Desert Island Tricks
Each week we invite one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on a desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
Episodes are uploaded every Friday and are available via all Podcast service providers!
To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
Harri Harrington (Lord Harri)
Lord Harri's journey through magic is as colourful and unpredictable as his Desert Island Tricks selections. After a technical mishap with his original recording, Harri returns with a refreshed perspective that perfectly captures his playful, versatile approach to magical entertainment.
What makes Harri's list truly remarkable is its stunning diversity. From the visual elegance of Tobias Dostal's "Repo" to Adam Dadswell's "Lexicon Plus" that Harri has inventively adapted with rubber ducks, each selection reveals a performer who refuses to be confined to a single magical genre. His approach to choosing effects isn't about adhering to a particular style but rather embracing what brings genuine joy and wonder, both to himself and his audiences.
The depth of Harri's magical connections shines through in his stories. Whether describing his love of Urbain’s "Ignite," his evolution through mentor Kieran Johnson's ice production effect "Element," or his friendship with James Keatley who created the “Spitfire" coin set, Harri demonstrates how the magic community has shaped his development. His inclusion of his own creation, "Harri-O," shows the culmination of these influences into his signature ring-to-Haribo routine that has earned recognition from multiple previous guests.
Perhaps most telling is Harri's banishment choice, rather than a specific trick, he banishes egotistical performers and jealousy from the industry. "Surely we should all help each other and share stuff with each other, because only the best is going to come from it," he explains, revealing the collaborative spirit that underpins his approach to magic. And his selection of a finger Unicorn as his non-magic item perfectly encapsulates the whimsical charm that has made him such a distinctive voice in modern magic.
Harri’s Desert Island Tricks:
- Repo
- Lexicon Plus
- Ignite
- Spitfire
- Rings
- Bank Fright
- To the Max
- Harri-O
Banishment. Jealous Performers
Book. Simply Harkey
Item. Finger Unicorn
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
I actually think, for do you know, when you're doing the receptions for like a corporate, where you've only got about an hour, hour and a half before you go and do table sets, this is such a cool thing to just. We talk about openers and I think, as an opener, this is quite bold, but if you are a fun, playful person and then you smash something like this out, you're giving somebody a bit like, oh, that magician, wow, that was a bit odd. And then you come and do something really fun afterwards. They're not going to forget that opener. He started with that really dangerous thing and then all of a sudden, yeah, it's great, I love it. Yeah, it took me, absolutely took me, when I first saw this. I know it's new, but in terms of where, where I am right now with my creativity and my magic, that I'm doing, this was the missing piece to something that I would want to do every time.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. We have a guest today who, technically, was one of our first recordings way back when we started the podcast. However, something happened to that recording and we couldn't use it. So this is interesting though, because he's had a chance to change his list I can't actually remember his original list it might have changed from the original and he also gets a banishment now, which he did not get on the first season, and he's also more attuned to how everything works now, and so am I, so we're both a bit more brushed up than when we started the podcast a little while ago.
Speaker 3:Now, if he had a what three words, it would be lovely, charming and smart, because he is all three of those things. And if you didn't understand the what three words reference, he does have a trick that uses what three words, which is very, very good. If you've not seen him, he is bursting onto the magic scene massively. Literally. I cannot go anywhere and not see one of his tricks or one of his videos. He's always lovely to talk to and I'm so pleased that we finally got him back and we have the opportunity to record this properly. So it is the wonderful Lord Harry.
Speaker 1:Hello, jamie, it's always lovely to see you. God, these introductions, I never know how to react to these. They're just insane. Thank, you.
Speaker 3:Well, it's true, you have just massively burst onto the scene and you've got so many really quirky, clever tricks. I remember when you showed me what three words I think it was probably last year blackpool time and yeah I just loved it. I thought it was such a great trick.
Speaker 1:There's so much behind that I mean the that what three words trick Words trick is a combination between a friend's idea, david Marks, and then he's the original person who had that idea, and he didn't know how to have a method that made it work. So when I actually tuned into his thinking, I then came up with this method. Oh, I mean, it ended up being a great journey where we were friends with or befriended the CEO of what Free Words to the point where we actually filmed the trailer at complete cost paid by what Free Words at the headquarters in London. So that's now such a great relationship that we've got with what Free Words, which is unreal, but it's what magic does, right, it's unreal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's an amazing thing to be able to have done and I remember watching the trailer and thinking that's pretty cool. So, in terms of your list, did you change it from your original list? You don't have to tell us the original list, but did it change?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, you asked me to come on and I misunderstood completely everything, so I ended up. So, yes, the list has changed because I've actually paid attention to what I need to do. The first time you asked me to do this, I ended up having like an Omnidebt to smash up coconuts to survive Uh, the biggest book I could find to make fire kindling and all sorts of random things like professor's nightmare, because I wanted to build a trap to catch a rabbit or something to eat. You know it was. I was a pure survival mode, whereas now I've actually listened to the podcast a lot more and I understand what I need to be doing well, I think we we had that a lot in the early days.
Speaker 3:People took the the desert island part a lot more serious than the favorite tricks part. But now that we're so far into the podcast, most of the guests that we have on have heard a few of them, so they're more attuned to it. But yeah, it was almost like bear grills does magic.
Speaker 1:It was yeah, yeah I went into full army survival mode. I was like, yes, I'm gonna, how would I survive this? But no, we've got it all. We've got it all written down.
Speaker 3:I thought about this long and hard actually you know Nice, and how did you find the banishment? Because obviously you didn't get that last time.
Speaker 1:No, so the banishment I, I, it's really hard because I feel like, for for myself, magic changes constantly and my view on stuff changes constantly. So there's a trick which, when we come to the banishment I'll talk about, which I actually really despise and don't like, and then I've seen this blackpool.
Speaker 1:someone perform that trick and I loved it which meant I can I can't no longer hate it because I have seen a version of performance of it which I actually really enjoyed. So I've had to think a little bit outside the box of how I would banish something or what I would banish.
Speaker 3:Well, I think that's enough of a tease I think we need to say no more Now if this is your first time listening to the podcast. The idea is that we're about to maroon Harry on his own island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, one book, one non-magic item that he uses for magic, and he's allowed to banish one thing from our industry particulars like who's there, what's there? All of that good stuff, we do not mind, it's in harry's own imagination. So, with that being said, let's go to your magical island and find out what's in position one. What did you put in spot one?
Speaker 1:so, yeah, I haven't got any particular order of my tricks, so they are all random. I favor them all just as much. But I think I'm going to start off with repo, which I know is quite new, and repo is, oh god. I love the playfulness of this, right. I mean, tobias dorsal is a phenomenal creator anyway, but and he's German and I'm half German, so you know we've got a connection anyway but that trick itself being able to have such a fun, playful transposition between the key and the chain and the key links and then it comes off and it vanishes and then the chain changes into the key and, if you want, you can make the key disappear as well. It's just, I loved it and I think, I think I did a yeah, I did a social media video on it and I just immediately grasped it.
Speaker 1:I picked it up, for it was just right up my street. You know, in terms of how I look at magic, how much fun I have with magic and even the props that you need to do it. It was, it was so up my street and I fell in love with that trick instantly, and I'm quite a late bloomer to it, because I think it's already been out for like six, seven months or something. So, yeah, when I picked it up, I was like, wow, this is man, this is what I've been looking for. It's just so much fun.
Speaker 1:Kieran Johnson is my mentor, or is was, but he's become such a close friend over my entire magic career and he always said to me from day one never box yourself in, always look at every aspect of magic, every different category and and you know be inspired by stuff. So, yeah, when I look at something like tobias, which is a key in the chain which I would never really perform with ever it's not something I would do and then see the playfulness and just how it all combines, I'm like, yeah, it's beautiful, we need that.
Speaker 3:Well, that's a great choice. Repo is such a wonderful trick, and if you haven't seen that one, do go check it out because it's phenomenal. But it does lead us nicely onto number two.
Speaker 1:So what's in your second spot? I have got lexicon plus by adam dadswell. Um, now, I don't really do mentalism. However, I have dabbled in mentalism and I I love the fact that I I don't take myself too serious as a character when I perform magic. I know that I like to have fun, I like to have jokes like a banter with people, so sometimes mentalism can be a little bit more down the path of it's quite serious, or you're trying to do a reveal and, and you've been serious about the whole thing, adam showed me Lexicon Plus when he was at Cardiff at the magic site doing a lecture, and I saw it and I don't know why, but I've really enjoyed, I just loved it.
Speaker 1:And if you don't know what it is, it's a blank stack of cards where there are pictures or they could be words, and you get three spectators to choose one and you're able to then reveal it in three different ways. So one of them is you can one of them, you, you guess what it is. The other one you, you can draw it, um, and then the third one, I think you also you can reveal it in a different way. Uh, in terms of you know, because, because you know one bit of information for sure. The other two you're doing in real lifetime, you know. So I love it and I don't know why or where it came from.
Speaker 1:But I picked this deck up and an accident had happened at a wedding fair where I put a rubber duck on someone's shoulder. I just thought it'd be funny to reveal a rubber duck and place it on their shoulder, and what actually happened is the people at the wedding fair, the party that were there saw the duck on the shoulder and then started reacting prior to the person who had the duck on their shoulder, which then immediately thought or let me think that I could now instantly stooge the people watching the individual I'm trying to reveal their thing with. So when Adam then came and had and showed me lexicon plus, it was the perfect thing to combine, because not only do I have the, the reveal of the freely chosen thing, not only can I now do a drawing duplication of the second thing, but now what was technically like the weakest is now almost the strongest, because everyone else is revealing the third thing for the spectator and I'm not even really involved. Right, and it's I just fought that in itself, so that has become an absolute, amazing piece of magic for me.
Speaker 1:I love lexicon plus this. I feel like there's so much still unexplored with it in terms of mixing feelings and actions with pictures and doing more with this, you know. So yeah, phenomenal, really really amazing trick. So, yeah, definitely check out Lexicon Plus.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned that you don't do a lot of mentalism. What was? It about Lexicon that allowed you to think a lot of mentalism. What was it about lexicon that allowed you to think oh, maybe mentalism is for me. What was it about that particular trick that did it for you?
Speaker 1:well it was. It was a bit of mentalism that I've had before, like the um when I did the academy with you guys. There's a trick in there which takes essentially what an everyday mentalism piece would be to gain some information and turn it into something really fun where it's about talking about celebrity crushes. So I always look at something and think if I can have fun with it, then you know I need to go with it. And when I saw adam perform lexicon plus, I think it was when he was doing the drawing duplication where I could see that he kind of didn't know what it was but he kind of did.
Speaker 1:And then you've got this fun little guest interaction game with the spectator and he's got it drawn. So everyone's like really holding their suspense but it was funny that you can't quite guess or see what it is. So you're having this real, real fun in the moment situation, which you can only ever do if you're doing performing something like this. And when the reveal does hit and it matches and everyone's like, oh my god, it was really fun. There were so many jokes that were happening between adam and the participant that I just thought this is the kind of mentalism that I love it's, it's fun, it's not too serious, but it's really powerful well, that's a nice second one as well, because we've gone from sort of an organic visual routine with repo and now we're into mentalism.
Speaker 3:So where's this going to go? For number three, what did you put in your third spot?
Speaker 1:So my third one God, such a great story of this as well is Ignite, ignite. Ignite is, I think it's more of a tool rather than an actual trick, but it's by. I never. I don't never say if I can say his name, right, but it's orban or obeying from gentlemen's magic right, french company. The guys are really suave, cool looking dude. And if anyone's seen Lupin, is it Lupin or Lupin, the French doctor Sherlock homey type thing on Netflix. He reminds me of this guy. He's got like flat cap on. He's always really suave, right, and he's just amazing human right Well done. He had Ignite.
Speaker 1:I saw it about three years ago and it's a way to make a ring vanish using essentially a thumb flasher, but it's a, it's in a lighter right, so just take a light up or vanish it, but you can make stuff appear.
Speaker 1:And I first saw that and it was in the same year that, uh, my trick, harry harry, got released and we both fell in love with each other's tricks. So I, I bought his, he bought mine, and it led to like a whole year worth of just jamming and exchanging ideas with each other's tricks. So I, I bought his, he bought mine, and it led to like a whole year worth of just jamming and exchanging ideas with each other, to the point where he showed me an adaptation of something from harry o use and ignite and I ended up making, producing a sponge ball, which then, I found out, sets or sucks up the smoke so ridiculous things. Now I've got a smoking Spongebob that I can produce purely using Ignite. But even to this point, ignite is not, I'm just still filming with it, I'm still doing lots of it and it's just. I mean, it's like a safe handling of flash paper. It's phenomenal.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to be a slight devil's advocate here not a massive one. So if you were to perform one routine using this because it is sort of a, a utility item it could be used in lots of different ways. How or what routine would you use it with?
Speaker 1:well, I'm going to flip it back on you and I'm going to go any type of appearance. So, rather than, yeah, any type of appearance, I think, because it does look amazing and if I, if I try and be a bit realistic of the topic we're talking about, trying to make things vanish when I'm on a desert island is going to be a lot harder than it would be making things appear. So I would, I would have an appearance using this for sure.
Speaker 3:OK, well, there we go. So we've gone to a nice again. Visual piece of magic here. So what did you put in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:Oh God, I love this. This has been yeah, it's called Spitfire and it's by James Keighley. So James Keighley at Jack Magic Spitfire has been I mean, I've known about this for just shy of three years yeah, maybe a little bit less and it's still not really officially released, which is insane. But spitfire is a. It's a three coin set a poker chip, a silver coin and a bronze coin or brass coin, and the stuff you can do with it is just unbelievable. There are so many contributions and routines from so many great creators and performers that I have seen the original routine to the stuff that other people have added and what you can do with it, to the point where a coin changes purely just in a drop motion in in the hand of a spectator. It just just goes from a poker chip to a bronze coin just in their hand. It's just incredible and it allows you. For anybody who wants to do any coin work. This teaches everything you need to know because it introduces you to a certain coin and it teaches you all of the bits of misdirection, the hand and the setup right and you become very accustomed very quickly. And the routines that are on there I mean every single routine is super strong, but the core routines that you get taught are just fine in itself, but normally you know, like with with a coin set, generally there's one certain thing, it does one thing and that's kind of where it is, and it's up to your own imagination to continue with stuff. However, with this you can lead from one into another, into another, into another, and then there's a kicker ending as well. I mean, you get so much.
Speaker 1:This is yeah, I have worked this since day one. But one of the really fun things that I like is a three coin that you show the three coins and one keeps jumping from one hand to the other with a really playful kind of question so got three coins here, just just tell me how many coins do they have? And you'd be like three says no, no, I've got two coins and one poker chip. So the poker chip's constantly jumping across and in the end it becomes a really big poker chip, which is great, which you've cleaned up, everything. You know this. You're just completely clean at the end.
Speaker 1:And then I've seen another or another routine was developed which was phenomenal, where, yeah, the color change happens in someone's hand, where you just take it and it can be disguised as almost like a pickpocket routine where you say, hey, put this coin in your pocket. If I were to reach in there you would feel it, but what if I never got any close to you? And then the coin just changes and when they reach in their pocket they retrieve the one that is just jumped from their hand. It's just incredible, but so many people have worked on this and so many great contributions have come from it well, it sounds great.
Speaker 3:It's not one that I've come across, but I know, james keighley, stuff is incredible. Bitcoin is amazing.
Speaker 1:Just so clever again, like james is james over the last it must be at least five years has become such a close friend. I mean, we speak daily yeah, we generally speak daily and we share a lot together. So it's really nice to bounce off a creator which has also become a personal friend, because you don't share just magic, but it tells a lot about you. So if I've got an idea, it might not be an idea that suits me, but it's an idea that absolutely would suit james, and vice versa. You know you might say something, so I, I would never perform this, but I know, harry, you would. And then straight away, you like, complimenting each other's, complementing each other's magic by adding little bits. So yeah, phenomenal, phenomenal trick.
Speaker 3:Well, it's great, we've gone to a coin trick. Now, every single trick you've chosen so far has been completely different. We've gone from a key trick to a mentalism piece, to a utility flasher, now to a coin trick. It gets worse. I don't think I've got nothing's the same it means we don't know where this is going to go, so we've got no idea. So what did you put in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:the fifth spot is by my boy, ben williams, called rings. And uh, rings, I think well, well, not, I think I know is a revamp of his original linking card routine, but rings is one of them. But do you know, when I don't perform my top table trick and Walt's Disney right, when I'm not doing that, because it's not necessarily because I've got to put a lot of time and effort in order to do that trick, if I'm just out and about and I know I'm doing a birthday party or I'm doing something on on the fly or the night out, whatever, oh, we've just got engaged. It's like this, this is the one you know like having one card torn up into two little rings and linking them in their hands is just unreal. And what I like about Ben's magic? Again, it's really playful, it's very direct and as long as you can sell your personality with these things, it's absolutely fine.
Speaker 1:And also, it's not labeled as a card trick. It's not. Hey, pick a card, sign it, let's do this. It's very much. This is a piece which you're going to remember forever, something you're really gonna enjoy. It's not this pick a card trick, lose the card, find the card. We're not doing something, we're gonna, we're gonna change and shape something and it becomes almost a spectacle rather than, oh, it's a typical card trick. Uh, and it's just full of character, it's full of charisma. I just love it. It's just perfect piece, perfect piece.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I remember Ben many years ago now when I think it was probably one of the first standout tricks that he released when he was younger, and around that time there was a real surge of different linking card routines. It was just a big thing at the time. It was just a big thing at the time and when Ben brought his out, the fact that you could it was so clean and then you could hand the linked pieces of card back to the spectator for them to keep Mind blown at that point it was just a phenomenal trick and it sort of ended the need for linking card routines, because you were never going to get cleaner and more direct than Ben's version.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's incredible. Kieran gave me a gig not too long ago I mean, I had a week so I couldn't do my top table trick and then having this as my backup I always remember. I always remember I think it was Steve Rowe saying something like if a trick goes wrong, use an invisible deck as a backup, is like phenomenal. Right Now I don't use invisible deck, but that's always stuck with me. That you're, you're out to an issue All of a sudden. It's still a really powerful thing in itself. Rings, to me, is one of those where it is. I always have it set up ready on me and it doesn't matter what situation I'm in. If this, if rings, is my fallback on on something like wow, you know, I just really lucky, really unlucky, to have a such a great friend but also to have such a strong trick that I could just do so good.
Speaker 3:It is a phenomenal trick. It really is, and, like I say, being able to hand an impossible souvenir to an audience member is one of the strongest things that you'll ever do, and the fact that they're going to keep that forever, absolutely there's no way they're going to get rid of it. Well, that's great. It's another really interesting one and leads us nicely onto number six. What did you put in your six spot?
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, this trick, so this trick. I love this trick as well, and I've only. This is really new. Actually, this is really new. I've only just picked it up at Blackpool. I saw it at the session, so it's only January that I saw this.
Speaker 1:It's Bank Fright by Miles Thornton, and this is one where, as soon as he showed it to me, I loved the simplicity of it. I loved just the direct boldness. I think it's amazing, and it's using two envelopes. And it's using two envelopes and one of them has a razor blade in it, and you just simply hand the spectator one envelope, you keep the other, and they don't obviously know that this is in there and you just kind of chat to them and you say, right, this is a game, you can win some money. Which envelope do you want, however? Whichever one you want to keep, you have to scrunch up and throw away, and that's exactly what happens. And then then the reveal is I'm glad you threw the one away that you had in your hand, because here comes the razor blade and you cut through the flipping envelope. It's just so good and so direct, and people, it's almost like it's not even magic. They just look at you in shock, going whoa and I performed it yesterday quite a lot it must have been at least eight or nine times and the reaction that you always get is just silence. They just look at you going, well, what if I chose the other? And I always say, well then that would have been a different trick because it would have been right Squenching up a razor blade in your hand. So I love miles, anyway I've.
Speaker 1:I've been really lucky to have followed him for quite a long time, cause when I got into magic there were all these amazing people like Ben had just smashed out his releases, james was with Saturn magic and I got to really meet and spend a lot of time. All these guys will watch them progress and miles was one of them. I still remember watching miles's at the table lecture and some of the stuff he had there was phenomenal, um, and yeah, miles actually collaborated on a trick that he put in my book. So he collaborated with me on the book that I released and he put a trick in there and even even the simplicity and the cheekiness of that trick's just phenomenal. So I've been really lucky to have mars as a friend and then seeing him release the note, because I think this is the project right. He's got no one, no two so far volume one and volume two, and this is in volume two. So if you're interested, pick up the gnome, volume two, it's.
Speaker 1:It's a phenomenal little thing, I actually think, for, do you know, when you're doing the receptions for like a corporate yeah, where you've only got about an hour, hour and a half before you go and do table sets, this is such a cool thing to just.
Speaker 1:We talk about openers and I think as an openness is quite bold, but if you are a fun, playful person and then you smash something like this out, you're giving somebody a bit like, oh, that magician, wow, that was a bit odd. And then you come and do something really fun afterwards. It's, they're not going to forget that opener, it's. It's really yeah, because you started oh, he started with that really dangerous thing and then all of a sudden, yeah, it's great, I love it. Yeah, it took me, absolutely took me, when I first saw this, so I thought I know it's new, but in terms of where, where I am right now with my creativity and my magic, that I'm doing, this is, this was the missing piece to something that I would want to do every time when I perform at gigs, I look at effects that tick these three boxes.
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Speaker 3:Forks. Well, that's a big curveball. That's not one that I think any of us would have anticipated from you but it does lead us into the tail end of your eight. So what did you put in your seventh spot?
Speaker 1:Yes, I would not have the creative mind, the playfulness and the vision if it weren't for this one, and this is so. It's got two names because it's evolved, but the original is To the Max by Kieran Johnson, which is making Ice Cube appear, and then it's transitioned and developed into Element, which is probably the better part of it, to the max thing. Um, an element is just such a phenomenal piece where, yeah, making ice appear and being able to drop it in someone's hand at the beginning, at the end, in the middle of a routine, it is is really, really powerful and even just. I think one of the things kieran says which is amazing is you've done a 10 to 15 minute spot and then you finish by producing ice. Is is just incredible, and even when you're doing a parlor piece and you just produce the block of ice. Now, this has really pushed me to to that kind of way of thinking you, this is one of the first things I ever bought and the story with this yeah, this is how Kieran came on my radar.
Speaker 1:So I was into magic for, at this point, I think, a year and a half right, and I had a really cool opportunity to be in Berlin for about four months and whilst I was in Berlin, I went to a magic bar called Kubiskam right, which means pumpkin seed. It's such a phenomenal place and, uh, when I was in there, there was a magician and he was called ollie deventer and he was mainly a street performer but was gigging in the magic bar. We had this really odd encounter where we were doing hard. He was doing card to envelope in a wallet and he asked me if I could flick a card up and I flicked the card and it went all the way and it just hit the wallet perfectly, which, as we all know, in the moment when that happens you could never recreate that ever again. But for the audience I just think you know what's happened here for me and ollie we're like wow, it's just like real magic, you know, because I know the cards already in that wallet. And then I just flipped in his head thinking like, well, how, how would this be a magic moment now? Because surely it should vanish in the wallet. It was really funny.
Speaker 1:So that was our talking point, but he did a really cool thing and I advise this to anybody If you've got some good magic friends. This is, this is what he did. He said Harry, why don't we set a budget, maybe 30 to 40 euros? You buy a trick which you want to learn, but you buy it from me and I'll buy a trick which I'll learn by it for you. And the idea then is is we learn the trick that we actually want to teach each other?
Speaker 1:So you're buying, first of all, something that you think is relates to the person that you, that you've now grown and known, but then also already you're getting it fed down like a second hand of piece of information. So by the time you see it, you're seeing it in a performance rather than seeing it as a product. So you get to see it real life. And then, when you're getting taught it, you're already being taught something from someone who's played around a bit and experienced it. So I bought him the splash bottle gimmick. So that's how I learned how to do a Splash Bottle production, and he bought me to the max at the time. So I was like wow, so that really really was phenomenal. And then, being friends with Kieran, who was a big inspiration, and have an element where you can do all sorts of things with element, and it's just really deep diving into ice magic.
Speaker 3:It's deep diving into ice magic. It's just incredible. So, yeah, it's one of those routines where, like playing with the elements, that's what people imagine a magician can do manipulate fire, manipulate water, create ice out of nothing, well, from fire. You know, it feels like if we had real magical powers and we were, well, almost like Greek gods right, because each Greek god used to have their the thing that they would be able to manipulate and play with. This is what we would be right.
Speaker 1:We would be doing stuff like creating ice from fire, and it's been probably one of the longest tricks I've ever performed, because I yeah, I had it, I was shown it, it, and I've done it ever since well, it's a phenomenal trick, it's a really, really good one, and again, when we look at your list, just everything is completely different.
Speaker 3:So, um, it brings us nicely onto number eight. So if anyone can guess what this is, then maybe you are a real mentalist, because I've got no idea where this is gonna go. What did you put in number eight?
Speaker 1:I'm a bit biased on this one. I've used one of my own tricks because it's, it's my baby, it's. It's been the thing I've had the most fun with, and that, of course, is harry. Oh, um, it's. I know simon lipkin so kindly said it's one of his favorites. Um yeah, harry, oh it is is. I can't leave the house with not being able to perform this. The playfulness of having a ring borrowed it changes into a suite in their hand or in someone else's hand, and then it appears inside this Haribo packet is just. It absolutely gives me the joy in every bit that I do of magic. Haven't really got too much to say on it.
Speaker 3:Well, I can sort of fill in that void because it is. It's one that's been listed on the podcast quite a few times. It's ended in people's top eight a decent amount of time enough for me to remember that it's one of the the top routines. And I think it's just because. I think what's different with your version of a ring to impossible location is the just the one moment of the ring turning into a gummy sweet ring right, because that then gives credence to where it's about to end up. It gives it the journey right. So normally when a ring vanishes and appears somewhere else, there's no journey. There's nothing in between the it's gone and now it's here. Whereas this gives it perfect sense, it changes into a gummy sweet. Where's the gummy sweet come from? Well, obviously from a packet of Harry bow in in the uk we would use. There's no way. They then just create the image in their own minds. They know what's about to happen yeah, this is great, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's lovely. It's been a it's that's been on a journey. That trick as well. It really has, from seeing the first broken parts of it to having the full, fully fledged idea. I mean, this is one of them, and I think you guys in you know alakazam as well. When you have all these submissions of tricks from creators, sometimes just look at one and go, oh, my goodness, that is already in its core, ready to go and finished. All we need to do is just smash it up a bit, and this was one of them.
Speaker 1:The idea was there, the method was just so plain and simple. It was, yeah, I mean everything. Any magician who's just started out I mean you could, you can do this immediately. It's just there's nothing to it really so, really good, and it's definitely been I don't know, probably one of the funnest tricks I've done, but I could have listed loads of my own stuff in here. Um, because I think I'm very proud of the stuff that I have created and the thing I just have so much fun with the stuff I do. However, when I was going and writing for this list, I said what really gets me sparked, and it's quite hard. I mean, jamie, you've got tricks that you've created. If someone said what's your most favorite trick, you don't immediately think of one of your own. You think of how much fun do I have from somebody else, right? Uh, or one of these ideas, and so it was a difficult list to put together, but, harry, I had to finish with at least one of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure well, I think it's great. I would have been surprised if it wasn't on your list and at the very beginning, when I was making notes. I had Hario on there. So, I was hoping that it would be in there, and rightfully so. It's a phenomenal trick and, like I said, if it's ended up in lots of people's top, eight, then you know there has to be something in it.
Speaker 3:It is a great trick, but let's go back over your list very quickly. Great trick, but let's go back over your list very quickly. So we started off with repo, which was a super organic visual key and chain trick. Yeah, lexicon, which was your mentalism gambit. There we've got ignite, which was a sort of utility device. We had spit fire, which was your coin trick. We've got rings, which was linking rings. We've got bank fright, which was your curveball, spooky, weirdy one. We got to the max, which was creating an ice cube, and then we've ended on harry. Now we speak a lot about the photo opportunity, right? So the idea that your photos on your marketing should all look completely different, I can imagine yours would be. I mean, you've got, you've got everything on there, really, haven't you? Um, there's literally everything. You've got sweets, you've got ice, you've got fire.
Speaker 1:You've got literally everything yeah, it's, it's good, but, um, it's really fun because because, like I said, you know I'm not boxing myself in, I'm open to exploring new paths, new possibilities and I think um going not that I'm slating anybody who comes on here who does like card tricks and stuff like eight card tricks. They're phenomenal, they're great, but I think, in order to keep my mind busy and to keep myself happy, and magic and progressing, versatility, I think, is one of them which I have the most fun with playing with just the most weirdest and oddest things. I mean, yeah, I love it. Got some honorable mentions as well here for other tricks that didn't make the list which, ah, so hard, so hard.
Speaker 3:Go for it. What were your honorable mentions?
Speaker 1:Pot of Jam by James Brown. So hard, so hard, but go for it. What were your honorable mentions? Pot of jam by James Brown, I've been opening tables up with that for so long. Um, I also got Cuban jar, which is, um, uh, isolation by Kieran.
Speaker 1:Uh, I was really fortunate that my time of satin magic, that I got to perform this trick and I kind of had my own spin on it, which was really fortunate. That my time of saturn magic, that I got to perform this trick and I kind of had my own spin on it, which was really cool. And I mean, yeah, the trick itself is phenomenal, I love it. So that that is one, but, yes, I didn't add it, I don't want it. Yeah, because I don't do too much. Cube magic. Um, too hot to handle is another one it's such a performance piece which is, you know, having a different hot liquid in a can. I also have god, I need to stop saying this another kieran trick. It's just my mentor and he's like he's my dude. This is how I learned all my like card stuff, card to chocolate, carter crunchy, like that carter crunchy. Well, that is just hell of a trick. And the last one I've got is pierced I've just seen that from you guys. Um, ali Kazam pierced.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, harry's performance of that to me, I mean put it down to being overtired, emotionally excited, anyway, right. And then seeing Harry start trying to stick tacks in his face, I was like, oh my God, this is amazing and yeah, I love that. So, simon, you smashed out the park. I texted him. I said, god, this is amazing. And um, yeah, I I love that. So, simon, you smashed out the park. I texted. I said this is one of the best things I've seen like so far well, earlier on you actually teased something I did.
Speaker 3:That was your banishment. So what did you put in your banishment?
Speaker 1:well, I've written a few things down here, um and oh goodness. So the oil and water has always been a trick which I have never enjoyed. I get it but I don't really like it. Um, I saw an oil and water now in blackpool by a german magician called manuel. He did tell me it's not his but his presentation of it. Well, it just blew me away and and I think it was the comedic part of it. But I think I'm looking at as a magician who doesn't like the trick. So having the magic jokes in it and then having the things happen were just so like wow, I love that. I cannot no longer hate it because someone has shown me a version which I actually enjoyed. So I can no longer have that as a banishment, unfortunately, as much as it grinds me and upsets me.
Speaker 1:I've also written Blockhead. Now, I used to perform Blockhead quite a lot and I've had some real fun moments with Blockhead. I think there's a time and place for it. I've seen this done at corporate events and I've seen this at other gigs where people have done it and when I've introduced myself as a magician who's now like a different magician approaching a group that I've already seen someone. They have given me, the first comment has been oh, you're not going to stick a nail up your nose. So I I think if any trick is going to have that reaction from an audience, it's's a bit yeah, not the best. But then I've also seen it done in the comedy club where a guy has smashed it in his nose with cabbage and that image has never left my mind and it's the funniest thing I've seen. So I know, again, it can be really hilarious.
Speaker 1:But if I were to banish one thing, I think it has to be egotistical individuals, because it's not, yeah, we just don't want that, we don't want that. And I get, we can sometimes be self-obsessed, we can have an ego, I get it. It's kind of part of the job. Being jealous of each other's successes. Again, I'm like you know, surely we should strive to help each other out to achieve it, because ultimately, when you're doing something like this, how many people have I mentioned, and they've all been part of my magic journey? So surely we should all help each other and share stuff with each other, because only the best is going to come from it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree. I think it's well, let's address all of those. Let's address all of them in tandem. So let's start with oil and water. I think you're right. It's very much a Marmite plot in our industry. It's very much. You either love it or hate it, and there are some phenomenal versions of oil and water out there. Block it. And there are some phenomenal versions of oil and water out there uh, blockhead absolutely. It very much is a routine, right time, right place. I think if I was doing a bizarre show, for example, it would not seem out of place to stick a nail in your face. But you know, sweet shop opening, probably, probably not the best you know it's. It's very much a uh an effect that has to be used just not not just in the right situation, but the right environment, I think as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think there's more to be explored with blockhead as well, because you know how, um, we don't spin stuff, oh no, we try to spin narratives on things. What if you did a blockhead routine but actually when you retrieved the nail back out, it came with stuff attached to it like bits of like brain matter or something? That would be like a really interesting thing to do.
Speaker 3:Or linked Haribo rings. There you go and then we'll end there. On your comment about pushing each other forward, I absolutely agree. I know there's a really cheesy line nowadays where it's it's something like blowing someone else's candle out doesn't make yours burn any brighter, or whatever it is. It's something along that that trope. But the idea that putting someone else down doesn't make you any better. It doesn't make your situation better. It doesn't make you more successful. If anything, it probably hurts the industry as a whole, right? Because technically we're all colleagues. That's the best way to look at it. We're all working together. We're all one in the same. So I absolutely agree. I think pushing each other forward and being happy with other people's successes is 100% the way to be.
Speaker 1:Stuff surprises you as well, like this recent Blackpool. There's a Belfast magician called Stephen Spade. I've only ever heard of him, never really met him, and when I was in Belfast he sadly couldn't attend and I bumped into him in Blackpool. But he had a friend with him called David. I forget his surname, but I picked up Everyday EDC by Adam Dadswell. I've just watched the tutorials and David's on the project and I'm just going, wow, that stuff blows my mind all the time because our paths haven't crossed enough yet for me to explore the talent that you've got Right.
Speaker 1:So when I, when I buy something or I'm looking at a tutorial and I get introduced and you meet these people, you're like I had no idea. That to me is like the biggest magic, because now, of course, I'm going to pay more attention. I'm going to be like whoa, this guy, maybe you can be assisting me with a solution or with a problem that I've got. I need a solution. Maybe you are absolutely that guy. So there's constant connections that get made with things like this. And, yeah, you want to be. You want to be somebody that people want to work with right, rather than somebody that you don't queens right, rather than somebody that you don't.
Speaker 3:Well, you were the one of the first people to have a banishment, but you are the first person to have banishment honorable mentions. So there we go, uh, but it leads us on to your two curveball items. So obviously you've had eight of everything else. Now you only have one each of these. So what did you put in your book position?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean, I've got this is difficult. This is really difficult because, I'll be up front, I don't read that much. Okay, generally, not because I can't read, it's just I find magic books really difficult to digest, to read. I remember trying to I'm not going to name it because it's not a reflection on the person or this material but it took me once, I think, five hours to constantly to read one, one section of a trip. Uh, because I just kept falling asleep and and it's I find it really difficult. Um, book wise, I've written on here oh, it's so difficult I can't make my mind up, so I've got simply harky, which I think is a really underrated book. It's really hard to come by.
Speaker 1:But in terms of inspiration from people not just for myself but people around me this is probably one of the like the bibles, it's so. It's playful and magic. It's exploring different routes with it. It's being able to make gimmicks and having magic with gimmicks. It's great. And he's just such an interesting character as well. He's so elegant.
Speaker 1:But with this crazy back thought in mind, whereas back then I think that you were, you had to be a bit like that, didn't you? You weren't able to be unapologetically yourself. You had to fit certain criterias in order to be some sort of success. However, having that said, this brings me onto a really cool thing which anybody listening who's part of a magic club you should do this, and we recently done it, and it did open up my eyes to a lot of stuff. We had a library night not too long ago at Cardiff Magic Society, cause we've had over the 70 years that this club has existed, we've had gifts, we've bought books and everything. No one knows what's in the library, right? So we had one of our members, ryan, categorize everything on our members-only website, which then led to anybody attending the library night a couple of meetings before would have to tell Ryan which book they wanted. So everyone's going through and we lent our own books from the library and then, by this certain time or this next meetup, we had to learn one of the tricks from that book.
Speaker 1:And actually I read a lot about Max Mullaney, which Di Vernon wrote, and some of the stuff that Di Vernon wrote about Max Mullaney was hilarious. It was almost like I love this guy. However, he's not good to look at. He's pretty awful at magic. He's got a horrible accent. I don't really know why he's famous. But I mean I'm writing this because he's a great legend. It was. You know that the way it was written was just so funny. Like Dave Vernon, he can't stand the pop-up Max Molini. And then you see a picture of this short Italian guy but he's killing all these magic audiences with a card-stab routine.
Speaker 1:It was Wow, what a read that was for me, and I think it's because the narrative of the whole thing was so interesting that I actually paid attention to that book. But that's my honorable mention. Art mention, art of astonishment another really good one by Paul Harris. And that's when I've just started really looking through and reading. And again, there's some incredible stuff in here. I can't not mention my own book, jamie. I can't in cloud cuckoo land, master masterpiece in my life so far, I think. Um, and the versatility in that book, some of the stuff. I look back at it and go, wow, why am I not performing that anymore? And one of the only other books that I've ever really read has been Chris Congreve's trilogy in the one book that he's got. There's some incredible stuff in there as well. But I had to mention those because I don't really read much.
Speaker 3:Simply hockey, I think, is going to be the one up there for me yeah, and I think, simply, hockey, if I remember rightly, has just got lots of strange little bits and pieces with lots of different things sugar packets and, yeah, just lots of different weird ideas as well um, which, again, I can imagine is great for someone like you who's great at just looking at organic props and things that are around you and creating these really amazing little pieces of of, well, little miracles, really, let's be honest, like harry harryo. Um, so I can guarantee that that would have been a big influence to some of the ideas and the way that you create magic. Oh, yeah, for sure, it's just just little things. You see it in there. You know there's one that would have been a big influence to some of the ideas and the way that you create magic.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, for sure, it's just little things. You see it in there, you know there's one of them with a popper, you know, like the, what do you call them? Christmas popping thing, party popper, party popper. Yeah, there's a whole like vanished card corner to party popper in there and it's just, it's so cool it is. It's almost like the oh, how do I wear this? It's like the. The person, the person's magic was ahead of its time. And now we live in this world where everything is like oh, we want to have a bit more standout-ish material, but when it was standout-ish material then it wasn't really like accepted, and now it absolutely is.
Speaker 3:Well, that brings us onto your final thing, which is your non-magic item that you use for magic. So what did you put this?
Speaker 1:is really difficult. It's really difficult. So I have got a unicorn on here. I have got a unicorn on here. I've got I'm going down a really weird, weird route at the moment with magic. I'm being really playful, really fun, and I've got a finger unicorn and I think just having it on my hand instantly makes me laugh, so that that is a non-magical item that I would use Also.
Speaker 1:I mean my, my hat. I have to, not this one, my um, what's it called? My fedora? Is it a fedora? Troll me, one of them? It's one of them. In it, I think it's a troll me, I think that is. It's just, it's just my thing. You, you know, and being on a desert island and going thin there on top, you know I've got to protect my scalp. And also, doing magic with a hat is quite cool. There's some really cool hat jumping stuff. But you ask me these questions and I can't make my mind up. So indecisive, really indecisive, these things. So if you really had to push me for one, I think I would have to take the unicorn over the hat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's certainly not something we've had before. That is definitely the first time we've had anyone say unicorn all day long. Um, but let's go back over your list one final time. So we start with repo lexicon plus ignite spitfire rings bank fright to the max. We started with Repo Lexicon Plus Ignite Spitfire Rings Bank Fright To the Max. Hario, your banishment was Jealous Performers, your book was Simply Harky and your item is a unicorn Correct. Goodness me, how about that for a different kind of list?
Speaker 1:It's like a pack of Skittles, isn't it? You never know what colour you're going to get.
Speaker 3:Well, if people do want to find out more about you, Harry, where can they go to?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I've got Instagram, I've got TikTok, which I'm posting a lot more on now, facebook. So Facebook is Harry Harrington. For my personal one, instagram would be Lord Harry, magic with an I oh, it's all with an I. This, by the way, Harry with an eye, or it's all with an eye this, by the way, harry with an eye. And then tiktok is lord harry as well, with an eye. Or pocket miracles, I think, might be on there, which is my um, little, my little, I don't know what to call it. It's my shop, but it's not really my shop. I, I built pocket miracles because I wanted to give indie creators a bit of a platform to put some stuff on there, you know, but of course, my stuff is on there. Um, yeah, if you want to pick any of these things up, then, yeah, check wwwpocket-miraclescouk.
Speaker 3:And do you lecture, Harry.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh God, I lecture quite a bit. I've had this. Do you know, jerry? This is really weird, because I got I got asked to lecture in the Blackpool 2020. Do you know, jamie? This is really weird, because I got asked to lecture in the Blackpool 2020, you know, the one that we had just before lockdown, right? So I spent all lockdown writing this lecture. It changed after I started lecturing a little bit to what it has become now, which I've been probably lecturing for the last two years, and I cannot believe that I've already got a calendar in 2025. Even I've been asked to lecture 2026.
Speaker 1:Like how does one's lecture survive for almost five years? I feel like I need to change it up. I need to put new stuff in there. But, yeah, so I do lecture. Um, I'm still. I've still got clubs I want to tick off, like Blackpool Magic Club being one of them. I did have the it's going to strike me Houdini's Magic Bar because their club runs from there. Yeah, we were scheduled, but some of the dates got mixed up so we never rescheduled, sadly. But yeah, done quite a few, but there's still magic clubs I need to tick off well, there you go if you've got a magic club.
Speaker 3:Make sure you get in contact with harry at all those places he just mentioned. Um, but last thing for me to say is thank you, because you've not done this once.
Speaker 1:You've actually done it twice yeah, but a bit less of a survival thing here, you know, building a raft to escape, using playing cards and stuff.
Speaker 3:Well, you say that it looks like your list. You've got fire on there, You've got ice on there, You've got food on there. If you wanted to go down that route, I think I mean I'm not sure how the unicorn's helping you there, but it's certainly an eclectic escape from an island list.
Speaker 1:If I was on a desert island, that unicorn would be the equivalent to my Wilson. I think I would have full-on blown conversations with it. I'm a delusional person living in a fairy castle.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you again. Thank you for doing this twice as well. No thanks for having me back.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 3:Well, it's good to finally get it and I hope you guys enjoyed it. Now, as always, we'll be back next week with another episode of uh, stranded with a stranger if you don't know what that is. That is where you get to send in your list. So send in your list of eight tricks. One banishment, don't forget. You get banishment now. One book and one non-magic item to sales at alakazamcouk. In the subject line put my desert island list. That way it comes through to me and we can get one of those recorded to you also. Please include a little bio and, of course, why you chose the tricks that you chose. So we'll be back next week, of course, with the stranded with a stranger and another episode of desert island tricks. So until then, goodbye hello guys.
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