Longtime Ago People
In a world where family connections shape us, stories bridge generations. Many of us carry cherished memories of those who touched our lives, which I think deserve to be shared.
Each episode I hope will feature guests recounting touching, funny, and inspiring memories, celebrating the impact these individuals had on their lives. I aim to beautifully remember loved ones, offering listeners nostalgia, warmth, and connection.
I am looking for people to reflect on the impact of these relationships.
Longtime Ago People
A Man Walks Into a Magic Shop; and Found Jaadugar Jim
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So many magicians, from Ali Bongo to Paul Daniels - Jim 1959
magicians & mentorships/student.
When I sit down with Jim, I hear how a random walk into a London magic shop becomes the start of a whole new life. Jim, based in Potters Bar near Barnet in North London, tells me how he goes from "I don't want to entertain the kids" to performing magic for families, care homes, strangers on public transport, and even his own financial services clients. We talk about identity too: Indian roots, childhood in Kenya, a rumoured thread of another heritage, and what it feels like when people decide where you are from just by looking at you.
We get into the craft of learning magic in a way that works whether you are curious about close‑up magic or you have only ever watched Paul Daniels on telly. Jim explains how classes, mentorship and joining the Merlin Magical Society help him find his own performance style, why copying is sometimes necessary early on, and how a trick can still be a win even when it goes wrong. He also unpacks the difference between old‑school visual magic and modern, ultra‑slick routines, plus the awkward truth of today's internet: AI and editing have made people suspicious, so live performance matters more than ever.
Then the story opens out into COVID time and weekly WhatsApp magic videos to many residents for a year. Zoom shows and adventurous travel in India and Jordan. Jim shares a sharp lesson about cultural context and why the wrong phrase can change a room in seconds, before finishing with a vivid favourite moment involving sealed cans of fizzy drink and a very messy surprise.
If you enjoy stories about creativity, community and building confidence later in life, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review. What would you try if you started today?
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Memory is Fragile
"In a world where you can be anything, be kind."
Meet Jim In North London
SPEAKER_00Okay, you're listening to me and it's a good time with a people. Today I'm joined Barnet. Where are you in the world, Jim?
SPEAKER_01I'm actually based in near Barnet, North London, United Kingdom.
SPEAKER_00United Kingdom is very important.
Identity And Family Roots
SPEAKER_01How long have you lived in Barnet? Oh my goodness me. Well I live in Pottersburgh, which is not far from Barnet. Been in this town now 35, 38 years, a long time, long time.
SPEAKER_00Give us a little bit of background about yourself, Jim, because you've got uh an Indian slash Italian background. Tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, my parents both passed away by the Indian origin. I was born in Kenya, I think it was the age of five. My dad was well established in Kenya. He decided that he wanted to come to London and start to practice as a physiotherapist. He said, Let me go to London and set myself up. And then me and my sister and mom went to India. And then at the age of 12, when he was all established, who we came and joined, came here, and that was it. And there is some Italian heritage somewhere. I don't even know why. Because my father unusually had blue eyes and uh he didn't look like a typical Indian. He just didn't look like a typical Indian. He had Indian ways about him. But his features and everything he did was very much kind of European-based. And somewhere down the line, I remember him saying there's some of Italian blood. Exactly where it is and whether he was actually telling me the truth, I don't know. But he was he was an unusually looking Indian man who fitted in Britain very well because he just didn't look at that time an Indian. And if you remember back in the 70s, there weren't many here, so he kind of fitted in quite nice and established quite good. So there is some mixture somewhere down the line, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Have the blue eyes turned up anywhere else?
SPEAKER_01No, no, uh they haven't actually, which is such a shame. You know, my two children, you know, I was married to a Finnish lady, and we got divorced, and we have a good relationship, and my so my daughter and my son have an Indian Finnish connection with possibly a tiny, tiny minuscule bit of Italian, but they haven't got blue eyes, I got dark eyes, although my ex-wife has got blue eyes. So I'm surprised they haven't turned up. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I've just been, you know, I found out about uh a month ago I'm gonna be a granddad to my daughter, and you know, maybe that child will have blue eyes because she's a Norwegian guy and he's got blue eyes. So maybe it's kind of you know, so he said he's a really I reckon it's gonna happen, Jim. I think it's coming. I I think you're right. I don't know. So that's that's a bit of background. And people always say to me, Well, you don't look Indian. I said, Okay, fine. And then I say, Well, you look Mediterranean. I said, Okay, fine. Then I say, Look, kind of uh then you do look Indian, or you look South African, and I'm thinking, really? Uh I mean, what's with it? And like my dad, I don't often get told, you know, when I tell him I speak Indian or Indian language, they say, You Indian? I said, I never said I wasn't. It's about your mannerism and the way you speak and the way you look. I said, Well, maybe that's something called that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00It's a weird thing. Okay, Jim, right.
The Night Magic Became Real
SPEAKER_00You and I are gonna go right back to the earliest memory of magic and the moment that you realize it was more than just curiosity.
SPEAKER_01Uh, this was uh going back six, seven years ago. Potasbar, there is an organization which still there is called Potus Bar Indians. It was developed by me and a couple of local Indian lads I knew to help the local Indian people, community with things to be aware of, like social uh things, etc. Once a year they used to have this dancing festival called Navratri. A lot of Indian people who know what it is. I wasn't really much into it. He said to me, he said, Why don't you come and entertain the kids? And I'm thinking, well, really, I don't want to entertain the kids. No, I don't want to do that. He said, Well, Jim, I reckon you should, because if you entertain the kids, because I think you're the right kind of personality, then the kids will be engaged with you, and the adults can do that Indian dancing and religious thing. And I said, Okay. So I got myself hooked into this, and then I thought about it, well, how many weeks have I got before the thing starts? And he said, Oh, well, it's five weeks. And I thought, I don't know what to do. And then I just happened to be in Charing Cross, underpart, and there was a shop there called Davenport. It's a magic shop. It's been a long time, it's not anymore. And I just walked into his magic shop by accident, and I said, Listen, I said, I've been told to do this thing interested in kids, and I thought, magic shop. You think I could buy a few bit of magic? Yeah, sure, what do you want? And I said, I don't really know anybody. They sold me a few stuff. I said, no, he said, just to keep it going. So I came home and I practiced it. And pretty simple stuff, sponge balls and stuff like that. And I thought, well, right, I'm gonna give it a go. So I had about seven, eight different things to do, and all the kids were in the age of five to seven. So I thought, what do you want? If it goes wrong, it goes wrong. If it goes right, it goes right. Let's make a fun out of it, and maybe a few jokes and funny things, you know. Anyway, I went there. The kids loved it, and to which was surprised. But the parents were then, they got involved and they liked it as well. And my friend said to me, he said, Jim, I think you should perhaps consider this. Uh and then I went back to Devonport and I said, Listen, I would love to learn more magic. I said, Why did you say? They said, The back of the shop, we have a Saturday morning class. You want to join in? So I said, Yeah, okay. So I kind of went every Saturday morning, and in the back of the shop there was class. And a guy called Oliver Tabor, who is an established magician, you know, he's a worldwide magician, renowned magician, typically looking up Oliver Tabor in the West End shows. He was there and he started teaching me a bit of magic. It was about four of us, and I thought, I like, I like this. I like it. Anyway, I started learning a few more things. And I went there every Saturday for five, six weeks, and I acquired a few more things, tried on a few friends. I said, Oh, that's not bad. Okay, it wasn't as smooth as before, you know, I should have been, but that's not the point. And I kind of made fun of the magic and used my own style. And he said, Yeah, okay, fine, fine. So when six weeks finished, I said to Oliver, I need to do more. He said, Well, he said, I said, Do you do private classes? He goes, Yes, I do. I said, Well, you basically go to South End on Sea. I said, Okay, I'll come and see you. So I went to his place for the next three months, I think. Every satellite used to go there, South End on Sea, little farm used to live in, in a lovely studio on the side, but it's kind of enchanting, you know, and it was beautiful. It's like walking into a sweet shop, and I thought, look at this stuff. You know, I mean, I was mesmerized anyway. He taught me a few more stuff, and I loved it, and I practiced, and I loved it. And he then said to me, he said, Jim, I think the potential is there. But what you should now do is join a local club somewhere. And I thought, oh my dumb. He said, Well, he said, Where do you live? I told him Potter's by. He said, Well, there's a club just on the road called Merlin Magical Society.
Training, Clubs And Performing Locally
SPEAKER_01I said, give me the address, and I thought, wait a minute, that's uh a six minutes' walk from my house. And I just rang the Secretary John Clayton, who's still there, and I said, I want to join your club. And I said, Yeah, come on down. So I went there and he said, Well, we don't just take anyone on. You have to do a trick or two. And I said, Okay, so I did a trick or two, and I said, Yeah, you accept it. Well, that was that was that was too easy. He said, We've got to have some standards to him. I said, Okay, and then I became a member of the Merley Magical Society. I'm still a member there, met a lot of people there. Ali could Paul Ali Kadabra was an established magician in his own right. He used to, you know, he knows people like Ali Bongo, Paul Daniels.
SPEAKER_00I remember Ali Bongo, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, and and he's there, and you know, and so we tend to now go. I go every two weeks, met a lot of new magician friends, and he wasn't it's not a club, it's just snooty. People would go out of the way to teach you as long as you are keen to learn. And I kind of just got on with them and they taught me stuff. Uh, I didn't practice more. I started buying a few things, went to auctions, bought a few things, and just learned that now I have probably a bit too many cupboards full of magic. Everywhere in the house is magic. There's a pair of deck cars, there's deck of cars, there's a deck of uh there. I mean the place, my house is now in a actual isolated one part of the house just for magic. It kind of overflows into living room, kitchen everywhere. So now I go there, I do shows for Merlin Magical Society, I do shows for people's birthdays, local clubs, local entertainment, care homes, and just slowly, slowly, slowly do it. And it's not a full-time job, it's not a money making for me. If I do a show, yeah, I charge a bit of money, but yeah, money helps, but it's not the motivation for me. Motivation is for me to say, I can put a smile on your face, and that's it. So I love it. And it's now become such a part of my life. They were going to see clients for financial services, they now say to me, Oh, Jim, great. Nice to talk about tensions and blah, blah, blah, blah. But hey, I can do a magic trick. And it's now, so I record my clients now when I do magic with a permission and I keep it in my archive, and they say that's great nice. And then I send them tricks every now and then to say, hey, I think of you, you'll enjoy that. And so it's kind of just works. And it's amazing how you can go to strangers on the trains, buses, I don't know, pubs and say, Here, let me do something for you. And he opens up a conversation, and I love it. You don't always get the reception that you want, but I think if you really put your heart into it, people genuinely see that.
SPEAKER_00And I'm always doing things, you know, so again, is it something that you discovered only seven years ago?
SPEAKER_01I used to watch Paul Daniels, and I had an opportunity to meet him on a stage. Uh, and in fact, I had an opportunity to also meet him privately, but he sadly passed away. But I was fascinated by magic, but I never actually thought I would be able to do it. And now I started this thing. It's great, and I'm excited about my my grandchild, it was a boy or a girl. I'm gonna say, you know, yeah. You are my audience, I'm gonna teach you things and you're gonna enjoy it at an early stage. Inspire the child whether he or she wants to do something, it doesn't bother me. I'm just gonna do the best I can, and I love it, and I do genuinely enjoy magic. I make it, I make a mess of it sometimes. But you know what? People don't never say to me that trick went wrong. It's entertainment, and if it goes wrong, it goes wrong. What's the big deal?
SPEAKER_00I vaguely remember you mentioned then earlier on Addie Bongo. I I vaguely remember him. He's right in the back of my brain, but I can't sort of like pull it out. But it it's it's definitely a name for the past that I remember. It wasn't a clown type thing, was it?
SPEAKER_01It wasn't a clown kind of stuff, but he was incredibly talented and he was uh the instrumental in uh helping people like Paul Daniel, Richard Dixon, and all sorts of people behind stage to come out with magic. So he was actually coordinator, producer, director of those people, and in his own right, he was a he was a magnificent magician uh and was part of the magic circle as well. Many people won't now remember Ali Bango, certainly the younger generation won't, but if you mention anyone who's in the 40s, 50s, they will know Ali Bango because he was massive, he really was. Now I saw bits of him, and I can still send some stuff on YouTube, but it's very ancient, so the quality is not good. But he was fantastic, and and and Paul Ali Kadabra, who works, who is a magician in my club, he knew Ali Bango really well. So sometimes he brings out magic, and he said, You see this little magic here, yeah. He said this was given to him by Ali Bango, and just simple magic, but it was so beautifully made. Uh, and so those are gems, you know. And I I love to go to his house one day. Was it wartime? Was he wartime, period? He was in a wartime, yes, he was. Uh, but he was always a magician, and uh, but he wasn't one in a wartime. I don't exactly know it was, but uh he was famous, he was massively famous. I mean, and people in magician's world will remember him, simple as
Finding Your Style And Handling Failure
SPEAKER_01that.
SPEAKER_00You talked about the magic set of so when you're learning magic, like you described earlier on, it must be quite uh tricky. Uh do they teach you it and show you how to do everything? I mean, or do you have to work it out?
SPEAKER_01I mean, some magicians, I mean, I like for example, a couple of weeks ago, I went then this magician, very good, he's an inventor of magic as well. I know for very well, Martin Pierce. You can buy his tricks in the marketplace. He's a very good friend of mine, and he showed me this trick. And I looked at it, I thought, oh man, that's devastating. That is just that's phenomenal. And I said to him, I said, Would you teach me? He goes, Yes, I will teach you. He taught he taught me. He said, You can either buy from me already, or you can make it yourself. I said, No, I'm gonna buy it off him. So he gave me a good price and I bought it, and I'm using it by me applying my own way of doing it, because he had a set particular way of doing it, which is great, beautiful. So the procedure I know, but it's a delivery that can. So when I now do it, I do it. I follow the procedure, but I apply my own way of doing it, bringing a bit of cheek and laughter, and so the reaction you get is great. And the other day I was doing it, and he went wrong, but it didn't cause a problem because the way I was doing it, they found it entertaining, yeah, and they overlooked the trick altogether, and they said, Oh man, that was incredible. And I'm thinking, that went wrong. And they said, We loved it. What went wrong? And I thought, okay, I get that. So you learn, and then you work with other friends, and they come out of the magic, and you think, Well, I can do that, but how can I apply it better? Can I do it differently? So you experiment, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and you just get on with it and do well. Sometimes you just do exactly what the magician does. Yeah, copy, I hate that, but initially you do that because you want to get it right. And once you get confidence in it, then you can trigger it, bring it in at different times. Hopefully it works.
SPEAKER_00Are there different stages of magic? Like there's a there's an old school magic, and then which maybe a bungo, and then you got like current stuff like dynamo or yeah, yeah, you have it's it's all a trend at the moment.
SPEAKER_01You know, the old stuff, very very visual magic, like producing flowers, producing ribbons, producing uh shiny stars or a fountain of stars, those are very old kind of style of magic, very visual. You don't need to apply yourself mentally and say, well, I pick a card, I remember this card, he does this slide of this or whatever. You just sit back and you just think, how did the flower end up there? And when someone does it, like whole Ali Kadaba, when he does all-style magic, I actually adore it because it's so refreshing. But then you've got new style of magic, you know, which is new cards, new things, you know, people like you know, uh, many of the Chinese magicians you see or British got talent, very slick, very smooth. You know they're doing a spy of hands, you just can't see. And the other sad part is that on the internet now people use AI. So when you do a trick, uh they think and I I've done a trick on Instagram, and sometimes my mate, my friend said to me, Oh Jim, yeah, that was that was good. He said, Yeah, you edited it. I'm thinking, I didn't. He said, Now, Jim, you must have edited it. So I said, Okay, so I met him face to face. I said, right, here you are, right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00That's the trouble nowadays, Jim. That's the trouble.
SPEAKER_01And I've done it, and he went, Oh my god, it goes, you didn't do anything. I said, No, it was open, I got no sleeves, it's just there. He said, How? I said, That's so modern magic and modern systems is killing it. But then when you come face to face with someone and you do the magic, whether it's ribbon or whether there's I don't know, uh paper or fire or glass or water, uh that's when the jaws drop and people think, Oh my god, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00That's okay, that's okay.
Modern Magic, AI Doubt And COVID Videos
SPEAKER_00So going back to COVID now, you um you set up a sort of like a WhatsApp group for families and you did a video every week, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I did. When the COVID came, gosh, it was five years ago, wasn't it? 2020. I thought, and someone said to me, said Jim, what are you gonna do for COVID? And I thought, well, you know, I don't know. And I thought, wait a minute, I've got lots of friends, I've got lots of clients. Why not set up a WhatsApp group? So I contacted them. I said, Look, I'm setting up a WhatsApp group, weekly magic. I will send it to you as parents. It's up to you to then show it to your children, but everything's gonna be okay, nothing dangerous like putting nails to fight. I don't want any of that. I said, You look at it and you show it to the kids. Okay, so uh I started doing once a week magic at home and just putting it out on WhatsApp. And then I got a few other people friends of mine. I said, Listen, I'm doing it, because I've got great ideas. I said, Would you mind recording something, sending on to me? So they recorded and say, Oh, Jim has asked me to do this for you guys. And I'm some really lovely magician friends of mine, some really top-not magicians to me, here you are, Jim. Just for you, for your audience. So I used to say, This is from me, but this is from you know David Cox or whoever. And they became really popular. And the people used to say, Oh wow. And I did that for I think one entire year, 52 weeks. Every week I used to record 2 3 2 3 2 3, and then on back of that, I managed to also do Zoom made magic as well to a group of people and say, Look, let's do a Zoom show. 45 minutes. I won't charge you for it. It's for me development. So I did that. Yeah, and it kind of worked. And after a year, I still I still do it now, but not in that frequency because it takes a lot of time, and you've got to be careful also, you don't want to keep on repeating yourself, right? And you don't want magic tricks to be what's up to me long because people last thing, people want it da da da da da da da uh the curse of the modern days, they want everything so short now. You want it to the point, interesting, not massively long because they lose interest uh or they get interrupted watching it. So keep it short, under a meter and a half, two maximum, and it works, and I still do it, it's fine. It was a good it was a good experience, and it got me exposure, and people now know me, and they call me Jadugar Jim because Jadugar in Indian means magician and gym, so JJ, Jadugar Jim. So whenever I go, I was in a local tip the other day throwing some stuff away. And I was like, Hey Jadugar Jim. I'm thinking who the hell's that? And there's a blunt there. Hey, how you doing? And I'm thinking, I don't know you, but clearly you'd know me. He goes, You okay? I said, Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. Lovely. I'm thinking, who is it? He said, Yeah, yeah, I love your stuff. He goes, and I'm thinking, yeah, he goes, You still doing your training? I said, Yeah, I did now and then. So yeah, it just became Jadugar Jim now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So if you got any soundtrack, you got any music that you associate with with magic?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, sometimes I mean I put magic on YouTube, magic on uh uh Facebook, magic on um Instagram, and I always put some music to it, some it's either old-fashioned silent silent film music, like Charlie Chaplin ones, or piano music, or if it's something interesting, I would put some modern songs with a nice copyright and I understand if it's not there for commercial purposes. And sometimes I get a message from YouTube saying, you know, you can block meta doesn't allow you. Uh and I'm thinking, you know, all right, look, uh, how many followers have I got?
SPEAKER_00I don't know what the rules is. Some of it you could put a song on the Instagram, but you can't put it on YouTube other than that's right.
SPEAKER_01I mean, uh, and I'm thinking, okay, so you're gonna block me, and they can't see it, and okay, so it makes a lot of change of music if I can't do half the time. I can't be bothered, you know.
SPEAKER_00I'm just thinking of the Steve Miller band now in my head.
SPEAKER_01I got to have uh I've I've used that a few times before, you know, rubets and people like that, and it's magic, it's magic, and you can do magic, baby. There's loads you can do. Rubbets, I haven't heard their name for a long time. Oh my god, yeah, they're still going, they're going strong. Uh they're still accounting.
SPEAKER_00A bit old, but sound is good, it's okay. Yeah. All good, all good. You travel as well,
Adventure Travel And Taking Tricks Abroad
SPEAKER_00don't you? You do quite a bit of traveling if I remember correctly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, that is another passion of mine. In fact, in this November, I'm just going uh to India in a place called Chirapunji, uh, which is uh middle of Assam. And we've got an it was supposed to be ten of us, but many people can't make it because they've got children now, cost private school, so they can't all afford it. So I say, you know what? I'm gonna go. You can't wait, don't come. So it's four of us going now in November, and so we're gonna be spending two weeks in jungles in Chirapunji doing climbing, deep elevation, walking, waterfall, rappling, diving, cycling, kind of adventuring boy stuff, you know. And I know some of the friends have me said, Jim, that's a bit demanding. I said, Listen, you'll be fine. I have done now, gosh, um, two, three, four, five, six, six or seven trips abroad. It's a boys trip. Um, most of it have been in India, apart from one in Jordan, which is brilliant. So we just go, and I got a lovely friend of mine in India who was a guide, and he puts together an itinerary of what I want, and it's always based on unique places, not in cities, middle of nowhere, jungles, mountains, wherever, and there's always activities of proper adventure trips, aren't they? I mean, you say a boys' trip, but they're they're not holidays, they're adventure trips, and there has been times when we went um we went whitewater rafting on the Zanska River all the way to Ladakh, which is near Kashmir, and you know, you meander through the waters. You're gonna have to, you know, uh the the rapids are you know different levels, grade gradient one, two, three, four, five, and six. We wouldn't go near six, but four and five, we would, but they were treacherous, and and things did go wrong, and the the raft did capsize, and we had to take action, and we had to lift the draw, uh the raft on our shoulders, walk across the elevated mountain, and and you had to get there because night was setting in and half the luggage had gone streaming down the river. So the scouts went up to it and got it back. Thank God for that. And you know, and one of the guys said, I didn't ask for that. I said, Well, if you look at the itinerary, that says it's an adventure holiday. He said, But I didn't expect it. I said, Well, you think I expected this? I said, I'm just as much into it as you are. Now you have a choice sit and cry and moan about it. Or pick up the raft, help us, get us across this mountain, ledge, across the other side before the sun sets down, and then we can't see where we're going. So I'm afraid you're gonna have to just muck in holidays where there is an element of adventure. Well, that's what drives me. And I don't say to people, you have to come. If you don't want to come, don't come. Uh but if you come, you've got to come in knowing things can go wrong. And although I don't want it to go wrong, and the guys I go with don't want to go wrong, it can go wrong. It's outside my control. And you can't blame me for that, because I did tell you it's open to possible things going wrong. But we try and minimize it, and thank God, nothing serious actually happened. And on this died or injured badly, and so it's okay. So I done seven, uh six, seven, one in Jordan, which went, and now probably eight, one now in uh November, uh, which I can't believe in weight now.
SPEAKER_00So uh will you have room in your backpack for some magic tricks?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, yes. I'll be taking a lot of things, and uh yes, I'll be taking a lot of magic with me.
Culture, Words And The Black Magic Mistake
SPEAKER_01Uh it's funny, I mean, just to give you an example, yeah, six years ago, when somewhere, I think it was Arunchat Pradesh, which is another part of India, and we were in the uh middle of jungle somewhere, and we came across a village. I said to the guide, his name was Raj, I said, I want to do some magic at this um next week. Yeah, fine, fine, because I hope you the language is working fine. I spoke to Hindi, but they spoke different language. We can get by. So village head is sitting there, a couple of people from the village and uh other people, and the head of the village, his daughter is sitting there as well. It's fine. And I was doing a bit of magic, and I then said, The daughter, have you all been hypnotized? And she didn't understand what hypnotism meant meant. So I said to I said, I said, foolishly, a bit of black magic, and I could see that her father tensed up a bit. That's an unusual reaction, and I said, It's only a bit of fun, but he he didn't see that one. My friend writes that to me, said Jimmy said, I think you should drop this trick. I said, Well, I think it's a classic trick. I said, you know, it's it's not actually hypnotism, it's just it's part of the build-up because no. He thinks you're gonna do black magic on his daughter, and that means no one will ever marry her. And he said, he's getting tense. I said, Okay, I get it. So I had to just say, you know what, yeah, forget it. And then he did some simple thing, and he calmed down just fine. But the reaction was quite not what I expected. So this time when I'm taking a lot of magic, which is fine, and I will not even mention black magic. If I won't do it, I'm just gonna do it and not even mention hypnotism or black magic and just do it and see the reaction as opposed to explaining I'm gonna hypnotize you. All you're gonna see is this, you're gonna say that. It doesn't work, you know. And he said, Jim, you had to stop it because had you carried on, uh, he would have not been very happy about it.
SPEAKER_00And I said, It was just the words basically.
SPEAKER_01So it was just a word, and you learn from culture as to how people react. So you want to keep it simple, uh visual, uh funny, and you've got to laugh all the time because if you start getting serious with your trick, like David Blaine, they might just think, you know, you've got some special parts, you hypnotize them, and it doesn't work. Cities are fine, small villages doesn't work.
SPEAKER_00Who's your favourite uh magician?
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness me. Well, I'm old-fashioned, so to me, I'm still thinking Paul Daniels, but there are lots of new ones as well. But for me, the magicians who make the most impact on me are the ones I see every two weeks. Ali Kadabra, John Clayton, you know, Nick Mark.
SPEAKER_00I'm surprised you haven't gone Britain on Britain's Got Talent.
SPEAKER_01Um I've been told this. I mean said you shouldn't go, and I'm thinking, yeah, I should, you know, but but um I suppose deeply I'm thinking to myself, I'm not that good. But someone said just do it for goodness' sake. And I might do it one day, but it's not even in the top 20 things I want to do.
SPEAKER_00Just to sort of like finish off, really, what's your favorite magic moment?
A Fizzy Drink Trick Gone Wild
SPEAKER_00Have you got a favorite moment?
SPEAKER_01Uh yes, I have got a favorite moment when I did uh well a couple of them. One was where I um had a couple of cans of 7 Up and Sprite. They're all sealed cans. And I did the magic trick with someone who actually thought it was gonna explode because I told him to really shake those cans rigorously. Free, you know, choice. Shake whatever, you know, take two cans, take three, shake them really, really hard. And he shook them, shook him, shook him, shook him. And I said, now Paul is done. And he said, fine. And I said, I'm gonna take all the energy from those cans that you shook, I'm gonna transfer the energy from that can into this can. And he said, Oh yeah. I said, Yeah, go shake it more. So he really shook it more. I said, Okay. I then put my hand on it and I took the energy out of it and said, Oh my god, there's a lot of shake, there's a lot of frotter there. I took it on and I go I went into this can here, which is completely idle sitting there, and says gone in this one. I said, Go on, I said, open that can. He said, I ain't open that can. I said, Go open it, you shook it hard. And he said, He opened it, except for you couldn't go and he bimped. He said, What? I said, Yeah, because the energy is that one you opened this one, and as you opened it, he exploded, went on his face. He said, How do you transfer the I said, mate, it's your energy so powerful. I managed to transfer it from a can which just shook like hell to a can completely static, which hasn't been shook, and the energy went in there. And he said, How did you do it? I said, I'm not gonna tell you the very simple secret to it, but that was caught on video, and um I remember the moment, and he he he just his eyes, his glasses, his shirt, and I want to do it again outside to one of my friends again, but we can do it outside, can't do it in the house, because make the mess. So I will do it again. Such a simple trick, but the reaction he gets is dramatic. So that was one of the good ones. Uh, and uh there's a few more other ones as well, but it's too many to remember, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, Jim, thank you very much for talking with me today. It's been a pleasure uh to catch up with you, and thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_01This is a modest. I'm really happy to do that.
