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
Chris North
Magic's unpredictability takes centre stage in this captivating conversation with Chris North, celebrating his 60th year in show business and what an incredible career he’s had. From borrowing rings that go flying during rough seas to audience members pouring beer on his head mid-illusion, Chris shares the hilarious mishaps that have shaped his remarkable career.
At 77, Chris looks back on his journey that began when he was just 17. After winning the popular TV talent show "New Faces" in 1976 (in dramatic fashion, his competitor was disqualified!), he went on to inherit Robert Harbin's position performing the iconic Zigzag Lady illusion on a round-the-world cruise. This lucky break launched a 21-year relationship with P&O Cruises and established Chris as one of Britain's premier illusionists.
What truly distinguishes Chris's career is his chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself. From his early days as "Illusionist Chris North" to creating comedy illusion act "Trickstars," rock-themed "Rock Magic," the elderly character "Jerry Hattrick," and now his Victorian-themed performances, Chris has constantly evolved with the times. This adaptability has been his secret to longevity in an ever-changing entertainment landscape. As he explains, "When you're going back to venues you've done before, it wasn't that they didn't like it, it was 'Oh, it's Chris North again.' So we kept reinventing ourselves."
Chris now performs intimate Victorian parlour shows for audiences under 50 people, bringing his own portable setup to create magical experiences in any venue. His stories of buzzsaws, levitations, escapology, and near-disasters at sea offer a fascinating glimpse into a life dedicated to creating wonder, even when things don't go exactly as planned.
Discover how this magical journey has shaped Chris North into not just a master illusionist, but a master of adaptation and reinvention. Listen now for a masterclass in thriving through six decades of magical evolution.
Chris North's Desert Island Tricks:
- Zig-Zag Lady
- Super X levitation
- Ring in Nest of Boxes
- Buzz Saw Illusion
- Fire Through Arm
- The Dizzy Limit
- Escapology
- The Collector
Banishment. Ignoring Constructive Criticism
Book. The Magic of Robert Harbin
Item. Wife
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
This time it was on the QE2. So we were due to perform in what was then the first class lounge this evening and the sea was quite rough, so we had to be a bit aware of that. So I would borrow a ring from someone in the audience and apparently destroy this ring and eventually it would appear again in three different boxes, and in the inner box would be their ring. There was quite a big wave hit the side of the ship. Two things happened in this moment.
Speaker 1:The ring was ready to be revealed in the box, the stool went from one side of the stage to the other with the lady sitting in it quite safely but, I might add, she didn't fall out of it. But what did happen was my table fell over the boxes, with the ring in fell over also and the ring flew out. But I didn't know that. And just as I was about to open the box, I hear the band leader, in a very loud stage, whisper, say to me it's in my pocket. So instead of producing the ring from the boxes, because it obviously wasn't there, I got the lady to come out, couldn't put her hand in his pocket and she couldn't believe that her ring was there.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Today's guest won a talent competition many years ago Now. When I say talent competition, I'm very much underplaying it, because the TV show in question was New Faces. Now, new Faces was before my time, but I do happen to know that a lot of big comedians and different acts came from this TV show. It was pretty much the Britain's Got Talent that we have now, but in that day and age Now New Faces was in 1976, this person Sort of won.
Speaker 3:Now I say won because they did technically won, but there's a really interesting story behind it and it's really difficult to talk about because I don't want to spoil anything, because I know that today's guest is going to talk about that and, coming from someone that doesn't know a huge amount about new faces, I myself am really, really excited to hear about it. Of course, today's guest you've seen it by now is the wonderful Chris North. Hello, chris, hello Jeremy, nice to be with you. Well, I'm very excited to hear about this. Like I say, I know a little bit about New Faces and I know that there were loads of big comedy acts that came out of it. So I'm really excited to hear what it was like for you, and obviously there was a bit of a twist when it came to your year, so it's going to be really interesting getting into that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, as you say, it was like the BGT of its day. You had the same sort of format. You would have four celebrity judges. They weren't the same judges every week as they are on BGT. They were different celebrities every week and they would comment on the acts and give marks out of 10 for presentation, star quality, things like that, and whatever you came up with at the end of the program, that was the winner.
Speaker 1:On that particular program I performed, which was probably one of my favorite illusions was Robert Harbin's Zigzag Lady illusion. I did the show and was very pleased with that and I came second. I got 114 points and the winner, who was a comedian, he got 115. Now that was good. I was quite happy with second. But then during the week we got a phone call from the production company and said the winner had been disqualified because they had very strict rules in those days. You, you weren't to have appeared on any other talent show within a certain period of time and he'd broken that rule and appeared on another talent show. So he was disqualified. Now for us that was far better than winning outright, because the national papers picked it up and all through the week there was winner disqualified and magic hat put through as the winners, and so we got so much more publicity out of that one program and him being disqualified than we would have done normally. So that was I suppose that's called a lucky break.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you a little bit more about the zigzag lady, because there's a little bit more to the story. Having done the new faces thing, we then went on and carried on working. We then got a phone call from P&O Cruises and this is probably the saddest part of the tale. Robert Harbin, who invented the zigzag lady, was due to appear on the camera which was their flagship, and do a round-the-world cruise basically 2% the zigzag lady. And when they got to Singapore, robert was sadly taken ill and had to be flown home and sadly passed away shortly after that. But they were in a quandary because they didn't have Robert Harvin to present the zigzag illusion, but someone from the production company had seen us on New Faces and so we were booked to immediately fly out to the Far East along with the Zig Zag Illusion to perform it, and that performance started 21 years with P&O.
Speaker 3:And amazing that you could still perform Harbin's Zig Zag Lady as well. Like what a privilege it would have been to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:And yes, and I've been able to do it for a lot of years after that. Yes, we moved on to other things like the Midnight Zig and things later on. But yes, harbin, we were known for presenting it and we did it on quite a few television shows in those early years yeah, one of the really I don't know if this is sad or it's quite geeky.
Speaker 3:I guess when I first visited the magic circle, one of the things I was most excited about is seeing the original Harbin box which is on display in the Divant Room. And seeing that, because I still think it's one of the cleverest illusions ever made. I really do. I think it's so, so, ridiculously clever.
Speaker 1:It is, and it was improved somewhat from Robert's original one. If you've seen the original one, the girl had to duck down under a bar to actually get into the illusion, but all those things were improved. Mine was built by a very well-known illusion builder, jack Hughes, and mine was built and it was different colour from Robert's. And yeah, just a great illusion, always, always, and you could work it anywhere.
Speaker 3:There was never any problems with it well, I think this is going to be a really interesting list of tricks. So if this is your first time listening to the podcast, the idea is that we're about to maroon chris on his very own desert island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks. Banish one item, take one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic particulars like who's there? How did he get there all of that good stuff? I'm guessing on a cruise ship. Um, we do not mind, it's in his own imagination.
Speaker 1:So, chris, let's get you to your desert island and find out what you put in position number one well, the zigzag goes into position number one because, uh, that so iconic, and I mean much of the other items we're actually going to need a cargo ship to get most of it there. To be fair and I'm rather hoping that you'll find out a little bit later why I'm saying this that they have actually got an electrical supply on the island. Okay, so a girl stands into an upright cabinet and you see her face through a hole that's cut out in the front door and you can see her hand and her foot all in various parts, and then what you would do is put two blades into the cabinet round about her midriff, so, with about a foot in between the two blades, push those two blades in. Now, that looks pretty good on its own, and then you'd go to one side and pull that centrepiece out, out and out and out and out till it looked totally impossible.
Speaker 3:So, yes, we definitely take the zigzag first. Yeah, I think it's just such a brilliant trick and, like I say, it really is one of my favourite illusions ever, because how clever it is, yeah and it's one of those impossible tricks to fathom.
Speaker 1:I'll give you an example of this. There was a television programme, again in the 70s, which we appeared on called Don't Ask Me. It was a science programme, and they decided to do on called don't ask me, it was a science program, but they decided to do one called don't ask me, it's magic. And um. Alan shaxson was on the same show as well, but I was booked on there to do um, do a levitation and the zigzag illusion, and, unbeknownst to me, I performed the zigzag illusion and the presenter came on and this is the sort of ctu pan's job. This is because he then turned to the audience remember, these are being filmed and going out to thousands of people. He said right, audience, how do you think this is done? And I thought, oh, he didn't say he was going to say that. But fortunately nobody came up with anything close to the way it was done.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just a phenomenal trick and one that I don't think we've actually had on the podcast, surprisingly, because it's such a classic routine and classic trick. So let's move on to number two. What did you put in your second spot?
Speaker 1:Well, following the new faces, we got booked to appear in a summer season at cleathorpes. Someone's got to go there, and um, it was with tony christie. He was the top of the bill, but they decided they want to do some publicity before the show and wanted us to do something to publicize the show. So bear this in mind we're talking about now a march, a very cold march morning clouds, overcast, dull and they wanted me to perform a levitation in the sea. Okay, so the picture I've still got the picture. The picture I've still got the picture. The picture's iconic because there I am in a swimming costume and my assistant in a bikini floating in front of me with the sea up to my knees. Great, it's a really good publicity picture and we used it quite a lot. But what you didn't see in the picture was about 10 press photographers standing in the sea with their trousers rolled up to their knees, taking pictures of us doing this levitation. But I tell you it was very cold.
Speaker 3:So when you mentioned that you did it at sea, was there a particular reason for doing it at sea? Was it just because it was an interesting shot? It?
Speaker 1:was an interesting shot because it was from from the beach, and just to the left was cleathorpe's pier, which was in the picture and which is where the show was going to be. So that's that's how they tied it up. So this was going to be the advanced publicity for for the show. So the show was um tony christie and was top of the bill. The second top of the bill was Cannon and Ball, and it was from that show that they went on to become absolute superstars.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I can imagine what it was like. So does that mean that whenever you perform this on stage, we need to take some water and put it on the stage for you, or so is this something?
Speaker 1:that you have performed on stage.
Speaker 3:we need to take some water and put it on the stage for you, so is this something that you have performed on stage as well?
Speaker 1:Well, yes and no Again. I'm going to come into this a little bit further on, because I have performed various levitations and suspensions on stage, but not particularly this one. This one we always used to use just for publicity purposes more than stage performance.
Speaker 3:So, without giving anything away in terms of methodology, can we talk about because you just mentioned that later on we're going to talk about different versions Do you know the version of Floating Lady that you did in the sea? Yes, I know exactly what it was.
Speaker 1:It was a thing called the Super X. It's called Super X levitation and I'm trying to think who invented it originally, but I don't know. I know various versions were put out by Jack Hughes, peter Diamond and dealers like that back in the day. I mean, jack Hughes' son, bernard Hughes, who was also an illusionist, went under the name of Zelker. He actually performed the same super-X levitation that I didn't see on the wing of a jet plane. It was just one of those illusions that really looks good for publicity purposes.
Speaker 3:Was that?
Speaker 1:just because it was a bit more portable so could do it in more.
Speaker 3:You could put it in different scenarios yeah, yeah wow, that's great. Well, you've sort of teased what's coming up in the future as well, which is uh, very exciting. Uh, so what did you put in your third spot?
Speaker 1:third spot right when we're now going into cruising. Uh, this time it was on the qe2 um, quite some years ago, and those who haven't cruised as an act will not realise that. Ships move and when the sea's a bit rough they can move quite a lot. So we were due to perform in what was then the first class lounge this evening and the sea was quite rough so we had to be a bit aware of that. But I used to do a lot of audience participation in in my show and one of one of the things I used to do was Davenport's ring in nests of boxes, where I would borrow a ring from someone in the audience and apparently destroy this ring and eventually it would appear again in three different boxes. The volunteer would open the boxes and in the inner box would be their ring, okay. So imagine the situation.
Speaker 1:The sea was quite rough this night, so we decided it would be a good idea to put the lady volunteer who came up to give me the ring on a stool, which we did, and whatever happened next was there was quite a big wave hit the side of the ship. Two things happened in this moment. The ring was ready to be revealed in the box, okay. But the wave hit the ship. The stool went from one side of the stage to the other with the lady sitting in it quite safely. I actually didn't fall out of it, but what did happen was my table fell over, the boxes with the ring in fell over also and the ring flew out.
Speaker 1:But I didn't know that, all right. So I picked up all the boxes, pushed everything together and just as I was about to open the box, I hear the band leader in a very loud stage whisper say to me it's in my pocket, it's in my pocket. So immediately I had to think very quickly on my feet, and staying on your feet when it was rough was quite hard anyway. So instead of producing the ring from the boxes because it obviously wasn't there, I got the lady to come up, go and talk to the band leader, put her hand in his pocket and she couldn't believe that her ring was there. So that's what you call a lucky break, because that ring could have disappeared forever. And she couldn't believe that her ring was there. So that's what you call a lucky break. Wow, because that ring could have disappeared forever and I'd have been stuck with a bill for a very expensive ring.
Speaker 3:Wow, that was really nice of the band leader to do that as well. Yeah, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:So it just goes to show it's good to have professionals around you who are sort of yeah, and with magic, as many magicians will know, you've always got to be prepared for something might go wrong and can you get out of it. You know you don't end up with egg on your face unless you really have to wow, that's great.
Speaker 3:What an interesting story. Now, in terms of the, the version of ring in nesta boxes, you said it was the davenport's version. Was there a particular reason for going for that version?
Speaker 1:I've always used that version. I've actually got three of them and I've always gone for that version because I think it's the most effective and it just works. And it works in various scenarios because over my career I've took on loads of different personas, which we'll explain a bit more about later, but I've been able to use that particular trick in different personas all the way through Amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, that means that maybe on your island, we need to send you a band leader, just in case.
Speaker 1:Well, a band would be nice as well. There you go.
Speaker 3:So that brings us to number four. So what did you put in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:Well, let's say a couple of years ago I think it was the 100th anniversary of the illusion Soaring a Lady in Half, which PT Selvig was credited with inventing that illusion. And I don't know if both of you know how PT Selvig got his name. Selbert was credited with inventing that illusion and I don't suppose you know how PT Selbert got his name. His name was actually Percy Tibbles, but he didn't like the name Percy Tibbles. He didn't think it was a very good stage name, so he reversed it and it became PT Selbert. He invented the sawing in half, which involved a girl being put in some cabinets and laid horizontally. A few years later, along came another illusionist called Horace Golden who invented an illusion called the buzzsaw, and this was very different in as much as the lady's body would be exposed and the blade would appear to cut through her like that. Why I'm mentioning that is because that's my next illusion, the buzzsaw. Now I had two contacts about the buzzsaw long before I had one One. I was very privileged at a Blackpool magic convention many years ago to be sat at a table with Harry Blackstone Jr for the whole evening, and it's just a wonderfully spurious, because what a man to be able to talk to and told me all about his buzzsaw, and then later in Greenwich Village in New York, I had the opportunity to see Richie Ardy Jr perform the buzzsaw. Now he was famous, infamous as much with the buzzsaw because his presentation was totally different to anyone else's, and so much so that there was several occasions and countries he was banned from doing it. So let me explain exactly what happens. So he would finish his show with this buzzsaw and it was a horrifying looking thing, huge thing and just before he actually performed it, they would drape the stage with white paper and then the performers would come on dressed as surgeons and nurses and they would bring on the subject who was going to be sawed in half and they would lay her on the table and then this horrendous, bloodthirsty saw would turn and actually you'd see it come down and cut, or apparently cut into the assistant. Now, as it hit her blood went everywhere and that's why they pulled all this white paper out. So they caught all the blood and looked very effective. And then, when the blade was apparently embedded in her, they would stop and he would invite the audience up onto the stage. So I was first up. I didn't really wanted to see this. I was first up and as you filed past to see, all you could see was this blade embedded, apparently, in the girl's body and all you could see was guts, basically. Then all the audience that wanted to see it would fire past and then they'd go and sit down again and this was the end of the show. The one thing he never did was show the girl restored. They would carry her off. That was it the end of the show, which is how he made his reputation and why he was banned in some countries in the world.
Speaker 1:I decided to buy a buzzsaw. I thought that's great and it was about the time we were doing a show called rock magic, which was basically a rock show, um with illusions. And uh, we purchased this um buzzsaw illusion and the only place we could rehearse this was in the garage at home. So we'd set all this stuff up and got my assistant in the in the right position and everything started. The blade I hadn't secured it properly, the blade and it flew off and embedded itself in the wall of the garage. We said at the time good job. We didn't do that with an audience Because funnily enough, the blade used to turn towards the audience, which I thought was a bad idea because, should it come off, it would go forwards and not backwards. Um, but well, we did it for quite a few years after that and, uh, never made that mistake again, but it was at least scary at the time yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 3:I remember distinctly being very young and going I think it was spain and there was a magic. Well, there was a variety show there called sonoma and that was when I first saw the buzzsaw live, when I was a kid, and it's one of those illusions where it looks the first time you see it. It looks so clean. It really is an incredible illusion uh, just to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's phenomenal. So it's a great choice and the story you mentioned there about him never taking the blade off and restoring the lady. It sort of reminds me of the Paul Daniels Halloween show.
Speaker 1:That's right with the spiker box thing, wasn't it? Iron Maiden? Yes, yeah, I think they had lots of complaints about that, the spiker box thing, wasn't it? Iron Maiden? Yes, yeah, the Iron Maiden trick.
Speaker 3:I think they had lots of complaints about that. Yeah, it's really interesting this idea of not completing the trick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was an interesting concept. I mean he was a marvellous performer, ricciardi. I mean because he was trained as a bullfighter and a dancer. His father was the great Ricciardi, who was also an illusionist and then he took over from his father. But because he was a dancer, the moves and his choreography within the show was just awe-inspiring to watch him work. He would just throw things and his assistants would be there to catch them. He wouldn't even look where he was throwing it. It was just timed so perfectly everything.
Speaker 3:Well, that's a great choice and leads us very nicely into number five. So what's in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:Again. Well, let's go back to the show we did called Rock Magic. This would have been when England was playing in the World Cup and it was the final of the World Cup and we were performing at a holiday centre. Now, because England were playing in the World Cup, they spent the whole day watching this on television and drinking. But then, unfortunately, before we went on on, england lost the World Cup, which is not the best, but probably because we were doing the rock show, it wasn't so bad because the rock show was 45 minutes of hard rock music and visual illusions, so it didn't really matter.
Speaker 1:You weren't expecting sort of huge responses from the audience. So one of the tricks I used to do in this was putting a firebrand through my arm, but basically the trick is called fire through arm and because it was a rock show, I used to use a huge flame which I would put through my arm. So I was on stage doing this, put through my arm. So I was on stage doing this and I could remember putting the blade, the fire, through the arm, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted somebody walking up onto the stage and this guy walked right up to me and he poured his pint of lager over my head. He said I thought you were on fire, mate, and his security immediately came and bodily carried him out of the venue and we carried on with the show but drenched in lager.
Speaker 3:What a strange thing to do. Now, one would presume he was inebriated to an extent, surely?
Speaker 1:Oh yes, it must have been. He must have been. What do you do? All the other people were sat there watching the show. You couldn't say I've got to go off and say I'm not doing it now. Someone's just poured a pint of beer over my head. You just towel yourself down and get on with it and do it again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great and looking at your list so far, a decent amount of them have something to do with someone being dismembered in some way because we've gone from zigzag lady, we've got the buzz saw illusion fire through arm um super x levitation?
Speaker 1:I guess not, not quite as uh down a little bit in the next choice. No dismemberment in the next choice.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, harry here from Alakazam Magic, I hope you're enjoying the podcast. I'm just here to interrupt and tell you a little bit about the Alakazam Magic Convention. It has taken us 35 years to get to this date. However, may the 9th 2026 will be the very first alakazam magic convention. Now I know you guys are super excited, maybe just as excited as we are. First of all, the venue is a 37 minute direct train from Central London. The venue is then literally a 10 minute walk from the train station. There's hotels within a stone's throw, there's restaurants nearby and there's incredible food and drink on site. That's all without even getting into the magic side of things. We are going to have four incredible lecturers performing throughout the day, including one person who's going to be flying over to the very first UK lecture. We are buzzing to announce who those four are. Not not only that, there'll be dealers on site and a place for you guys to jam and session and meet new friends.
Speaker 2:Where are the lectures going to be held? This is my personal favorite bit about the alakazam convention. They're going to be happening in one of the cinema screens. That means fully tiered seating, comfy seats, a drink holder and there will be a close-up camera on the Jumbo Cinema screen that will be giving you close-ups of all the little nuances that you're going to need to see when the lecturers are performing. There will, of course, be a full gala show to end the evening off. You guys are not going to want to miss it. The great thing is as well on the Sunday, the day after, alakazam Magic Shop, which is a two-minute drive, will be open. So if you're heading down to the convention, why not stay overnight and come and visit our magic shop? Remember May the 9th 2026. Tickets on sale now at alakazamcouk. See you guys soon.
Speaker 3:So what did you put in your sixth spot?
Speaker 1:The sixth spot. Now. This is an illusion called the dizzy limit. Let me describe it first of all Basically. It's like a cargo net. It's lowered down to ground level and a girl would lie in the cargo net. It would be flown up into the theatre right high up and then there'd be a flash bang or whatever and the net would drop open and the girl has vanished. That's the illusion.
Speaker 1:My connection with that particular illusion, the dizzy limit, is I am the custodian of the dizzy limit that David Nixon used on his television show. It was given to me by a gentleman that many people in the sadly passed away now, john Palfreyman. It was given to me on the condition that I never sold it and it, you know, asked a custodian to look after it. Now David Nixon performed this on his television show with Anita Harris and people will always remember this magicians, particularly because she was flown up in the cargo net and they released the cargo net and she had vanished. But her costume fell down onto the floor and David Nixon famously picked up the costume and went still warm, that was it.
Speaker 1:But that is the illusion I had and we used it for quite a long time. We did a national tour with Jimmy Cricket. We did a national tour with Jimmy Cricket as top of the bill and we used the illusion in the show. We did it to a sort of Phantom of the Opera routine where my wife was Christine and I couldn't even think about doing it now, because when you actually did it she used to faint in my arms and I'd pick her up with two arms and then you had to lean over this frame which the net was on and lower her into it. Well, I couldn't even lift her now to do that, not because she's heavier, it's just that I'm a lot older now, laughter, and we did that for a whole season. That illusion and yeah, the illusion is still in my care.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, I think I've seen this only on video, never in person. Did you ever bring back the performer? Did you make her appear somewhere else? Or was it sort of like a closing routine, and when she was gone, she was gone. It was the interval.
Speaker 1:It was the closing routine. Yeah, it was the interval when she was gone. She was gone. She did come and take a bow in the finale, so people didn't know she was there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great. What a great choice. And, like you said, no dismemberments there, so that's really good. And it does lead us on to the tail end of your eight with number seven. So what did you put in your seventh spot?
Speaker 1:Seventh spot, right? Well, escapology was something we wanted to get into a bit, so here's the story of this one. So we decided to put together a routine that involved Linda, my wife, chaining me up, handcuffing me in a bag and me escaping from it in a certain amount of time. But we did it to a voiceover, a voiceover that had been recorded. They'd never done this particular thing, and we were going to appear on a ferry that went from Wales across to Ireland and we were due to go on this ferry to just perform our act. But we hadn't got this escapology routine together by then, but we took it with us because we were going to rehearse it in the cabin while we were away. So this is how the story goes. So Belinda, my wife, had set all the escapology equipment out on the floor of the cabin, come out of the cabin to find me to rehearse, but lost the key. Ok, so now she can't get back in the cabin, so she has to go and get security. So she goes to fetch security and says could you please help me, cabin, please, to fetch security? And could you please help me, cameron, please? And he did. And there, straight in his face, was handcuffs, leg irons, leather, miniskirt, whip all the accoutrements that we use for the escape. She said to him it's an act and he said, of course it is love. That's how escapology came about in our show.
Speaker 1:But the story goes then that we had this voiceover and we did everything to. The voiceover described everything we were doing. We were booked to go to Japan for six months to work on a Japanese cruise ship with only Japanese-speaking people, so we had to do a completely visual act. But one of the things we were going to do was this escapology routine. But of course we couldn't use our track because it was in English and they wouldn't understand it at all. So they translated it and re-recorded the thing in Japanese. As the routine started, I thought I haven't got a clue where I am in this routine, because I didn't understand a word of what they were saying. And I only got a pointer for it when the voice said Houdini, because I knew where the Houdini bit came in the routine and they had no translation for Houdini, so they had to say Houdini, and that's how I rescued myself from that situation.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, that's great. So what version of Ascopology did you do? Is it something that you devised yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's something I put together myself with handcuffs, leg irons, long lengths of chain that was wrapped around me and secured with padlocks. Then I was put into a mailbag, a mailbag which has got rings like they used to use for post office, rings at the top which an iron bar would go through, and another padlock on that, and then the whole thing would be covered with another cover, and I think I used to take about 30 seconds to get out of it. Yeah, sounds like I've been going forever, don't you? But this is my 60th year in the business this year.
Speaker 3:You don't look it. You do not look it at all, Honestly yeah, I started Well I started when I was 17.
Speaker 1:Work it out I'm 77 now. I'm still working. I was a photographer.
Speaker 3:I booked as a photographer.
Speaker 1:I had no particular interest in magic at this time. I was going to be a photographer on a holiday centre and in those days you used to take the photographs and they'd be taken away, developed, brought to Princeback so they could select pictures they wanted. And on this particular site it was Ponton's site there was an actor who was a resident magician there, and people from Wales and probably some other people would remember them. They were called Al Roberts and Dorothy and they made such an impression on me watching them work. I thought really I want to do that, and so they took me under their wing and they taught me a lot and I then became, firstly, firstly, a children's entertainer, that's really where it all started.
Speaker 1:That was 60 years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the amount of things that you must have seen during your career and things that you've experienced must be incredible.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the thing about it is because I have had a long and you know there's not a lot of luck that goes with it. It's not all about how good you are. You do have to have a lot of luck in this business. But one of the things I've always done is changed as years have gone by. I mean, I started off as Chris Northillusionist Chris Northand whoever was my assistant at the time. Then from there we went to a show called Trickstars and we called ourselves Trickstars. We've changed the name of the act completely.
Speaker 1:Trickstars was like a comedy visual illusion act and it was like a cartoon. Everything was blue and yellow and we did that for about three, four years. Then we changed again and totally went the opposite way to a thing called Rock Magic, which was the rock show I told you about earlier. One year we were asked to do Haven and said but you can't do a regular magic app because we're employing our own staff to present an illusion show for the season. But if you can come up with something different, you can have a season.
Speaker 1:So we came up with an act called Jerry Hattrick. Think about it Jerry Hattrick plus support, and this was me, dressed as an old man and I put all this stuff on bold head and everything, all those sort of things. Now I don't need to dress up at all and we did that for a season, uh, and then, following that, what I've been doing for probably the last 10, 12 years is victorian magic, victorian shows, and which we're still doing to this day, and, uh, my wife and I, we still work together. We also work individually in separate acts as well.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, keeps me going, you know wow, yeah, what an incredible career, all the way from those beginning days to uh where you are and it's changed so much and if you don't adapt and change with it you've got to do that.
Speaker 1:That's the important thing. That's survival, really, because when you're going back to venues that you've done before, it was all very well. We used to try and change the act every single year, but it wasn't that they didn't like, it was the fact. Oh's chris north again, it was a name more because they didn't. They did. They knew you changed, yet but you were still chris north. So that's why we went chris north. Trick stars, geriatric rock magic, victorian magic. That's how, how we kept going, really because we kept reinventing wow, well, there you go.
Speaker 3:There's some, some advice there I think that we should all uh look into. I think that's very, very true. Yeah, well, that leads us to a number eight. So what did you put, number eight?
Speaker 1:I'm going to go right down there's. No, I'm not going to talk about an illusion at all now. In fact, this is a product that was introduced to me by our own Peter Nardi. Okay, and it is a product that Alex Zamp put out as a thing, and Peter said this is going to really suit your Victorian show, and it's a trick which you're probably aware of and know quite well, called the collector, and I think it's Nicholas Mavris, is it? And Peter obviously had a lot to do with the idea, but I loved the principle of the trick and the principle involved in actually performing. It was such a clever principle that I'd never heard of or seen before and I've used it in other routines since that same principle. But the trick itself fitted so well into the Victorian scenario because you could talk about Jack the Ripper and things like that. So, yes, I've got to take a small card trick, haven't I?
Speaker 3:yeah, it's a phenomenal trick. So how do you use it now? Do you use it as it was originally intended, or have you developed it into something for your Victorian shows? I have developed it.
Speaker 1:I've remade it into a much larger trick because of the fact that most of the Victorian shows we do are stage shows in theatres, and I needed to do that. I haven't changed it much from the original. I don't call it the Collector. I haven't changed it much from the original. I don't call it the collector. I've just adapted it slightly to suit my way of presenting it really. But it's just such a clever thing and audience-wise it always has a great reaction.
Speaker 3:I don't buy many things like that, that but that has stood the test of time very well with me yeah, it's a great trick and I would say it's the curveball of your list, when we look at everything that you've put in. We started off with zigzag lady, super x, levitation ring and nested boxes, buzz, saw, illusion, fire Through Arm with a Pint of Beer thrown in for good measure, the Dizzy Limit, escapology and, of course, the Collector there. What a brilliant trick. And you're right, we're going to need a big boat to get all of these to you.
Speaker 1:Perhaps the item I should take from home is a generator.
Speaker 3:We've been very kind to give someone solar panels once, so maybe we'll give you some solar panels.
Speaker 1:Send me with a generator. At least I can do the buzzsaw.
Speaker 3:Well, that leads us to the controversial one. So what did you put in your banishment?
Speaker 1:We are a community magicians. That's what we want to be, what people perceive us as, what people perceive as that. What is my banishment is I don't like unconstructive criticism and negativity within the community because, as I said, I've been 60 years in the business. I still listen to criticism, or if someone's got something to say to me, I still listen to it and I still get something out of it, because you don't always see yourself as others see you. All right, some of the stuff you don't take any notice of, but I don't like criticism just for criticism's sake, just because they want to be critical. We should be a brotherhood and we should stick together and help each other and not put people down, which does tend to happen, sadly, within the magic community.
Speaker 3:And I bet, being someone who's been so in the public eye over your career, I'm guessing you've probably had that quite a bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, yes, there has been negativity. I mean you've probably had that quite a bit. Yeah, yes, yes, there has been negativity. I mean you've got to also accept it doesn't matter how good you are or who you are, not everybody's going to like you and not everybody's going to like what you do. There'll be people in the show we're doing this week perhaps, who don't like magic, but they're there. They're an audience, a captive audience. So they're there and they are going to say things. You know I can't stand magicians. You know that's a fact of life. Anyone who goes through life thinking that everyone's going to love them. They won't. It doesn't happen. But you have got to be prepared to take constructive criticism because that's the only way you improve. Or you get into bad habits sometimes and doing things and a number of times people I mean one of mine is walking about too much and they're forever telling me stop, stand still, for goodness sake. And but I need people to tell me that.
Speaker 1:Otherwise I forget that I do it and I still walk around. I just think sometimes people can be a little bit kinder and not knock your fellow pros or fellow. Everyone's got to start somewhere. Not everyone's going to be great as soon as they start. Don't knock your fellow performers. Give them encouragement. That's what they want. Encouragement Not to be put down and say, well, that was rubbish how he did that. Publicly make statements like that because it's wrong.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I absolutely agree, and it's one that we've had quite a few times now in the banishment, and I'm sure we'll have many, many more of it.
Speaker 2:But I think you're right.
Speaker 3:I think there's criticism for criticism's sake, so I think you should do it like this, or there is constructive criticism as in. Have you thought about trying it this way, I think? There's different ways of putting that across.
Speaker 1:The other thing, of course, is if you're the recipient of that, you've got to be prepared to listen, because you must listen to everything. Otherwise, you know, if you just dismiss them out, you might be missing a little gem. That they've got to be prepared to listen because you must listen to everything. Otherwise, you know, if you just dismiss them out, you might be missing a little gem that they've come up with. People see things differently than you do sometimes. Yeah, and I have a, a guy who is known very much in the in the magic world, called paul henry um, who really writes my victorian shows with me now, because he is really really good. It's like he makes the bullets, I take them out and fire them. Because he comes up with really great ideas, off-the-wall stuff, original ideas which we're able to put into the Victorian shows.
Speaker 3:Yep, absolutely true, and leads us to your two final items. So what did you put in your book position?
Speaker 1:the harbin book right now. I bought the harbin book, um, probably when I was about 22, 23 I think I paid 50 pounds for it. I don't know, I've racked my brain so I can't think what happened to it, because they're now worth about 1500 pounds. Well, I know I definitely haven't got it, but I can't remember who I sold it to or gave it to.
Speaker 1:The interesting thing about the harbin book was it was all robert's ideas in one book, um, and he was a brilliant ideas man was Robert. He came up with so many different types of illusion. I actually built two illusions out of that book. One was called Little by Little, which was the predecessor to the zigzag, and another one called Anti-Matter, which was a levitation effect or suspension effect, both of them extraordinarily clever and using methods and ideas that never been done before. It was the most interesting book and if anybody has the opportunity or can even afford to buy one now, it's worth having in your library. It really is. So yeah, I'll take one with me. I don't know where you're going to get it from, because I haven't got one.
Speaker 3:So you said that you made two illusions. What were the two that you made from it?
Speaker 1:One called Little by Little, which was like a double-fronted cabinet basically. So you'd have the girl would go in the cabinet on the left, for instance, and there was an empty cabinet on the right, all the doors would be shut and on the cabinet on the left, where you put blades in and divide the cabinet into three bits, and when you opened the the door she was gone and she was actually in the other cabinet, the other side. It was called little by little. The idea was that you moved one piece at a time across, but it was reckoned to be the predecessor to the zigzag lady. That's where he got his idea for the zigzag lady from little by little.
Speaker 1:It was a huge thing, a massive thing and a heavy thing to carry about. The other one was an antimatter which was like a space age illusion. Basically it had a mat on the floor which apparently had antimatter blocks on it, and above, on two trestles, was a plank. Basically again all sparkly to look spacey. The guy would lie on the plank and then the trestles would be taken away and one of the trestles would pass over the plank to show that there was nothing there.
Speaker 3:And did you make them yourself?
Speaker 1:Well, to a point I did. There was some metal work that I couldn't make, but I did make them little by little. Yeah, I'm not the greatest DIY person. I've actually found in later life that I'm much better at ageing props for the Victorian show than I am at making them from new, Because at least if I knock them about a bit they don't look so bad.
Speaker 3:Now let's talk about your item. So what was the item that you took with you? I think we're going to take that generator.
Speaker 2:I was going to say originally but when you came, up with this.
Speaker 1:I thought whatever can I take, and I thought well, I could take my wife. She's from home, she is a magician in her own right as well. I mean, we started off as magician and assistant and partner, if you like, but now we work together and we work individually.
Speaker 3:So and now we work together and we work individually. So, yeah, well, the concept is that it's something that is not inherently magical that you use for magic, and I would say that your wife is an integral part of your double act.
Speaker 1:So I think, that's a good thing. I do use it for magic. Yeah, there you go, there we go. So, yes, I'll take Belinda with me.
Speaker 3:There you go. She is with you on the island. So let's look back at your list. So we started off with the Zigzag Lady Super X Levitation Ring in Nest of Boxes, specifically the Davenport one. The Buzzsaw Illusion, fire Through Arm with a Pint of Beer. The Dizzy Limit Escapology the Collector. Your banishment is Constructive Criticism. Your book is the magic of Robert Harbin and the item that you're taking is your wife.
Speaker 1:What an incredible list. Yeah, well, I hope so. It was quite difficult when you said what you had to do.
Speaker 3:I really got to thinking some things, but then I thought let's find stuff that's got stories, yeah, and things here but then I thought let's find stuff that's got stories, yeah, and out of all of these, how many of these do you still do in your shows now?
Speaker 1:Not so many, because having reached the grand old age of 77, I can no longer sort of jump in and out of boxes. I mean, I've had one knee replacement and the other one needs replacing. That's from years of jumping off sub-trunks, and not only that, I can't lift them about anymore. I still do the rigging nest of boxes. I still do the collector. I've occasionally done the fire-through arm and occasionally done basically a straight jacket skate. I don't do that particular routine, but it's still trying to come up with new stuff all the time. It's what you do, it's what keeps me going.
Speaker 3:So how did you come about doing the Victorian shows?
Speaker 1:I reached that age when I didn't look so good dancing, but I was trying to be an illusionist and I thought it was a little bit of a niche market illusionist and I quite I thought it was a little bit of a niche market um it. I'd started a sort of similar time to Morgan and West, who I thought were a brilliant Victorian act, and but they were double act hands, partners at uh stuff between them, and it was really a really good concept. We're both retired from the business now, of course, um, but I didn't want to go down that road. So my first um victorian show was well, there's amazing mysteries um various different shows over the year. The current oneious Tales, and the current one is a parlour show and it's a pop-up parlour show. In other words, I don't do it on a theatre stage, I'll take it into a venue and I take everything with me the set, the lights, the sound, and I can set up in a venue. As long as there's a couple of plugs there, that's all I need. I can set up in any venue and I try to restrict the audiences to no more than 50. That allows me to have a much more intimate show and, um, that's what I'm doing at the moment. I'm really enjoying doing that.
Speaker 1:Over the years we've done done Victoria shows, we've done together with my wife. I've done shows. I've done on my own. Before the Victorian I was doing mentalism shows. I did two shows, theatre shows, one called Mentalism Live and yeah, stuff like that. Keep the interest going. That's all I can say for me, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, if people want to find out about your Victorian shows and a bit more about you, where can they go, Chris?
Speaker 1:Right, well, there's two websites. One, the Curious Tales show, which is a current show, is wwwchrisnorthcouk. The other shows, and Curious Tales is on there as well, is victoriantheatrecouk. The other shows, and Curious Tales is on there as well, is victoriantheatrecouk. Those are the two websites.
Speaker 3:Amazing. Well, thank you so much, chris, for your time. It's a great list, Thank you.
Speaker 1:I've enjoyed it. You made me remember everything. You see, all those funny tales. I had to really brought it all back to me when I was starting to think about it yeah, it really does sound like just a phenomenal career that you've had yeah, it's been great.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I've, you know, I've seen the world, I've been here. I've been there, worked with people like more common wise as a support act. You know, just had those great years of show business. It's different now but we all have to learn to adapt, to be how it is now.
Speaker 3:Absolutely great advice that you've given there as well, so thank you once again.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Jamie.
Speaker 3:And thank you all for listening. Now please do go check out Chris's website. Please do go check out Chris's websites and if one of his shows is near you or you can get to one of them, do check them out, because the Victorian shows sound phenomenal. I always love those sorts of old-fashioned shows as well. I forgot to see. Chris mentioned Morgan West and I actually got the chance to see several of their shows live and they were always phenomenal, so I can imagine Chris's is equally as amazing. So do go check those out. Of course, we're going to be back next week.
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