JANUARY 2017

Issue 645
Official magazine of The Zodiac Magical Society
For private circulation only
Volume 54
THE

JANUARY 2017 VOLUME 54 NUMBER 645

Dear fellow members,

Welcome to the January issue of The Zodiac and Happy New Year!
The traditional December meetings were once again a big success. Huge thanks are
due to those members who helped run the events. Keith Harrison acted as host for the Wine and Cheese
evening and once again Simon Rudd organised an excellent spread. You can read reports on Chestnuts and
our Christmas meal elsewhere in this issue. Huge thanks are also due to John Eaton, who in addition to
printing this magazine, once again ran our Christmas card postal service.
Bob Sacco has been to see some Christmas Conjuring at the Court, Marius considers how magic can adapt
to the seasonal zeitgeist and Keith Hall passes on an offer from the Harvester.
Don’t  forget  the  Zodiac  is  putting  on  a  show  at  The  Magic  Circle  on  Monday 23rd of January. If  you  haven’t  
visited the Circle before, it has plenty to interest any magician, with its museum, library, magical exhibits and
posters, plenty of magicians to talk to, and of course the show in the lovely theatre.
You can arrive from 6pm; the show will start at 7.30pm; and you can stay until it closes at around 10pm.
There  is  a  charge  of  £15  for  guests  who  aren’t  members  of  the  Circle.  If  you  are  not  a  member  of  “the  other  
club”  and  you  would  like  to  attend,  please  contact  Russell  Levinson  mail@russell-levinson.com and he will
add you to the guest list, as there is a limit on numbers.
Don’t  forget  the  Al  Atkinson  competition  is  coming  around  again.  You  can  find all the details on page 8.
Have a good month,

Andy Stone.

NEW MEMBER APPLICATION

Thomas Dixon, amateur magician, 93 Arnold Road, London N15 4JQ.
Proposed by Steve Graham and Seconded by John Eaton.

WELFARE NEWS FROM HAROLD STRAKER

Christmas and Hanukah are now over I hope you all had a happy time.
Keith Hall had a complete knee replacement in December and, although still in considerable pain, it was
great to see him and Ruth at the Zodiac Christmas party.
Having reported my return from hospital on Christmas Eve last year, on Boxing Day this year my own dear
Wife decided it was her turn! Judy was in hospital for only one night and is now home and making a full
recovery.
That’s  it  folks.    Wishing  you  all  a  happy,  healthy  and  successful  2017. Harold.

Keith Harrison
No. 3
Due  to  a  lack  of  consonants  at  the  letter  shop…  the  Zodiac’s  editor,  Andy,  has  only  been  able  to  buy  vowels  
this month. The confusing results are shown below. Using your magical knowledge can you sort out the ten
magical items? Or the ten mystery magicians?
Mystery Items:
EEA EAIA IEAE IEOI OUEE EA OI AE OIOO UAEIE

Mystery Magicians:
OUEI AOAE EIEE AEO OEROIOI AEOO EOOEAEA AIIO IAOE AUAOO
Answers on page 9
 Page 2

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all. It seems hard to believe it’s the start of another year already and that
Christmas is once again a distant memory. It’s even stranger for me as I’m writing this at the start of
December! As I will be in The Magic Circle Christmas Show for the latter part of the month I am well
aware I won’t have the time to write a page for the magazine so to save Andy the trouble of chasing me
and me having to cobble together some half baked attempt I’m getting it ready well in advance. It does
mean I have very little to report in the way of Christmas based shenanigans yet so they will have to wait
for the next issue.

Oldest Ever Audience

To kick start my Christmas season, at the end of
November I was extremely honoured to be asked
to perform at the European Diversity Awards.
The European Diversity Awards are the
continent’s most prestigious and widely respected
diversity event. Recognising individuals and
organisations who have made an outstanding
contribution to equality, diversity and inclusion
across Europe, the EDA brings together under
one roof the leading movers and shakers in
business, media and politics. The event takes
place at the Natural History Museum and is held
in the Hintze Hall (main entrance hall) with the
massive Diplodocus at its centre. It is very
strange getting a table plan with ‘dinosaur’
casually added in! Therefore, some members of
the audience were the oldest I’ve ever had!

As if that wasn’t cool enough, my dressing room was the Dinosaur hall. Yes, the
entire dinosaur section was available to me. I had a wonderful time between
performing leisurely wandering around enjoy the exhibits without anybody else
getting in the way. There is also something very special about getting ready next to
an actual Triceratops!

As wonderful as all that was, nothing was as special as the event itself and the
wonderful people it brought together. Being in such a fantastic building with over five
hundred people who just want to make the world a nicer place is inspiring.

Al Atkinson Trophy Competition

The start of a new year means that we have the start of a new Al Atkinson Trophy Competition. It is
widely regarded as the easiest of our competitions to enter but the hardest to win. One trick at a time
over nine categories spread over three months ensures that not only do we get to see a lot of excellent
magic but there is plenty of thinking and planning time for each category, I do hope that many of you are
considering entering as it is a lot of fun. Although you can enter on the night it is really helpful if you can
let me have your name in advance if you know you will be taking part.

I look forward to seeing you in the clubroom soon.

 Page 3
THE NOEL QUALTER LECTURE
Report by Sam Severijnse

Noel Qualter started the evening with a bill to impossible location effect which included a
switch using his "Nando"-vanish (the versatility of this vanish makes it quite attractive in
more ways than one) and a reasonable use for a mobile (I say "reasonable" as it wasn't
used as a straight-on prediction/revelation; something I have complained about before).
"Signature Dream" was a lot more to my liking, being a card guy, it involved an elaborate set-up which, I
think, can be worked around IF you can live without the VERY strong convincer of having the current date on
the signed stranger card which is pulled from a wallet (using a Gary Kurtz technique); stranger card to
impossible location.
"Yum yum yum" is a neat card placement technique, which looks like the result of the nuptials of the Bluff
Pass with the Kelly-Ovette Bottom Placement.
"Alarmed" was a neat time prediction effect, but I can't say I was impressed with the product - quite probably
the resulting laminated photo of the digital timepiece looks a bit more authentic if worked more slowly in front
of a layman audience.
"Social Media Wizard trick" used twitter for a card at number reveal. This is one of those
times where I think the mobile is not used correctly, as it could lead to the spectator
incorrectly concluding that the mobile had a program which somehow did all the magic.
Noel's way of obtaining the location of the (forced, sorry) card is, by contrast,
a stroke of genius as was his way of forcing. It flew right by me.
A nice versatile method, which Noel is still developing,
allows one to surreptitiously load a freely selected item into a
wallet as a prediction. One of the predicted uses is
Confabulation, but Noel's imaginative mind was already
imagining using currencies, train tickets and other “walletable”  
items. No 8-balls, but William - I dare you!
A card through a transparent object, aptly named
"Thru", does what is says on the
tin and can be done surrounded.
A coin bend routine was given the
wonderful kicker of a pair of sunglasses
also twisting - worth the price of entry
alone for those not into the preceding card
items.
Noel ended the night, which I can only describe as
having something for everyone, with an intimate card
reveal. It was yet another one for the "each new card reveal is
a new effect" guys called "I Heart Card Tricks".
 Page 4
CHESTNUTS 2016
Reported by Adrian King

The  evening’s  Chestnuts  were hosted by Russell Levinson who used the names-out-of-
a-box system to select the next performer.
Russell’s  name  was  drawn  first  so  he  began  by  writing  a  short  
prediction for Steve on a pad. He then wrote on the whiteboard:
‘Will  the  prediction  come  true?  If  Steve  is  right,  I  pay  him  £1m.  If  
Steve  is  wrong,  he  buys  me  a  cup  of  coffee.’  After  some  byplay  and  reverse  
psychology,  Steve  decided  ‘yes’.  Russell  had  written  ‘no’  on  the pad, which was
somehow correct.
Neville Balkin performed his three coins trick on Thomas where he puts one of the
coins in his pocket several times but three remain in his hand each time.
Bob Sacco performed a cups and balls routine, which he said
was from the 1930s, accompanied by nautical patter and
paraphernalia.
Keith Harrison brought on a small CHEST containing
NUTS as well as a small prediction envelope with
‘May  contain  nuts’  written  on  it.  Mick  eliminated  four  of  
the nuts leaving the brazil – which matched the
predicted nut in the envelope.
I performed a book test, divining which freely selected
word Peter was thinking of.
Andy  Stone  made  Mick  and  Keith’s  chosen  half  cards  
match. Andy told us that this chestnut comes from either Modern Magic or
Greater Magic.
Steve Graham had Mick, Keith and Peter name and take cards from a pack,
which were randomly numbered from 1 – 52 on their backs. Steve displayed
a photograph of three card backs with 4,15 & 47 written on them, which
matched  the  backs  of  his  participants’  cards.  
Mick Edwards had Keith stop dealing the
deck wherever he wished. Keith read out
some instructions that were written on the
card box, which also predicted which card
Keith would stop dealing to.
Peter Callaghan performed his chestnut - Doctor Daley's
Last Trick where pairs of aces transpose.
Marius Brill had Steve, Mick and Keith take a packet of
cards each and shuffle their packet up. Marius correctly
divined which card they had each cut to.
Thomas Dixon performed a wonderful egg bag routine
with Steve, including a lovely egg-under-the-armpit
sucker moment. This chestnut gets me every time!
Chris  Hare  had  Andy  find  any  dead  or  alive  celebrity’s  
date  of  birth  through  his  phone’s  Internet  search engine.
Chris  had  Andy  write  the  celebrity’s  date  of  birth  on  his  business  card, which
went into his wallet. Chris pumped Andy with football-related questions. Although
Andy was not thinking of John Barnes, he does
share  his  birthday  with  Andy’s  thought of
celebrity, Marie Curie.
After the break, Steve Graham went all QI on us
by explaining liminal space. This moved into his
signature chestnut where the details of selected
cards are divined through spelling and dealing.
I went into the Fourth Dimension as I divined
Neville’s  thought  of  celebrity  (Stirling  Moss),  
Andy’s  change  (£2.39)  and  Marius’s  drawing  (a  clown).  
Thomas  Dixon  performed  a  coins  across  routine  which  was  followed  by  Russell’s  three  card  monte  
demonstration to warn us against street hustlers.
 Page 5

With a poker game theme, AJ Green demonstrated various magical ways to

teleport the desired cards with a royal flush ending.
Keith performed that gag with a failed card divination being torn up and put in
a clear bag of other torn up cards. He then had Mick add up some chosen
number cards and the total related to an item on a numbered list, which Keith
correctly drew.
Chris asked Steve to name any celebrity out loud (Cliff Richard) and he
correctly identified his birthday. Following this, Chris riffled the deck in a
perpendicular T-formation  and  made  Steve’s  chosen  card  jump  out.  
Andy performed a piece, which he claimed is as tedious as the 21 card trick
using  scratch  ‘n’  sniff  fruit  cards.  After  some  spelling  and  dealing  to  the  phrase  
“W-i-l-l T-h-e C-a-r-d-s M-a-t-c-h”  – they did!
Peter  had  Mick  and  Keith  follow  the  instructions  in  a  ‘Market  Research  on  Random  Shuffles’  booklet  to  
shuffle a deck into a random face up and face down order. Despite all the random shuffles however, the
booklet predetermined how many face up cards there would be, how many of them would be black and that
the six would be the only diamond.
Bob was fast and loose with his signature chain and Marius closed the evening by divining one selected card
and transforming another.
Thank you to Russell for hosting, everyone for performing and special thanks to those whom regularly
participated.

CLUB OR SOCIETY?
Keith Hall

“Are  we  a  Society  or  a  Club?

I  don’t  suppose  any  of  our  members  have  ever  noticed  that  when  referring  to our
‘Society’,  yours  truly  has  never  knowingly  called  us  a  ‘Club’.  In  fact,  I  cringe  a  bit  when  
‘Club’  is  used.    ‘Society’  somehow  rings  true  to  TZMS  and  I  really  wouldn’t  want  to  
change it.
However, with this in mind, on the Web, I sought the definition of the difference(s) between one and the
other.
The definition I found states:
“Clubs  are  small  groups  with  clearly  defined  labels  and  rules.      Societies  are  larger  groups  of  people,  such  as  
a  country  that  shares  values  but  are  different”.
Not exactly what  I  expected!    It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  other  Members’  definitions  or  views.
I hope you all had a good Christmas and look forward to joining you at our forthcoming Society meetings in
2017.
With best wishes to All,
Keith (Hall) Membership Secretary.”

 I have two arms, but fingers I have none. I've got two
feet, but I cannot run. I carry well, but I carry best with
my feet off the ground. What am I?
 It can be cracked, it can be made, it can be told, it can
played. What am I talking about?
 What's black when you buy it, red when you use it, and
grey when you've done with it?
Answers on page 9
 Page 6
F
FLLA
ASSH
HEES
SOOF
FBBR
RIIL
LLL IIA
ANNC
CEE
Marius Brill

The Seasonal Zeitgeist

It’s  January.  ‘Tis the  season  to  feel  crap  about  the  person  you’ve  become  and  hopeful  about  the  
person you still might be. The slimming and fitness industry will spend the next month pumping
“encouragement”  through  the  media  to  capitalise  on  the  resolutions  we  have  made,  to exploit our
self-loathing and the sense that we are not whom we want to be. We all know that dieting books
appeal to a wide audience.

After the mammon of Christmas, January is our time for guilt and penance and advertisers, the
media, gyms, slimming pill pushers and holiday companies know it. As a freelance journalist the
articles  I  pitch  to  the  papers  and  magazines  reflect  each  coming  season’s  annual  mind  space.  Not  
just the hooks like love at Valentines or chocolate indulgence at Easter, but the call of the outdoors
as summer comes, the desperation for any news at all in the silly season of summer, the mounting
anxiety  in  autumn  for  completion;;  that  things  need  to  get  done,  “before  Christmas.”
Seasonal zeitgeist is exploited by countless public-facing industries - so  why  doesn’t  magic?
Of course we can add to our acts a little more glitter for Christmas bookings or the odd Santa
based  trick.  At  Halloween  the  old  horror  story  theme  might  pop  out,  or  Jim  Pace’s  the  Web,  but  
most of the time magic can seem as changeless as elevator music.
Terry Herbert put in a delightful performance for the Christmas show at Conjuring at the Court but,
as  part  of  his  patter,  he  told  us  about  the  time  he  did  the  “same  trick”  on  the  Paul  Daniels  Show.  A  
programme that finished 22 years ago and the same trick is going strong. This was after Scott
Penrose had dazzled with an act that recreates a 1920s piece of master conjuring.
I’m  not  knocking  the  classics,  but  are  we,  ironically  as  magicians,  missing  a  trick?
An allied artist,  the  cold  reader,  will  exploit  seasonal  zeitgeist.  If  you’re  giving  a  reading  in  January  
you’ll  almost  certainly  get  a  hit  from,  “you’ve  been  trying  to  make  changes  to  your  life  recently.”  Or  
in  late  February  as  the  winter  seems  to  have  dragged  on,  “you  have felt somewhat overwhelmed
by  the  relentlessness  of  life  but  every  now  and  again  you  get  a  glimpse  of  a  new  beginning.”  It’s  no  
accident that the glittering awards, the Oscars and BAFTAs and so on, are timed to bring some
contrast to that bleakest part of the year. As the end of March nears, life and vigour starts to return
and new energy is bursting not just in nature but in the human psyche. It is, of course, the
beginning  of  Aries  and  the  new  zodiacal  year  so,  “new  projects  are  adding  complications  to your
life,”  will  hit  better  at  this  time  than  any  other.  And  this  rolls  on  through  the  calendar.
I  understand  that  doing  a  few  things  excellently  is  better  thing  than  following  fads,  so  I’m  not  
suggesting that we have a new set every month of the year (although  I  wouldn’t  unsuggest  it  
either!). But to understand our audiences better, and how the time we are encountering them may
affect the way they see us, it may just be a way of improving our performances.
If, this month, you take a salt cellar and shake it  into  your  closed  fist  saying,  “I  don’t  know  about  
you,  but  I’m  trying  to  cut  out  salt,”  it  just  may  have  more  resonance  than  you  think.  Or  if  your  
Ambitious Card wants to be first in line at the sales, or the card in the invisible deck is the only one
determined to turn over a new leaf, or you saw a lady in half as a weight lose plan you are delving
into the zeitgeist and it may just resonate a little more with your audience. And that can make all
the difference.
 Page 7
THE ZODIAC CHRISTMAS MEAL 2016
Pictures by Nihal Thevarajan

With a little over three days to go until Christmas Day, 32 members, partners and friends sat down to a
festive meal in the secret room above the Boston Manor Harvester. Keiths Harrison and Hall masterminded
the event. A series of terrible Christmas cracker jokes kicked off the entertainment.

A number of members provided Close-up magic in between courses

Following the meal, Bob Sacco and Carl Pettman provided a short cabaret. Bob performed some comedy
routines from comics of yesteryear including Arthur Askey and Billy  Bennett.  He  ended  with  Bennett’s  
monalogue  “it  was  Christmas  day  in  the  cook  house”.  Carl  followed  with  his  cup  and  ball  routine.  Bob  and  
Carl providing top entertainment.

The Harvester provided six free bottles of Prosecco and so the Keiths organised a free raffle for all the
diners. Thanks to Keith and Keith for organising a very enjoyable evening. The food was good and the
company and entertainment great!

More pictures at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1zsacmQ4C_KUXlIRGpGZlNwU2c

 Page 8
THE AL ATKINSON COMPETITION 2017

There is no time limit.

A minimum of six competitors is required for the competition to take

place.

Nine categories of magic will be listed and three will be performed each
month as per the syllabus.

Competitors will be required to complete at least six of the categories.

The best six positional marks for each competitor will be taken to
decide the winner.

The scoring will be by the non-competing magicians present - giving

marks out of twenty, which will be converted to the positional marks.

Entries may be made in advance to KATHERINE RHODES but will be accepted on competition nights before
each category, providing the competitor can complete six categories.

The draw for running order will be made as soon as entries are complete. YOU CAN ENTER NOW.

The result will be announced at our Birthday Party.

The winner will receive the trophy to be retained for one year, and a suitably engraved permanent memento.
There will also be a suitably engraved permanent memento for the runner-up.

The Categories:
Production – The magician causes something to appear where previously there was nothing.
Vanish – The magician causes something to disappear from where previously it had been shown to be.
Transformation – The magician causes something to change into something else.
Transportation – The magician causes something to move invisibly from one place to another.
Destruction & Restoration – The magician breaks or destroys, or has broken or destroyed, an object and then restores
the object to its original state.
Penetration –An object passes through another object after which they are apparently seen to be in their original states.
Antigravity – The magician causes an object to defy the laws of gravity.
Mental – The magician demonstrates his/her ability to control the mind of others, to foresee the future or other
supernatural powers.
Own Choice – Your own choice of magical effect.
(In the definitions the singular includes the plural i.e.  ‘object’  could  be  read  as  ‘objects’.)

This really is the easiest of our competitions to enter.

Remember you only have to perform one trick at a time rather than an act.

This competition always gives us three good club evenings, but it relies on members to provide a good entry.
Do please enter. You only need half a dozen tricks to perform although nine would of course be better as
your best six results are counted and therefore your worst three are not included.

Katherine Rhodes is in charge of the competition and you should direct any queries you have to her.

PAST WINNERS
1986 Cliff Stanyon 1987 Jack Mayes & Cliff Stanyon 1988 Cliff Stanyon 1989 Cliff Stanyon
1990 Bharat Patel 1991 Cliff Stanyon 1992 Guy Hollingworth 1993 Bharat Patel
1994 Bharat Patel 1995 Bharat Patel 1996 Paul Abbey 1997 Jon Allen
1998 Richard Pinner 1999 Mike Smith 2000 Greg Nicholson 2001 Richard Pinner
2002 Richard Pinner 2003 Richard Pinner 2004 Richard Pinner 2005 Mike Smith
2006 Richard Pinner 2007 Richard Pinner 2008 Bob Sacco 2009 Joe Stone
2010 Richard Pinner 2011 Mick Edwards 2012 Fay Presto 2013 Russell Levinson
2014 Tanay Kharwadkar 2015 Russell Levinson 2016 Russell Levinson 2017 ????

THIS YEAR IT COULD BE YOU

 Page 9
WORK EXPERIENCE?
From Keith Hall

WANT TO PRACTICE YOUR CLOSE-UP BEFORE A LAY AUDIENCE?

Those of you who attended this year’s Zodiac Christmas Dinner, will be aware
that the whole of the downstairs restaurant of The Harvester in Boston Manor Road has been refurbished
and the external gardens landscaped to take advantage of all available space and attract more customers.

The harvesters’ new Manager, Paul Brum is very keen to introduce live entertainment both
inside and outside during the coming months including the use of the upstairs facility for
small ‘gigs’.

Paul has suggested that if any of our Members would like to drop by and perform table or
other magic at his venue, you would be very welcome. All you have to do is contact Paul
first to establish suitable date(s), timing, etc. Paul can be contacted on 0208 567 3711
mentioning The Zodiac magical Society, or if you have any initial queries, give Keith Hall
or Keith Harrison a call to find out more.

I hope all Zodiac members had a great Steve & Margaret Graham
Christmas and wish everyone a vastly would like to wish all Zodiac
improved year in 2017, full of better members and their families
health, prosperity and, above all, joy and a Happy New Year
fulfilment.

Keep the magic flowing!

Love from Mandy Davis.

Answers to: Answers to the riddles from page 5:

I have two arms, but fingers I have none. I've got two
feet, but I cannot run. I carry well, but I carry best
with my feet off the ground. What am I?

From page 1 a Wheelbarrow!

It can be cracked, it can be made, it can be told, it

Items: can played. What am I talking about?

ZENER CARDS, ELASTIC BANDS, It was of course..... a joke!

HIMBER WALLET, FLIPPER COIN, HOULETTE,
EGG BAG, TOPIT, PADDLE, OKITO BOX, What's black when you buy it, red when you use it,
SQUARE CIRCLE and grey when you've done with it?

It is………Charcoal!
Magicians:

DOUG HENNING, HARRY LORAYNE,

PENN JILLETTE, FAY PRESTO,
ROBERTO GIOBBI, WAYNE DOBSON,
THEODORE ANNEMANN, DAVID NIXON.
BILL MALONE, LAURA LONDON
 Page 10
CONJURING AT THE COURT IN DECEMBER
Reported by Bob Sacco

The evening show played to a capacity audience. Russell Levinson was

the compere and warmed the crowd up with some ball manipulations
then getting them to shout out Crash! Bang! Wallop! before producing a
full bottle of drink. Then he introduced:
Roberto Forzoni with his excellent mentalism act. Roberto began by
throwing out three different colourful soft toys and the three randomly
selected audience members were invited to stand on the stage under
boards numbered 1, 2 and 3. Their freely chosen positions were shown
to match the toys they held when the boards were turned around. But
that wasn't all - the names on the toys matched the real names of the spectators holding
them. Next was a dice effect in which Roberto got three members of the audience to answer
questions either truthfully or untruthfully. In each case he was able to reveal the top number of a die concealed in their
hand. He then asked a husband and wife onto the stage. The lady was asked to think of the name of the first person she
had a "crush" on. Roberto correctly named this as "Paul". He followed this with a hypnotic effect with the husband and
wife standing apart with their eyes closed listening to a metronome. He touched the husband only on the arm a number
of times and asked both of them to raise the arm touched and display on their fingers the number of touches made and
where they were made. The wife mirrored the husband's indications exactly though Roberto had never touched her.
Another lady was asked up onto the stage and asked to make a book of her choice in her mind. (A book test without
books!) She chose Richard Branson's autobiography and a random page number - 230. Can she see a word there? Yes,
it was "amusing". From a fake banana, Roberto produced a scroll with the word "amusing" written on it. He went off to a
storm of applause.
Russell then performed signed card from balloon before introducing the comedy magic of:
Martin Cox. He began by asking someone to think of a card and then produced a "cod" with a
card stuck on the back, which he peeked at and declared to be correct. Three cards were
then chosen, signed and placed back into the deck only to reappear in his trouser pocket, his
jacket pocket and stuck to his forehead. He had a nice comedy routine with some large cut-
out numbers in the buy one get one free (3) genre. He then produced a child's picture book,
which had a large picture such as a chair on one half and a number of smaller pictures on the
other half. He said that when the child found a match his or her voice would get higher with
the excitement of discovery. Using a young man from the front row he got him to read out the
names of the different small pictures from the pages of the book. Martin correctly named the big picture three times.
Martin closed his act with a hilarious take on the bullet catch. This involved a large water gun and a spectator loading it
with a small plastic goldfish signed with his intials and named "bullet". Martin got ready by donning goggles and a
sou'wester and standing in a small paddling pool. The water gun was successfully fired at Martin from halfway down the
audience and he proved that he had in fact trapped the signed goldfish in his teeth. A very funny finish, for which the
audience showed its great appreciation.
After the interval and raffle Russell inroduced the wonderful classic magic act of:
Scott Penrose. Scott's beautifully choregraphed act to great music had the audience applauding
throughout. He did a dove production from his gloves, yo-yo to silk to dove, silk to appearing cane
transposition, vanishing candle, 20th century silks, another dove production, flash string to hand of
flames under silk, linking rings with a dove, card manipulatiions, card sword, diminishing cards to
snowstorm in China, silks to cloak and concluding with the vanish of the dove cage to produce a huge
white rabbit drawing gasps from the audience. He left the stage to great applause.
Russell then did a confabulation effect before introducing the final act of the
evening:
Terry Herbert - a great favourite with his comedy magic. He opened with a
jumbo card supposedly signed by Uri Geller and vanished a deck of cards behind it. This led him
into his invisible deck routine, which wowed the audience. He borrowed a £20 note from a man in
the audience whom he asked up onto the stage. He tore the corner off of the note and gave it to the
man for later verification. The note was placed into an envelope and put through a hand-held
shredder. The note wasn't there and became part of a running gag. Terry borrowed a watch and
wrapped it in a hanky. He bashed the watch in the hanky against his table a few times. He then
produced a locked wooden box inside which was a clear box tied around with ribbon and holding
the man's watched unscathed. Terry took out his wallet and moths flew out as he opened it. He produced a huge fake
£20 note, which he gave to the man and then had a bit of fun with Tel's Bell. A chase the Ace routine was followed with
the egg bag performed with a lady from the audience to some cheeky patter. The concluding trick had the audience in fits
of laughter with Terry using a pack of raw sausages as pack of cards. The man selected a sausage, which was found to
contain the missing £20 note. The torn off piece matched exactly, but Terry restored the two pieces at his fingertips to
return a single crisp £20 note to the man.
A great comedy magic act by one of the professions most seasoned performers and greatly appreciated by the audience.
Another cracking show at Conjuring at the Court.
 Proud to be a member of the Zodiac?
Stuck for ideas for Christmas gifts?
The club still has some of our anniversary glasses available and
these make an ideal gift.
So if you would like a few please speak to Simon Rudd at the
club, or contact him on simonprudd@googlemail.com.
The prices are now:
1 = £5.00
2 or 3 = £4.00 each
4 or more = £3.00 each
If you are a country member or unable to get the club, we will
arrange FREE delivery!
So support your club, promote the club and give a gift that will be
appreciated!

4th January Video Variety – (Challenge cup)

11th January Universally Challenged

18th January Al Atkinson 2017 – Rounds 1-3

(Production – Transformation – Transposition)

25th January Steve Rowe Lecture £ .

1st February Rajan Lecture £ .

8th February Request night

15th February Anti-Valentines

22nd February Al Atkinson 2017 – Rounds 4-6

(Vanish – Destruction & Restoration – Mental)
1st March Forged signatures

8th March Wayne Fox - Word Magic Shop Dealer Dem £ .

15th March Desert Island Tricks

22nd March Al Atkinson 2017 – Rounds 7-9

(Anti-Gravity - Penetration - Own Choice)
29th March Astrological

5th April Birthday Party

12th April Freddie Firth Competition

Underlined are the events at which we welcome NON-MAGICAL GUESTS

When a fixture has a £, it indicates that a £10.00. charge is made to non-members.

When a fixture has a HP£, it indicates that a £20.00. charge is made to non-members.
HP£ indicates High Profile lecturer for which there is a higher charge to non-members.
This fee is refunded to prospective members who make proper application for membership.

Published by © The Zodiac Magical Society. Editor: Andy Stone, 89, Carlyle Road, Ealing, London, W5 4BP.
Web: www.zodiacmagicalsociety.co.uk Email: Editor@ZodiacMagicalSociety.co.uk
Comments and views expressed by contributors are their own and are not necessarily the views of The Zodiac Magical Society.