John van der Put is an award winning magician who has been dazzling audiences for the past ten years, delivering stylish and stunning magic laced with dry wit, current holder of the British Ring’s premier close-up award the Zina Bennett Trophy and was runner-up in this year’s Magic Circle close-up competition being only a whisper away from the winner.

John started with magic when he was 15, he was not particularly enamoured with it.  Then he saw the close-up magic of Jerry Sadowitz in ‘Stuff the White Rabbit’. He loved it and it changed John’s attitude towards magic. At 18 he joined The Magic Circle.

At aged 19 it was Guy Hollingworth who was to become John’s inspiration, and he set himself two goals. One was to create a signature piece of magic, the other to learn Guy’s Reformation. The first he achieved by accident when he conceived VDP where a card changes a bit at a time and the latter when Guy published his book. John’s parents were concerned about his future as a magician and suggested he had a back-up career, at university he studied computer science, and worked in IT before being struck down with pancreatitis and nearly dying.

Thinking that he was following his back-up life before even trying to lead the life he wanted, he left work, retrained as an actor steering him into creating a variety of roles, including Piff the Magic Dragon.

So when you see John van der Put performing in the International Close-up Gala at Southport you can be assured of seeing not only mind blowing magic but magic presented in a completely original manner.

We will be providing more information during the run up to the convention, A guide will be going up soon detailing where the HQ hotel and convention center is, along with hotel booking and local information. We will also be working closely with The British Ring to help make Southport 2009 a success.