A little about me.

It's funny how life pans out. When I was in senior school, only fifteen years old, my 'careers adviser' asked me "What do you wan't to be when your older"!

Me - "I wan't to be a magician".

Adviser - "You can't be a magician. That's not a job. Maybe you could open a joke shop or work in the ship yard - you could get a job in the shipyard" - In my career advisers mind, a teenagers ambition was completely unachievable and he believed I was a lost cause and his lack of understanding COULD have affected my life.

By the age of twelve, thirteen and fourteen I had already practiced for years to develop an understanding of misdirection, sleight of hand, psychology and deception and I then developed an acting ability.

My ambition of performing as a magician was coming to an end. Those days were dark. That's it... life doesn't get ANY duller, i'm going to be working in a military shipyard forever! I spent all of my childhood with a handful of second hand magic books, a pack of playing cards, paper, a pen and an imagination to create from nothing. Now, the realisation that i'm going to be stuck for the rest of my life with crazy tools in my hands, wearing a boiler suit and having to learn new skills to build submarines and weapons which kill people may just be my life for fifty years or more. I had family members who passed away from asbestosis as a result of working in this place... am I next!?

(For the record, my careers adviser prepped me with the very questions I would be asked and provided me the answers I needed to give)

A week later I found myself in a meeting room in a huge, dusty and dark shipyard. It was my first experience of 'the real world'. I sat down at a desk and I was interviewed by two men.

Interviewer - "So, you wan't a job. what area would you like to work in? What are your interests.. tell us about yourself"

Me - "I love magic. Ive been practicing since I was just ten years old".

They hated me : "how can that help us... what benefit is that to us.... what else are you interested in?"

If I talk about magic surely they won't offer me a job. To cut a long story short, I was offered a job!

Did I really go through pre-school, nursery, reception, Junior School and Senior school for this? Is this it?

A week later (during the GCSE period of my life) I performed an amateur show with the North Western Society of Magicians (A magic club I still attend). I performed a magic routine and a performer spotted some potential in me and he helped arrange some auditions to work around hotels in Spain... hundreds of people attended auditions for the job and somehow I got the job.

Twelve years later, i'm still a magician.

The negativity from my careers adviser ALMOST deterred me but remember, you have the ability to inspire and encourage others - lets choose our words wisely.

Visit my website