Tim Shoesmith UK Magicians Blog

On Monday I’m hosting the Terry Seabrooke tribute night at the Magic Circle in London. It has been an emotional journey, like many I attended Terry’s funeral this time last year and in the months  that followed I put him to the back of my mind as the birth of my twins became iminent. In the last ten days I have been going through articles and video clips of Terry and the memories have come flooding back.

In a sea of magicians who appear similiar Terry was an individual, so when it came to viewing examples of his work it really felt like he was back in the room with me. On Monday we will show performances by the great man while people reminice about their friendships with one of the great characters of magic.

I was also amazed at the respect that people had for him. I called and wrote to many people to ask them to attend and everyone returned my calls and letters. I went right to the top of show business and they all called me back. Most couldn’t make it but we do have genuine celebrities willing to appear just to remember Terry.

It will be a great night and if you are reading this before Monday the 9th of January and are a Magic Circle Member, then don’t miss it.

I went to university in Sunderland in the early eighties and spent sometime in Newcastle. I saw many big bands at City Hall including a young U2 and Simple Minds. I also saw the Royal Shakespeare company many times at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle.

Some years later I was booked to lecture for the Newcastle Magicians Club so I took the long drive up from London. Although I was unfamiliar with the area in which the club met the town centre was exactly the same, save for a large modern shopping centre.

I have also worked in the area a number of times doing close up magic and toured to Newcastle a couple of times as an actor. I do love the city and very much enjoyed my time as a student.

You can find more about Newcastle Close Up Magician on my website www.timshoesmith.co.uk/newcastle-magician.html

I grew up in Cambridge and although I now live near London I still work regualarly in the city. I have worked as a magician at many of the Cambridge Colleges over the years as well as private parties and weddings.

This Christmas we have jobs at Kings College as well as John Lewis and Fitzwilliam working as a magician. The family still live on the outskirts of Cambridge so it is an easy trip to make.

The Live Hustle proves particularly popular in Cambridge this is a show where two magicians con members of the audience out of fake money, details of this can be found at www.thelivehustle.co.uk.

Twice I have performed magic and cabaret at The Saltmarsh Rooms at Kings and would have been back for a third year but for other work commitments.

We also started the Crazy Cambridge walk which plays in the summer months a pointless but entertaining tour of cambridge by  three magicians.

More information on Cambridge can be found at Tim’s website

I lived in Cambridge for a year or so recently and found myself working in Norwich and Ipswich quite a lot. Particularly for a company called Talent Management based near Norwich.

I remember as a child taking the bus from Cambridge to Ipswich to visit a magic dealer based there. A long complicated trip involving several changes of buses only to return home with unusable pieces of magical equipment.

More information about my work in Cambridge can be found on my website

Most years I am involved in a Chinese New Year celebration. A few years back I was at the Pearl River Restaurant in Kings Lynn performing over two nights.

On Sunday I return to Norwich to perform for an old client which I’m really looking forward to. It is two years since I have seen him and in that time we have both had children, how life changes and so fast.

I have a page dedicated to Norfolk on my website Norfolk Magician and information about Cambridge is here

I have several connections with Gloucester and the surrounding area, not all to do with being a magician. My father lives in Cheltenham and I made frequent trips to the Everyman Theatre Cheltenhams reportory theatre company. Early on in my career I was asked to perform at a wedding held at Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, which lead to work for Alliance and Leicester.

Recently Devious Minds toured to  the Kings Theater in Gloucester, the show was well recieved but my car was one of forty to be broken into that night and my satnav was stolen. Dean had to put up with jokes about being a mind reader and not seeing it coming.

Details of the tour can be found at www.deviousminds.co.uk and details about Gloucester and my work as a magician can be found at www.timshoesmith.co.uk/gloucester-magician.html

It is a few weeks since we returned from a short tour of Cornwall with our magic show Devious Minds. Due to the birth of my twins I forgot to write it up in the blog. A very different experience from Edinburgh where the pressure of selling tickets and participating in the publicity shows really takes its toll. The tour of Cornwall was much more relaxed as publicity and ticket sales were taken care of by the village promoters.

I always enjoyed small scale touring as a young adult. Moving from place to place on a daily basis was fun and exciting. This tour was no different, Dean was on good form and the shows were going well, everyone was happy, until Dean fell off a chair! This resulted in a fracture to his right ankle and an operation the following morning.

All was not lost while Dean put his foot up a very talented magician, Rob James, took over for the last two shows and the final one was rescheduled for the new year. We have also managed to re-book the two shows Dean missed so everyone will see his half of the Devious Minds.

Full details of Devious mind tours can be found at www.deviousminds.co.uk

I have worked at The Grove in Hertfordshire, near Watford, a number of times. It is an amazing place set in beautiful grounds and boasts many function rooms and reastaurants. It has been newly fitted in the last few years and contains a wonderful golf club, health club and grand country house hotel. I understand that Queen Victoria spent weekends on the estate. It was incredible to perform magic in the rooms of this wonderful hertfordshire hotel and grounds.

More information about my work in Hertfordshire can be found at my website www.timshoesmith.co.uk/hertford-magician.html

Recently I performed in Birmingham at the NEC for Boots. A corporate evening for management and staff. This was a large event with hundreds of tables and many magicians and other performers working during the evening. It is always nice to perform along side other professionals both magicians and allied arts.

The NEC is a huge place with many function rooms and arena’s. It is easy to get lost in the maze of buildings and car parks. I have also performed at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Birmingham, this is a very plush hotel only a stones through from NEC.

There is a page on my website about Birmingham Magicians

Last month I took part in  the International Brotherhood of Magicians Stage Competition. 8 to 10 acts perform and are judged on different criteria, it’s rather like the google algorithms, no one is quite sure what they are. It is always an entertaining evening and I really enjoyed taking part.

I was lucky enough to win the originality award for one of the tricks I performed. I was surprised to be presented with a bust of Houdini probably the same weight and size as one of the twins my wife is expecting. There is a picture of the bust below.

I did not win the competition itself, it was won by a company from Portugal called Ta Na Manga, they really were quite extraordinary, here is a link to their trailer

I am now flying home from a week at The Magic Castle in Hollywood on an American Airlines flight equipped with wifi. This is a first for me, being able to blog and email is so convenient, at such a time.

I had forgotten just how good Magic Castle audiences are, high energy, very appreciative, and quite happy to talk back and get involved. It was an unforgettable week. Toto doing late night close up was truly spectacular, the tricks were simple, his English is not good which adds emphasis to the magic, he took the linking rubber bands to a totally new level.

Chris Mitchell was great in the Palace show, highly original, great opener with a variation on the bowling ball production. Howard Jay stepped in at the last minute to perform late parlour and really killed later in the week when the rooms started to fill.

Jack was a wonderful host and the food is great. I even stayed in the Di Vernon Suite, just feet from the Castle.It is four years since I performed at the Castle, I sincerely hope it is not that long again.

So back to England where everything is a little colder.