A Brief History of Magic

Ok, the title is a little bit of a lie, it isn't about all of magic, but my history with magic. I wanted to call the post that because of The Big Pinks album! Anyway, I have mentioned why I love magic, but not really how I got into it. So, here we go.

I think I have been into magic since I was young. I remember loving The Masked Magician's shows when they were on TV, but at the same time I didn't have the desire to do magic like other kids. I didn't have a magic kit, although I wonder if that was seen as boyish.


When I got older I lucked out with programmes, as in 2003 2 awesome magic shows that were on TV. Monkey Magic was a family friendly show that was on Channel 5 and had amazing magic, bringing new life to magic, it wasn't violent, but it wasn't cheesy like magic before it. Pete Firman, Ali Cook and Jonathan Goodwin were the core magicians on the show that are still around. It had 2 series and specials. Pete and Ali did a show together for Sky called Secret World of Magic later on, but I don't remember watching it at the time but have since seen a couple of episodes.


The almost opposite of that in terms of audience was Magick. This was a very dark, edgy late night magic programme that had the first TV appearance of Barry and Stuart. It was weird that I managed to watch it because at the time I didn't stay up late that often, only for gigs, and even that wasn't that regular. But I do remember being amazed by it.


Even with both these things, I didn't do research about any of the magicians involved, as I didn't have my own laptop, which does explain why I didn't get into magic until last year.


So, 2 years on and another 2 shows. Dirty Tricks involved all the magicians mentioned so far and they did more amazing magic. Barry and Stuart were at the core, doing more tricks than everyone else and starting the show. The hosts rotated. I really remembered the Kill Foxy bit.


It was not Barry and Stuart's only project that year. They also did the controversial Magic of Jesus . I made the effort to stay up and it was worth it.I was absolutely astounded by it. I remember commenting about how I fancied both of them, which I still do.


The next year they did the sequel to it, Tricks from the Bible, and again it blew my mind. They actually filmed some bits in my local area, which I found out retrospectively. It was brilliant.


It took three years to see anything by them again. By that time, I had gotten my own laptop and it was my natural reaction to Google things. So, April Fool's Day last year. I have fallen in love with April Fool's Day as I love the creative and silly things that people on the internet. So, as I looked at what was going on I stumbled onto a BBC video that was made to look like it was old. I looked at the people who were on the video and thought I recognised them. Was it the 2magicians? Yes, it was. And I watched the explanation video then got bit obsessive and started watching as much of their videos as I could find. I also found out they were doing live dates and booked to see the. I then discovered Pete was doing stuff and decided to see him too. And we essentially get to where I am now, regularly attending magic shows and even being recognised by them!


I absolutely adore magic and am glad I finally got into it properly.