Abracadabra! This mysterious book will without doubt inspire the young apprentice magicians of the 21st century with the unveiling of basic conjuring tricks, some of which dazzled audiences in the age of Robert Houdin and The Great Lafayette. The reader gasps in disbelief as Paul Kieve tells us some of the great stories from the by-gone golden age of magic.
Since the age of ten, Paul has been honing his skills as a magician. He keeps his magical paraphenalia around the corner from the Hackney Empire, a venue played at by illusionists of the golden era of magic. One day sitting in his Poster Room, and suddenly, the figure of Alexander and other magicians start telling him what magic is really about.
Paul's career began at the age of sixteen appearing in the video for Sade’s hit ‘Your Love is King’. More recently he was magic consultant to the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he also appears. He privately tutors Daniel Radcliffe in magic. Paul creates innovative magical effects for theatre around the world, including West End productions of The Invisible Man, The Woman in White, Scrooge, Our House, The Witches, Theatre of Blood, and English National Ballet’s Alice in Wonderland. His current work includes L’Heure Espagnol at the Royal Opera House and The Lord of the Rings. He has been consulted by magicians including David Copperfield and Derren Brown, and was an on-screen contributor to the BBC History of Magic series. He taught Pete Waterman how to saw Simon Cowell in half on Children in Need and has tutored numerous other personalities and actors as diverse as Ant & Dec, Graham Norton, Jim Broadbent and Ruby Wax. International performances have included The Magic Castle in Hollywood. In 2005 he became the first magician to perform in The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic orchestra. He was part of the Olivier-award-winning cast of C’est Barbican. As magic consultant to Guinness World Records Paul researched and created magic sections for the 2005 and 2006 books. He is the recipient of the 2006 British Magical Society Award and is a Gold Star member of The Inner Magic Circle.
