Stranded with a Stranger: Jim Aitken

This week we sit down with Jim Aitken, an Aberdeen magician, longtime club member, and retired paramedic, to explore eight effects that balance practicality, heart, and lasting impact. From a self-working “last two cards match” that crushes in the real world to a smiley-sticker miracle that guests remember years later, Jim’s choices remind us that method is only half the story; the rest is the way you make people feel.

We trace his journey from yogurt-pot cups and balls to modern coffee-cup chops, then talk about when it’s worth investing in a premium timepiece like the Bluether Infinity Watch. Jim’s philosophy is simple: buy reactions, not just props. Rope magic makes a case for clear visual storytelling, while the invisible deck debate sparks fresh ideas for framing choices and scripting reveals. Along the way, we celebrate society life, hidden gems in books and DVDs, and the small tweaks, like personalised stickers or trial runs, that push classics into unforgettable territory.

Mentalism fans will love Jim’s pick of Eclipse ESP cards and a sleeper routine that proves clean structure beats complicated method. He caps the list with Copperfield’s Flying, a nod to pure astonishment and the joy that first pulled many of us toward the art. Jim also draws a hard line on professionalism: never make child helpers the punchline. His recommended read, Simon Lovell’s Billion Dollar Bunko, opens a trove of swindles and bar bets to sharpen your handling and patter, while his must-have non-magic item, a computer for nonstop study, champions lifelong learning.

If this sparks ideas for your own desert island set, share your eight tricks, one banishment, one book and one non magic item. Send it to sales@alakazam.co.uk and we can get your very own episode! 

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Transcript

Meet Jim Atkin From Aberdeen

Trick #1: Last Two Cards Match

Customizing And Presenting The Effect

Trick #2: Have A Nice Day

Hidden Gems In Books And DVDs

Trick #3: Cups And Balls

Modern Takes And Learning Paths

Trick #4: Blutha Infinity Watch

Investing In Strong Reactions

Trick #5: Rope And Professor’s Nightmare

Justifying Props And Audience Framing

Trick #6: Invisible Deck

Variations And Creative Presentations

Trick #7: Eclipse ESP Cards

Favorite ESP Routine And Tools

Trick #8: Copperfield’s Flying

Banishment: Respect For Child Helpers

Book Choice: Billion Dollar Bunko

Non‑Magic Item: Computer And Learning

Recap And How To Submit Your List

Sponsor: Print By Magic

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hello and welcome to an episode of Stranded with a Stranger. This is the version of the show where we read out a list sent in by one of you. Now, if you do want to be a part of one of these, write down your list of eight tricks, your one banishment, one book, and one non-magic item to sales at alakazam.co.uk. Please include a little bio about you so that we get to know you, and of course, why you have chosen the effects that you have. Today we have Jim Atkin. Now I hope I've said your name right, Jim, and he is written in with his list. So let's find out a little bit about him first. He says, My name is Jim Atkin, and I'm an amateur magician from Aberdeen. I've been a huge fan of Desert Island Trick since its first episode and have followed Stranded with a Stranger with equal enthusiasm since it started. I've been a proud and enthusiastic member of Aberdeen Magical Society for almost 30 years and love the camaraderie there, and I'm always learning new skills from our new members. The Society will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026 and is one of the oldest continuously running clubs in the UK as it's never stopped meeting throughout its many years. I did work on a semi-professional basis for several years, doing mostly children's entertainment and close-up. Due to work commitments, I had to step back, but now that I've retired after 36 years of service with the Scottish Ambulance Service, I hope to relaunch my professional career again. I am married with two grown-up children, and my other interests are going to the theatre, cinema, and riding my motorcycle. Okay, well that gives us a pretty good background. Whoever's part of the Aberdeen Magical Society, congratulations on your 100th anniversary, which is happening this year. I hope that you have lots and lots of celebrations throughout the year. And I think it's amazing that now you've retired from the ambulance service, you get to partake in magic a little bit more. So we also know that Jim told us he worked primarily in kids and close-ups. So I wonder if any of his effects are going to reflect one, both, or uh either of those things. So let's find out what Jim chose. In position number one, five pairs of cards to perform the last two cards match effect. The credit for this effect seems to belong to Howard Adams and was first published in his 1984 booklet OICUFESU E S P. It is a wonderful self-working effect and was the very first thing taught to me at the Society by our then president, the late Albert Elric, a true gentleman of magic. A spectator has full control over spelling out the sentence the last two cards match, while moving cards from top to bottom on either pack and eliminating pairs as they go along. The surprise comes at the end when not only do the last two cards match up, but all the eliminated pairs also match perfectly. It's my go-to trick when asked to perform impromptu as it can be done with pretty much anything. I've performed it with beer mats, torn-up pieces of paper, and children's snap cards, amongst other things. Also, once you know the method behind the effect, it's very simple to adapt it to certain different lengths of words and phrases to customize it to a particular person or event. I've also added an additional trial run at the beginning, where the same process is followed but no cards are eliminated as it is just the trial. It brings the cards back to the required started position, but the top cards can be shown as non-matching. For such a simple trick, it always receives a huge response, and I could happily keep myself amused for hours working out new sentences to use. Well, that's a great one in at number one. I've seen so many versions of this over the years. It's such a clever effect. Uh, I think it would be really, really cool to have maybe a king and a queen if you're doing a heterosexual couple, and maybe having their faces altered on those cards, um, and then those two match would be really cool. Um, and then giving them as like a little keepsate would be, yeah, it would be a great effect. So that's a great choice in it, number one. Let's go to number two. Have a nice day from volume three of the essential Aldo Columbini set. A card is signed and returned to the pack. Several cards are removed, and the spectators are shown that the selected card is not among them. A smiley face sticker is attached to the back of the card, but soon there are smiley faces on the backs of all the cards. Just as suddenly the smiley faces disappear from all of the cards but one, the spectator signed selection. When done as originally tool with the smiley faces, it is a knockout effect and really does rage a huge smile from participants. Uh, like my previous choice, I found the effect to be very versatile and have performed it at friends' weddings with appropriately printed stickers and patter, with a bride and groom and the wedding date on the sticker. It was a staple in my walkaround set, and I still get people asking me about it, or producing their signed card from their wallet or purse years after having the effect performed for them. That's another really interesting one. Um, and we've we've never actually like said this, but one of your choices can just be a trick from a book or from a DVD, it doesn't have to be a marketed effect. Um, and I know that that you know we've had lots of lists where that is the case, but just putting it out there, uh, and this is a great example of why, because there could be one effect which is really hidden inside a book, but for a certain performer or a certain um magician, that one trick stands out amongst the collection in that book. So it's a really nice way to discover these effects because I likely would not have heard of that. And uh I've just watched a video of someone performing it, it's a brilliant, brilliant effect. It's almost like a packet trick, but from a full deck. Um, and the idea of the smiley face stickers, I bet you can come up with so many cool ideas with that. Uh, I think it's a great, great routine, and it's always nice to have a packet effect somewhere. So that's a great one at number two. Let's go to number three. Jim has said cups and balls. One of the first effects I ever learned, and it completely baffled my very intelligent wife. I'd made up a set with yogurt pots and scrunched up tin foil, and it fooled her for months before she finally worked out the secret behind it. Although I've never performed it at any time other than in my early yogurt pot days, being on a desert island would allow me to practice and hopefully gain some mastery of this classic of magic. Another great choice in at number three there. I love the idea of making it up with yogurt pots, and it's one of those plots, it's it's such an old plot, and so many people have heard of it and seen versions of it. What I find fascinating is that there are so many versions of it. Even at Blackpool, recently gone, there was a great version with a coffee cup, and then uh you borrow a bill, they sign it, it goes underneath a coffee cup, it appears, disappears, like a chop cup effectively, and then a coffee pod appears inside the cup, and when they break open the coffee pod, the scrunched up bill is inside the coffee pod, which I think is just brilliant. Uh, there's so many versions of it out there, and for good reason. Uh a shameless plug for Alakazam Unlimited. We have got a cups and balls course coming out. So, what I would do for you, Jim, is I would give you access on your island to Unlimited, and I would allow you to watch that with a set of cups and balls because it was only after filming and editing that with Andy Smith, who filmed it, did I realize just how many cool things you can do with cups and balls. Uh, it's never been one for me to learn, but after watching Andy, I would love to get a set, even just to play with and to practice because it looks like such a fun thing to do. And there's so much literature on it now. There's just so many different things that you can do and different avenues you can go down. So I think that's an absolutely great choice, and I'm sure you're gonna have lots and lots and lots of fun on the island. We'll give you maybe some coconuts, we'll give you some coconuts, um, and then you can use those as your cups. So, number four, we have Blutha Infinity Watch. Not only handy for telling the time, but I have a script which makes the spectator part of the effect and makes the chosen time personal and significant to them. It is possibly the most I've ever spent on one magic item, but the reactions it receives are priceless. I can completely relate on the expensive thing. I think it's a really interesting thing that we battle with in magic because magic is in some cases a very expensive. But if you invest in your magic and you invest in the reactions and you invest in yourself to an extent, then you will reap the benefits in the things like gigs or repeat bookings or reactions or whatever you're hoping to get out of it, if you put it in, that's what you're gonna get. Um, so I always think with any expensive proper item, just make sure that you're gonna get out of it what you want. And a lot of the time you will. Uh, I can absolutely attest to that. I have bought some very expensive things over the years, but they are brilliant. And I think your choice, Jim, there of the Blutha Infinity Watch is brilliant. It's such a clever idea and premise, and there are lots of versions of these out there nowadays, but uh I know lots of people have said the Blutha watches are absolutely brilliant. So I think that's a great choice. I would love to hear your script as well. I think that's a really interesting perspective. I think that would be great. So let's go to number five, which is plenty of rope and scissors, if that's acceptable. Yes, it is, Jim. We'll give you some scissors as well. Uh, not only would it be handy to have rope on the island, I may wish to build a raft or something if I get bored, but I could perform and perfect lots of rope tricks. I know you're a fan of Devil's Advocate, yes, we are. So if I have to choose one and only one, it would be Professor's Nightmare. Okay, great choice. I think it's been really interesting. If you're an avid listener of Desert Island Tricks, you'll notice that we've had a few controversial opinions on rope. Uh, certainly this season, I think. I think we've had a couple of people use rope in their banishment position. I think it's really interesting that a prop for one person is very much not a prop for someone else. Um, but I also wonder if people just enjoy trying to justify things. I think there is something to be said in terms of the creative process for finding a reason for the prop as well. I think sometimes that's part of the fun of performing. Um, and you know, if you're using it on your island, Jim, I don't think you need to justify it any more than that. I think that's a great choice, and Professor's Nightmare is a classic. It's such a wonderful trick. It's one that so many of us were fooled by, and we continue to fool others with it. So it's a great choice in a number five. Let's go to number six. This would be an invisible deck. We recently had a meeting night at the club hosted by one of our members, Chris Begg. Chris is a professional actor, and he challenged us all in groups of three or four to come up with a short presentation using the invisible deck. He showed us what a powerful tool this deck could be, and I now use it in preference to my Brainwave deck, which I still love performing. That's great. I remember being at drama school, and there was this weird thing that you used to do. You used to just get an object, put it in a in the middle of a circle, and each of you would have to stand up and use that object in a completely different way. So, for example, if it was a uh dinner tray, something that you put your food on, then maybe that would be something that you could use as a sled to go down a hill. Or maybe it's a television and you're watching it, just something strange. Uh, and I always thought that would be a really fun thing to do with something like the invisible deck, just put it in the middle of the circle, everyone has to then use it in a different way, and you know, no two could be the same. So whoever's going first, you're lucky because you can just do the original invisible deck, but everyone else would have to do it differently. So I think that's such a cool thing. I would love to have uh seen what you all came up with. I think it would have been really interesting to see how it yeah, how it went. And your preference of the brainwave deck, that seems to be an age-old debate at this point, whether to use a brainwave or an invisible deck. I think we should just settle on. They are both excellent effects, and whichever version you're gonna perform, you're gonna get phenomenal reactions. So I think that's a great one in at number six. This leads us to the tail end of your eight. So, number seven, a set of eclipse ESP cards by the 1914. I love mental effects, and the hidden secret in plain sight on these cards make ESP effects so simple. Assuming that you were once again called Devil's Advocate, yes, I would go for Psychic Feedback Plus from the Entertaining ESP booklet by Patrick Page and Ken DeCourcy. A brilliant little mentalism piece and fun to perform. Wow, okay, so I love the Eclipse ESP cards. Obviously, since actually getting Jim's list, we have announced that we're now the the owners of the 1914, and that means we all get to play it, uh play with the tricks. And I know that Pete is a massive, massive fan of these cards. He absolutely loves them. Uh, it's the fact that anybody can see what they need to see from a distance, and they're such a brilliant prop. And your choice of psychic feedback plus, I've not heard of that trick. Um, so I'm gonna look that one up and see if I can find that booklet to check out that effect because I love discovering new ESP effects. I think they're so fun, I think they're so interesting as well to a lay audience who know nothing about ESP. So I think that's a great one in at number seven. Let's go to number eight. My final trick would be a total indulgence. Oh, but I would choose David Copperfield's Flying. Impractical I'm sure, but having seen it performed live by the man himself, the idea of being able to soar above my desert island, albeit the range would no doubt be limited, would be so exciting and give a huge sense of freedom and excitement. I think at this point we've had uh uh a few people say David Copperfield's Flying Illusion, so maybe we're just gonna have to leave it on the island. It will certainly be a lot easier for you all to keep it on the island. Um, but I agree, I think doing that kind of effect even once. I I know um Harry Merlin Piper recently was on Star Search on Netflix and he did a great levitation on there. And someone his age, to be able to do that kind of effect, I bet it is such an exhilarating fun thing to do at any age, but even for someone at his age, and he done it so well, I think any kind of levitation effect would be so fun to perform. So I think that's a great way to close out your list. But Jim, we've given you eight tricks, but only one each of these final things. You only get one each of these. So let's go to your banishment. I want you to imagine, Jim. That big sandy hole that we talk about. You're gonna throw this inside, never to be seen again. Jim has buried children's entertainers. Nope, sorry, there's more to it. Children's entertainers who were rude to their helpers. How many of you were just triggered then? Or make them feel stupid or badly behaved. My least favourite being, you've broken my favourite wand. I'm sure we've all heard them, and it just makes me cringe. I always have fun with any child that I choose to assist me, but any stupidity or silliness was always aimed at myself and usually slightly self-deprecating. I just don't like to see children being made to look foolish. Okay, I think that's fair enough. Um, I think any spectator should be treated with respect, and I think you're absolutely right, just being respectful and being kind. I remember um Morgan and West have this thing, uh had this thing, sadly, they're no longer a double act, but they had a thing where each person had a different persona, and based on their height, and maybe when one of them was a bit larger, they would either be the good guy or the bad guy because of how they were. And I always think that with kids in particular, an adult is quite imposing, quite uh maybe loud, a lot larger. So coming down to their height sometimes is a really nice thing to do because it just shows respect for them and allows them to kind of be on the same level to an extent. And I know you can't do that in an entire show, but if you have that one trick in your show, then coming down to their level, sitting down, allowing them to sit with you, I think that's such a nice, thoughtful thing to do. So I think that's a great banishment. Let's go to your book. Your book is A Billion Dollar Bunko by Simon Lovell. Although not perhaps a magic book per se, it's a gold mine of great swindles, barbettes, card and dice cheating moves, and gotchas. Simon's writing style always raises a smile, and it would be fun to cheat the locals out of the odd coconut or two if I ever needed to. Being as it's a fairly large tome, and with my memory not being as sharp as it was in my younger days, when I finished it, I could go back to the start and read it all over again. So I actually checked out this book before the episode. It is huge, it's absolutely massive. It's a really, really big book. Um, but I love swindles. Uh at Blackpool, I picked up one called Um The Faster Loose and the Rubber Band, which is a brilliant swindle kind of uh routine. I think that there's always a place for swindles, they're so wonderful, and I love the idea that you know you're gonna be swindling the the island locals out of their coconuts. I think that's uh a brilliant image for us all to think about. So let's go to your non-magic item. Assuming my wife and children are there with me, it would be my computer. I've been a subscriber to Alakazam Unlimited for a considerable time now, and without wishing to sound sycophantic, it's the best value in magic out there. For a tiny monthly fee, I'm able to immerse myself in every type of magic imaginable and access some truly amazing lectures, Simon Lipkin's lectures being a personal highlight. So my computer would allow me to keep up to date with all the latest additions to the site. Thank you so much for keeping us entertained on a regular basis and keep up the good work, Jim Aitkin. Amazing. Well, if I remember rightly, we've given you access to Unlimited earlier on. So that's a great shout. And you've just made me think we don't have many barbettes or gotchas on there. So maybe we need to look out for some bar bets and some scams, and we'll add them to Unlimited. So thank you for that, Jim. I think that'd be a great shout. And you're absolutely right, Simon Lippkin's lectures on there are phenomenal. He's such an amazing talent. We're lucky to have him in the industry. Um, and if you haven't had the chance to go and see him, he is actually Fagan at the moment in the West End show of Oliver. Um, so do go see him. It's a phenomenal show, and he is absolutely incredible in it. And thank you for your support with Alakazam Unlimited as well, Jim. I'm so pleased that you're enjoying it. We've got lots to come this year and lots of amazing lectures to come as well. So thank you very much, Jim. Let's just read over Jim's list one more time. So we started off at the very beginning uh with five pairs of cards to perform the last two cards match trick. Have a nice day. Cups and balls, his Blutha Infinity Watch, plenty of rope for the Professor's Nightmare, of course, uh, an invisible deck, a Set of eclipse ESP cards, and he'd be performing Psychic Feedback Plus. And his final trick would have been David Copperfield flying. His banishment is children's entertainers who are rude to their helpers or make them feel stupid or badly behaved. His book is Billion Dollar Bunko by Simon Lovell. And his non-magic item would be his computer, with of course his complimentary, unlimited subscription. Um, just for the island. So thank you so much, Jim, for taking the time to write that. Uh, I think it's a brilliant, brilliant list, and there's lots for all of us to go out and research there. Now, if you guys want your list read out, please send it into salsaalakazam.co.uk. Please include a little bio about yourself, your eights tricks, your banishment, your book, and your non-magic item, and of course the reasons for all of those. We love hearing your lists, and it's so nice that we're getting some more of these back in. So please, please, please keep them coming. Uh, the last request is whatever provider you're on, please like this podcast. The more likes we get, the more comments we get, the more reviews we get, the more this pushes it out to other performers, uh, and the bigger this is gonna get, which is exactly what we want. So, thank you guys again. I hope you're having a great week. We're gonna be back next week with another version of Desert Island Tricks. So, until then, have a great week. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

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