to pack for Center Parcs tomorrow...