John Scott   Close-up Magician          

    A Handful of Mysteries    

         A Brief Biography        

Looking back I guess my first exposure to 'magic' was as a child in Crewe.I have vague memories of my father entertaining friends with magic tricks during the evening. A couple of years later a friend of my grandmother taught me  to play chess, various card games and my first card trick, I was quite excited and got him to teach me more. Another  couple of years go by and I become the kid in school that could do a few card tricks. When I approached my mid teens I discovered a small novelty shop in London that sold tricks. I used to buy things there to increase my repertoire.

Through the 1970's I continued to amuse my close friends with the odd trick, I was inspired by the likes of David Nixon, Paul Daniels, Doug Henning etc. on the TV.

Moving on to the mid 1980’s I thought I might delve a little deeper into the art of magic and searched the local bookshops and libraries in Nottinghamshire. I was surprised to discover only a handful of books on the subject. I read all that was available and kept up the search for more. I found a small shop in Nottingham that sold bits and pieces of

magic and the guy that ran it mentioned a local magician called David Charles who had recently won a magical championships in Blackpool. I tracked him down to his home and went to see him. He told me about the Nottingham Guild of Magicians (and sold me a few close-up props!). Some months later, during a visit to the American Adventure

theme park, I met a magician performingclose-up tricks at a table. When I mentioned that I also did the trick he had just shown me, we had bit of a chat. He happened to be a member of the Nottingham Guild and encouraged me to pay them a visit. I eventually did and decided to practice some tricks and apply for membership.     

I was accepted as a member following my audition in November 1989. Soon after this I found myself in Davenports in London, buying a bunch of kid’s magic props, as one of the staff at work had promised her granddaughter I would do a magic show for her birthday party now that I was a ‘real magician.’

After almost twenty years of hard practice and performance I decided to apply for membership of  The Magic Circle and was invited down to London for an interview and one month later returned to London, auditioned and was accepted

as a member in June 2007.

                    john@johnscottmagic.co.uk