The Junior British Magical Close-up Championships was a new event for Blackpool this year, and the talent of the juniors was extremely high.
Tom Crosbie, Douglas Tilston, Jack Gleadow, Stephen Williams, and Jake Barlow all performed extremely well, personally I felt that Jack, who is just 14 was one of the most entertaining of them all, funny, skilled and extremely promising.

The results from the judges were:

1st Douglas Tilston
2nd Jack Gleadow
3rd Stephen Williams

Marc lectured to an standing room only Spanish hall, with every seat taken and many people standing around the sides of the room.

Marc covered a number of items, including a “mental epic” effect, a book test and other mentalism items.

Marc has the ability to make everything, however simple, look fantastic and polished and he showed this with a superb key on and off chain, explaining in detail the subtle handling for making the key appear and vanish from the chain.

The linking playing cards was also a joy to watch, the clean and show handling a complete fooler.

Marc also talked about his “hat” system of working on his act, through visionary, designer, assembler and similar “hats” each making him look at an effect on a different way and view point.

One of Marcs best pieces I think is where he calls for cards to be named from the audience, which he cuts to in the deck, allowing him to locate any card in re deck needed, he explained how the “master deck” worked, a wonderful method for any card at any number of other effects.

Sat in the audience was the ‘Druid Master’ Keith Barry

It was a fantastic lecture which was met with a great audience and response.

Latko from Argentina lectured with translation, and covered ideas, inspiration and how to develop your magic and persona.

Although at first I thought the lecture was a bit slow, Latko demonstrated this thinking by performing a coin matrix to music, which became a very theatrical effect, ending with multiple coins appearing on the table, bank notes and a powerful finish. Making all my inital thoughts vanish.

This showed that his thinking about how looking at your props, and why and what you should be doing very clear to me.

It was a very short lecture, about 25 minutes, but came across well and by reading into a bit, very useful.

The registration desk opened bright (and early for some!) at 10am. As with all Blackpool conventions the registration was quick and efficient given the 3,000 registrants.

The program for the weekend looks, as expected fabulous, today the dealers opening at 1pm, the first lectures starting at 3pm, the line up for Friday is:

3pm - 4pm star lecture - latko
4:30pm - 5:30 star lecture - marco oberon
6pm - 7pm - star lecture - ian keable
6:30 - 7:30 - junior british magical closeup competition (good luck Jack Gleadow)
7:30 - 8:30 - star lecture Bruce Kalver
8 - 9:45 - European magical close up championship
9 - 10:15 - a mélange of mentalists - Wayne dobson, quentin Reynolds, Roy zaltsman, ian rowland, James randi
10pm dealers close
10pm presentation of the european close up championship
10:15-10:30 star close up performance by dr sawa
10:30 - 11:30 star lecture by dan and dave buck
10:45 - 11:45 star lecture by dirk losander

It’s the Thursday night before the convention and everyone who’s anyone has gathered here in the HQ hotel, the Ruskin.

Even through it’s fairly packed tonight, it will be getting a lot busier over the weekend. Most of the artists are now in town, We wandered up the the Blackpool Magicians Club HQ earlier and heard Jeff McBride’s Master Class was going well.

This evening we’ve been privileged to see both James Randi and Eugene Burger, both happy to pose for photos and talk with the attendees. It’s a great atmosphere, with everyone chatting, famous or not.

Andi Gladwin, and Joshua Jay, Jeff McBride, and Rafael, all getting ready for what might be one of the best Blackpools yet, and at 1am the hotels still very busy with more people arriving.

Tomorrow is registration at 10am, and the first look at the final schedule for the weekend.

Our photo feed is also being shown and picked up live over at www.itricks.com for anyone wanting absolutely up-to-the-minute images..

The South Tyneside International Magic Festival looks set to enjoy its biggest year yet, with much of the event already sold out.

Festival organisers South Tyneside Council, The Customs House and Martin Duffy, past President of the Newcastle Magic Circle, have attributed the early success to this year’s line-up of top class magicians, which includes a host of UK names like Paul Daniels and comedian Tim Vine, performing alongside renowned stars from the USA and Canada.

Tickets are still available for the following events. The Family Magic Extravaganza, which takes place at the Customs House on Wednesday March 11, offers magical entertainment for all ages, including a puppet and illusion show, plus an appearance by reigning World Junior General Magic Champion Stephen Williams. Tickets for this event are priced at £5 each.

Two International Gala Shows will follow at the Customs House on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 March, each featuring spellbinding performances from five magicians and a special guest compere. Tickets for these events are priced at £13 each or £12 concessions.

Tickets can be purchased from the Customs House Box Office in person, online at www.customshouse.co.uk or by calling 0191 454 1234