Tim Shoesmith UK Magicians Blog

Being Human (http://www.bbc.co.uk/beinghuman) returns to the screen this month. A quirky series about a flat share, sounds ordinary until you realise that the flatmates comprise of a vampire a warewolf and a ghost.

I met Toby Whithouse the write while working with Martin Freeman on Ordinary People.   Toby recommended me to teach Guy Flanaganen, for the pilot of Beng Human and I was delighted to help out.  Guy was a quick learner and although I wasn’t there for the shoot in Bristol I hear it all went well.It’s great to see it back for a full series and can be viewed on BBC3.

Due to a colleage of mine being snowed in during this latest bout of bad weather I found myself traveling to Guernsey at very short notice. It is a year or so since I had been to this very small island (27 square miles with a population of 70,000) and I was delighted to return.

The job was for a financial company, a private bank. Guernsey is small and personable and a little different from its neighbour Jersey, which I visited late last year. I was picked up in the early evening by Andy from A&S Taxi’s, who was also there early the next morning to return me to the airport.

The most notable part of the journey is the ten minute flight from Jersey to Guernsey! We were flown on a Jetstream 32EP, 19 seater propelor plane. You really feel as if you are in the air, it is unusual to be able to see through the cockpit while flying arrived at Guernsey you could see the iluminated runway a few miles ahead. We returned on a slightly larger Fairchild Dornier but pictured below is the 32EP, all through blue islands .

The work was fun, a small dinner party for ten in a private room at Christie’s and I was put up in the luxureous The Duke of Normandie Hotel .

Although the trip took less than twenty four hours it was most enjoyable, I can highly recommend this small island.

Well this week was pretty relaxed with a corporate event at The Magic Circle and a Comedy Club appearance on the Sunday night. 

The Remix in Hitchin is a night club which holds a cabaret event that would best be described as Burlesque. 

I always worry a little when I am booked for such occasions.  Magic in a Stand Up comedy venue is notoriously difficult to get right.  If you miscalculate the balance between comedy and magic things can back fire pretty quickly. 

On this occasion everything went very smoothly, with a couple of comedians, a house band and dancing girls there was enough variety to keep everyone happy.  It is well worth supporting, taking place on the last Sunday of the month. 

I was certainly out of my comfort zone! I am used to a corporate audience, usually formal or black tie.  On this occasion I was sandwiched between a stripper and country band.  During my performance I was helped by a delightful Transvestite! 

Given the number of appearances we make a year it is not surprising that gig’s mold and fuse in ones memory but this is not one I will easily forget. 

The event was video taped so I should have a clip on YouTube soon.

Sometime ago I was rung by a lady enquiring about booking me for an event her committee was organising.  Every entertainer expects to deal with such enquires and we would be lying to suggest that every single one resulted in a booking.

This lady was kind enough to ring me back and tell me they had decided on another form of entertainment.  The reason the message lingered on my answer machine was that it always amused me when I was going through the days calls.

The committee has decided against a Magician’s cabaret in favour of Ferret Racing!  I have been bumped in the past for other forms of entertainment but this one seemed the most eccentric. It really was too bizarre to have been made up so I did a little research on Google.  The British Ferrets Club can be found at www.britishferretclub.co.uk and indeed there are several companies on Google offering Ferret Racing. 

I’m sure that the evening went down splendidly, the idea of Ferret Racing after a Black Tie dinner is wonderfully different.

Last Tuesday I was working at Lloyds of London in Lime Street, for Pay Pal’s 10^th anniversary celebration.  Yes Pay Pal has been going for a decade.  The Lloyds building is magnificent with high security and impressive facilities.
 

We were working in The Old Library, a basement facility, which looks slightly out of context, walls of dark wood in this otherwise steel construction.  This gave the feeling that the massive modern framework had been built around this single old room. 

Many different companies were present, for example Fujitsu, as you can see from the photograph. Networking was at a premium, however I found guests to be very responsive and both myself and the caricaturist had a great time. 

This is the second time I have worked here, last year I was employed by the same events company for a Christmas party in the same room.

On the 7^th of January I was involved in the launch of www.lotsofmagic.co.uk

A new business venture put together by a couple of my friends, a sort of EBay for magicians.  It took place at Questors, a community theatre in Ealing.  It was a strong line up which was very much enjoyed by the audience of more than one hundred and fifty. 

I performed at Questors over fifteen years ago, while touring a production of Macbeth.  It is a lovely theatre, with a perfect view from every seat and great facilities. 

I keep promising myself that I will attempt to do more acting in the future and then things crop up and the diary fills and it is hard to fit it in. The competition for parts in Theatre is as strong as ever and although being a little older probable helps it is a harsh industry and when I was auditioning regularly I remember periods of depression went with the rejection.

I do have a site which describes my acting career at www.tim-shoesmith.co.uk       

Happy New Year! 

On new years eve I was fortunate to be working at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver’s, restaurant, inspired by his reality TV programme some six or seven years ago.  Young Chef’s work a year’s apprenticeship in this modern establishment. Spread over two floors with over one hundred and fifty covers it was quite a night. 

The basement is quieter and darker, which created a very different atmosphere from the space at ground level.  I met many nice people my favourite being a small child called Charlie who was able to make things appear as long as you closed your eyes for a short while.

Although I was riding the underground at midnight I took home many good memories of the evening.

Sorry about the poor picture I intend to replace it soon.

My first trip to Jersey was as a small child, Cliff Richard was trying to win The Eurovision Song Contest with “Power to all our Friends” and I remember sitting on the beach singing it over and over again with my sister.  My taste in music has somewhat changed since those impressionable years.Thirty five years later I was back for a corporate event in St Helier.

Jersey Airport is notorious for closing due to fog! I arrived at Gatwick a few hours early only to find that hundreds of flights had been delayed.  The rumour was that the runway had been deiced with the wrong fluid and had consequently frozen again.  This lead to the long delays on most flights, luckily Jersey is not a busy airport and once the runway was clear we were off less than an hour late.

Finishing late on thursday night and knowing I had to be back for an evening engagement on friday, being marooned on Jersey Island would create a problem.  The client told me the first flight of the morning always left on time as the plane was kept in the airport overnight.  Assuming that the staff at Jersey used the right deicing fluid I should be OK.

So after four hours sleep I boarded the 7.05am and was back in London by lunch time. 

I was treated extremely well, staying at the luxurious Royal Yacht Hotel in St Helier and performing at Wildfire, fifteen yards from the hotel.  Below is a picture of the two venues side by side.

It has been a busy month!  Obviously we are all nervous because of the credit crunch and a couple of regular companies didn’t book this year.  However I have kept pretty busy clocking up over 3,000 miles, with hardly a day off.

I received a nice email this week from a Christmas Client

“It was wonderful – everyone was SO impressed and delighted with your magic! Thank you so much.  It wouldn’t have been the same without you. I shall make sure anyone who needs a magician has your details.”

Today I attended the funeral of Claude Perry, a much loved member of the Cambridge Pentacle Club. 

As a young man I went to many of the Pentacle Club meetings which were held at Fitzwilliam University on Huntingdon Road.  Claude was easily the best we had, a consummate professional, although he had other business interests.  His cabaret was slick and witty and above all likable. 

He was very good to me and offered many words of encouragement.  I remember his annoyance on one occasion when he caught me buying bags of props at a car boot sale, “Tim, practice the ones you’ve got!” He was right, I was jack of all trades and master of none, I didn’t listen then but I am listening now, the perfection of a small number of tricks is the mark of a professional, it took me many years and much advice to realise it.

At the end of meetings Claude would be heard to say, “Home to the wife and kids!” as far as I understand he had neither.  However he certainly had many friends the Chapel at the Cambridge Crematorium was full with friends some through the world of magic and some not.