The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7179 p904-936
22-29 December 2001

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Christmas miscellany summary

Make room, Harry, for a real magician

International magician Philip Partridge loves to conjure up magic tricks at pharmacy branch meetings. His enthusiasm for magic has led him to become a full-time magician and to put his career as a pharmacist on hold.

His passion for magic started during his childhood. "I was very interested in a magical world and a prolific reader of magical stories from a young age," he says. Philip started performing tricks at the age of eight after receiving a magic set as a gift. However, with no contacts in the entertainment industry, his family encouraged him to continue with his academic studies.

Philip studied pharmacy at Manchester University and went on to do his preregistration training in hospital pharmacy. During that year he spent his spare time "deming" magic to the public at a magic shop, ACE Place, in Liverpool. "ACEplace has a history of magicians working there," he says. He started to meet other magicians and soon after joined the Mahatma Magic Circle, otherwise known as the Liverpool Magic Circle. He was elected its youngest president in 1997.

He now performs both close-up magic (at tables) and after dinner cabaret at private functions and corporate events. He has performed in Las Vegas and Paris, on the Eurostar to Paris, on the Orient Express and at Manchester United's football ground, among other places.

"I will travel almost anywhere in the world to perform magic," he says. One of his favourite cabaret tricks involves swallowing a three-foot long balloon. However, he was not going to reveal the mystery behind performing his tricks.

"Magic is all about the element of surprise," he says.

Philip says that he has a good rapport with children. He worked as a pharmacist at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool for four years, during which time he also performed magic at children's parties. He co-founded the Merseyside Junior Magic Club, a magic club for children aged between nine and 16 years old, through which he now teaches magic. He suggests that children should use books as a start to learning.

"If you want to hide something, put it in a book," he says.

Philip taught himself to create illusions and his ideas come from books, other teachers and brain storming with other magicians. He advises that magicians should innovate and not imitate tricks.

Philip has also been employed as a magical consultant to help perform illusions in theatres using chemical magic. He is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the current holder of the Austin Wand award for services to magic. His ambition is to have his own programme on television. Watch out, Harry Potter.