Hailing from Sheffield, the steel city, I never had any intention of getting a regular 9 til 5 job. At the age of eight, I saw a magic programme on TV. It was then I thought, "I wish I could do magic". That was soon forgot about, (I was only a kid after all). At the age of 16, I got my first normal job. That lasted about a month. I had to get a fun job that I really enjoyed. 4 jobs and 2 years later, I met my future wife while on holiday, and shortly after, moved from the North to the South East to live with my girlfriend. It was then when something jogged my memory of my childhood wish.. "I wish I could do magic". It was 1998, I was walking through quiet woodland with my girlfriend when she noticed an old Chinese Gentleman sitting on a bench. The thing that drew our attention to him, is the fact that he had a leaf that appeared to be magically levitating above the palm of his hand. We watched in awe as the leaf floated higher, totally under the control of this man. The man then looked up and noticed that we were watching him, then the leaf fell to his open palm, then he dropped the leaf and looked away as though nothing happened. I told him that we saw everything. He told us that it was an illusion and that it didn't really happen. Well, we knew what we saw. After a long chat about illusion and my childhood wish of being able to do magic, we arranged to meet up at his house two weeks later. Well I went. It was like walking into a magic castle with candles on the wall and old magic memorabilia in glass cabinets and on shelves. We chatted for 3 hours about the importance of keeping a secret of magic. That stopped my plan to ask him how the illusion of levitating a leaf works. But I kept telling him that I wish I could do magic. To cut a long story short, we would meet fortnightly to talk about magic. I now knew how the illusion of levitation worked and I levitate bank notes and rings in some of my performances today. My newest friends name was Fu Ling, he was known to his Friends and Family as 'The Wizard' because his magic was so real, it even fooled the most knowledgeable magicians. And he never revealed his secrets to anyone... Until now. It was early 1999, I really wanted to be able to perform magic and even one day, perform magic for a living. Well, Fu knew how interested I was in this fine art by now and decided to teach me some basics, not of magic but performance. When this was mastered, I would learn magic. Of course I had to make a promise to Fu that I would never reveal the well kept secrets of these effects. Well, I practised and practised and practised some more. It was now the year 2000. I was now practising a sophisticated level of magic, and decided it was time to look into joining a magic society or two, or three. Ok four.

After performing a short magic show to the committee, I was accepted into the International Brotherhood of Magicians, I joined Equity Performing Arts and The Watford Association of Magicians. The most prestigious magical society that I was approved by, is the world famous Magic Circle. I performed a short magic routine (examination) in front of a panel of judges and other members of the society, and after high appraisal, I was unanimously voted in as a member.

After a short time I decided to offer my services as a magician to the public. Soon after, I was able to perform magic as a full time career. At last, a job a really enjoy. Well, that's how I got into magic. Thank you Mr Ling. (Oh, by the way, Fu eventually admitted that he performed the leaf levitation when he heard people coming, just to show off).

It's now 2008 and I have been performing magic for 9 years and it has been my living for quite some time. I still go to see Fu now and again to catch up. I got married to my girlfriend in 2001. My wife is almost as happy as I am that I am a professional magician. I thrive to perform to the highest standard at every performance. It is in my best interest to do so, as I would like to continue to get booked through mainly word of mouth. I still practise whenever I get chance, because you can never be too good. If you like what you have heard and read, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for reading, Carl.

info@carlcharlesworth.com ~ 01525 850008 ~ 07749 541943