Magic shows are curious things. Crowds pay to be skilfully duped and are happy to revel in perplexity so long as the methods behind the duping remain inexplicable under their keen, watchful eyes.

‘Champions of Magic’ managed this with spectacular regularity.

With a roster this esteemed, it was no surprise that incredulous gasps of ‘How did they do that?’ were commonplace amongst the eager crowd.

Edward Hilsum magicked some doves from thin air, Fay Presto baffled everybody into a stupor with just a newspaper and some string, Alex McAleer casually read minds, and one-time ‘Penn and Teller, Fool Us’ participants, Young and Strange, rounded off the show with grandeur.

Street magic is increasingly popular in the UK. It provides unexpected, first-hand thrills to us, the unbeknownst members of the public or hour long expertly filmed TV segments on a Saturday night.

It has captured the public’s i-magic-nation (had to get one in here).

The message? ‘It’s free, and it could have been (or indeed was) me’.

Staged magic shows often carry the nuance of being just that.

‘Champions of Magic’, although certainly not for lack of trying, struggled to position itself both as an audience involved, personal experience and the type of Vegas-like extravaganza that the closing trick pokes fun at.

However, magic still has the power to astound you frankly whether you’re involved in it or not, and this show has more than enough star power to entertain and dumbfound a whole family for its duration and long after.

- Kevin Holmes-Attivor