Russell shatters the illusionist

Russell Brown is the stage director and compere at the Magic Convention

Russell Brown has been under the magic spell since his cousin gave him a magic book at five.

He has his own daily show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and has worked with some of the biggest names in magic including Paul Daniels, Ali Bongo, Rick Thomas, Greg Frewin and Kevin James.

And George Clooney may have the magic touch with the ladies but Russell managed to teach him some sorcery.

He is also stage director/compere for the world's largest magic convention.

The Magic Convention is held every February at Blackpool's Winter Gardens and attracts 3500 magicians from all over the globe and is Russell's highlight of the year. It is organised by the Blackpool Magician's Club which he has been a member of since he was nine. The 2009 event attracted David Blaine.

It's great news; we already hold the best convention in the world so staging this as well is fantastic. Russell Brown on the World Magic Championships coming to Blackpool

Russell will also be involved backstage when the World Magic Championships comes to Blackpool in 2012, too. "It's great news; we already hold the best convention in the world so staging this as well is fantastic." It will be good for the resort, too, as it is expected to bring £7m in tourism to the town.

Not so good news for Brown is the closure of Pontin's at Blackpool; he has been the resident entertainer there for twelve years. "I was gutted when they told me. It's a shame because it has been a good season, too."

Tickled

Brown describes himself as a close up magician and children's entertainer although he has done illusion tours and mentored some of the UK's top illusionists. His compering can't be too bad, either. Well, it tickled Ken Dodd; he presented Russell with the Ken Dodd Comedy Award at the 2009 Magic Convention.

He loves entertaining children. "They will always tell the truth so you get a genuine reaction to your act. You can tell if they are impressed with the show while adults will quietly watch anything so it is harder to gauge their reactions."

Growing up he was mesmerized by Paul Daniels so much so that he wrote him a letter. He still treasures Daniels' reply; it has pride of place in his magic room at home.

Magician Andrew Green says the magic convention is 'just like the Olympics'

"I loved The Paul Daniels Magic Show as a child, not only was he great at magic but his show featured a lot of classic acts from around the world. He was the best magician around."

His favourite magician now is Lance Burton who has his own show in Las Vegas. "He is absolutely superb. I've seen him loads of times now and each show just gets better. It's a good excuse to go to Vegas, too."

If he could you could get any magician to reveal their tricks of the trade, who would it be? His reply is Robert Harbin who invented famous illusions such as the zig zag lady. "In my opinion his ideas changed magic into what it is today."

However, he believes what goes on in the Magic Circle should stay in the Magic Circle. Russell is against people who reveal how magicians do tricks. He said: "It's wrong to be give secrets away that aren't necessarily their own work and could well be things that magicians have spent many years honing and perfecting for the purpose of entertaining others. It's cheap and it's wrong."

In my opinion his ideas changed magic into what it is today. Russell Brown on Robert Harbin

Gag

There have been times when his act hasn't gone to plan, though, but he has conjured up another trick. He explains: "There have been a few times when I've really had to think at lightning speed. For instance, I do a trick where I ask the audience to randomly pick a colour, name and place and I have already written it down on a piece of paper.

"One time I got it wrong so I screwed up the piece of paper and threw it on the floor. It got a laugh so I kept doing it and it became a running gag. It went down so well I've kept it in my act."

He adds, "At the end I reveal that I had the right answers, though."

Of course he didn't have a trick up his sleeve when a child threw up on him on stage. "There's no getting round that!"

Russell Brown's show is on 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm daily at Planet Rock theatre at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach.