It's only a few days until Halloween and I've got a number of bookings coming up which will have an appropriately "scary" theme. 

Alongside the traditional dressing up (for example, last year I was Dracula at a corporate event for esure insurance) I'll be doing some "spooky" magic and, to enhance this, I've bought a special pack of "zombie" playing cards (see picture).  These were designed by the famous film director Tim Burton (probably with a little help from his wife, the delightful and slightly mad Helena Bonham-Carter).  I'm sure they will help set the mood.

Happy Halloween!

Most magic bookings are at the weekend and I certainly had a busy time recently.  On Friday I was at my regular slot at Heathrow airport, entertaining passengers flying out from Terminal 5.  The great thing about magic is that it can bypass the language barrier and I had a lot of fun entertaining a group of Japanese students who knew very little English, but could still be amazed by a card trick or two.  Straight after finishing at Heathrow I drove to a golf club in FInchampstead for a special party and many thanks to Neil for organising everything - a great time was had by all!

On Saturday I spent the afternoon at Mike and Katie's wedding in Sunningdale.  I arrived in torrential rain, which is never what you want at a wedding, but then a few minutes later it started to hail!  The ground turned white and it looked as though the wedding reception would be all indoors when suddenly the hail stopped, the sun came out and the temperature shot up.  British weather is always a bit unpredictable but this really was strange, but the sun was very welcome and meant lots of great photos could be taken outside the main entrance of Northcote House.  The magic (and a few balloons) went down really well with everyone - congratulations to Mike and Katie and all the best for your future together.

Saturday evening was spent at Mike and Ruth's wedding anniversary in London.  They had chosen a rather special venue - Tower Bridge!  You go in through a small door and up a spiral staircase to the lounge and dining area.  The views over London are spectacular and it really is an amazing place and perfect for some magic.  As it was a special romantic event I ended the performance with a huge illusion - getting Mike and Ruth to look out of the window and see every car driving over the bridge transform into a heart!  The following day Mike sent me an email saying "Thank you so much for your excellent show. Your tricks were stunning and  absolutely everyone enjoyed the magic. It really enhanced what we tried  to achieve for our guests and was the finishing touch to the whole evening".

I spent Sunday at a wedding fair in the Madejski stadium in Reading and then relaxed on Monday by going to see some friends at The Magic Circle.  A very hectic weekend, but lots of fun, thanks to everyone who made it such an enjoyable few days.

People often ask how I am able to read minds.  How is it possible to know someone's star sign, details of their past life, a colour or name that they are thinking of or the lottery numbers that they use each week?  The answer is that it takes a mixture of skills and techniques combined with natural intuition and a few educated guesses!  However there is also plenty of information about people's behaviour all around us and if you are on the lookout you will notice many interesting things that can be useful.  As a simple example here is a photo of a cash machine keypad that I saw recently.  Based on the wear on the keys you can get a good idea of which numbers people most often use in their PIN.  If you want to be extra safe and not follow the crowd then it looks as if your PIN should be 2679!

This last weekend has been a real mix of events.  On Thursday I headed up to London for a Christmas showcase at The Gable bar, just round the corner from the Bank of England.  The place was packed with people sampling the free champage, chocolates, canapes and magical entertainment!  There was also a spectacular ice sculpture, which gradually melted during the evening, and waitresses in Santa outfits to add to the party feel.  A great night and I will hopefully be making regular appearances back at The Gable later in the year.

On Friday I was doing magic at a wedding and on Saturday lunchtime performed at a dual birthday party (for a 3 year old and a 63 year old!)  I was then due to do magic at Heathrow airport during the afternoon and the drive there should have taken 20 minutes.  However due to multiple incidents on the good old M25 it took me three hours to travel 20 miles!  I always allow plenty of extra time to get to events (better to be an hour early than five minutes late) but with hours in stationary traffic there was nothing anyone could do and we had to cancel and rearrange the Heathrow magic, details soon.