So this last month has been a really fun one.  With a huge variation of work presenting awards, working again at the Royal Courts of Justice at the “Legal Walk”.  We have had Armed Forces day and Fathers Day with brings out the themed entertainment.  Then I get to return to Silverstone entertaining in the Drivers Lounge.  

One of the most memorable gigs though, as is often the case was the one that didn’t stand out on paper.  In fact there wasn’t much paperwork as it came in very last minute.  

An enquiry for a gig in Henley on Thames to cover another magician who had a change of plans. (I don’t know why this happens so often yet it does.  I loose track of how any times I get a booking because the original entertainer has dropped out.  Although, strangely enough I am more than often charging slight more than the original.  Maybe there is a lesson to be learned there! l! If I have a booking then there has to be something special to make me need to rearrange with a client.  Once it’s “in” it’s “in” even if I am offered more money for another gig!)  Anyway, the bottom line is this gig was on a cruise boat on the Thames.  The event was a 50th Anniversary party.  A cruise gig can often go either way,  it can be great and lots of fun or you can be trapped on a boat with a bad crowd for 3hours with no where to hide or they want just an hours entertainment and you are stuck there for 3 doing nothing!   

However,  this was an awesome venue (boat)  they looked after me superbly,  the audience were great and the 50th couple were so relaxed and easy going.  

 
It was lots of fun and I got a chance to perform a  wider repertoire than usual which was fun!  I got several nice natural breaks while people were eating and speeches were happening.  Also I found a nice quiet corner to have my dinner as well. Even better the host also wanted a quiet corner on the top deck to have his dinner, so I ended up have a lovely conversation about his family and his 50 years and how he planned the event etc.   At the end of the evening, the 50yr Bride, (is that the best way of describing her??)  as she said “Good-bye” she stopped and said very openly that I was absolutely “Amazing” and how great I had been and how I had kept everyone talking and having loads of fun with such clever tricks.  This did surprise me  a little as I had really just been doing my job as always, there weren’t any really big wow moments as it just wasn’t the layout or appropriate to get the tables really excited.  Despite this she had noticed how I had mingled to get to know everyone and bring people together.  

All this is fairly typical, however what makes this one different for me, was the surroundings.  Firstly I spent much of my teenage years (and some of my grown up years)  kayaking on the stretch of Thames from Reading to Henley.  We were lucky enough to take the route up stream and I got to relive my childhood.  Then it was the most still and calm midsummers eve I have seen for a long time, the river was totally flat and just awesome with several parties happening along the banks. 

So I know this part of the river pretty well,  I also know many of the celebrity homes along that part of the river, George Harrison’s, Paul Daniels etc etc.  Shiplake College, Henley Rowing clubs.  Its great seeing these houses and where the celebs lived although it just reminded me how I was surrounded by celebs but actually this wasn’t where the party was, it wasn’t about them being there.  What was important was the people I shared the boat with, the people that booked me to make them feel like celebrities for the evening.  The hosts who wanted their guest to be wowed and have fun. This was the perfect metaphor for how celebrities make me feel.  

The most important person to me at any event has to be the host and their guests (and not always in that order. Occasionally I get booked by a host who doesn’t like magic but knows that what I do will will be a great way of making their guests feel important and entertained perfectly.)  For me these are the celebrities and in that sense its almost impossible to fill my website with photos of me with celebrities!  

So this is why you wont often see celebrities on my website, you wont see me posing next to celebrities in a way of saying “look at me and who was at that party I was working at!”   To me thier not the important ones…the most important people are those who I am there to entertain!