HOW circumstances have changed for Jamie Raven, as if by magic.

The first time Jamie paraded his sleight of hand in York, he was working his way around the tables of the Gimcrack Rooms, all of 12 years ago. "It was one of the first jobs I ever did, at York Racecourse, when I was doing what's known as 'corporate magic'.

"Basically, at the time, I was mainly doing private events, working for party planners, where I'd be booked as the entertainment, and I'd take business cards with me to hand out when I did my close-up magic. If they enjoyed it, great, 'here's my card'!"

On Monday, buoyed by his run to the final in the 2015 series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent, he returns to York to present Jamie Raven Live at the Grand Opera House. No such business cards needed any more.

His opening audition has been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube and 30 million people around the world have seen his Britain's Got Talent video on Facebook, while Ne-Yo, Ashton Kutcher and Drake are among his online enthusiasts.

"I'd been working professionally for 11 years before I auditioned for that show, and I believe magic works best as a live show, but you need to sell tickets and the best way to get known is still through television," says Jamie.

"I'd had a couple of things that might have happened on TV but didn't, but when I came second on May 31st last year, by November 14th I was headlining The Illusionists show at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End, so that's the effect Britain's Got Talent can have."

York Press:

Sleight of hand: Jamie Raven

The Illusionists ran over the Christmas period, since when Jamie has become the online face for Talk Talk, promoting their latest advertising campaign, and in February he embarked on his British theatre tour, carrying the ringing endorsement of Simon Cowell, who was moved to say: "I now actually believe in magic."

"I've always believed that you should be happy and content with what you have," says Jamie. "I was blessed; I went to university at Bath, left with a 2.1 in Economics, and when my friends all went of to work in the City, I went off to do my own thing and I'm really happy that I took that chance.

"You always dream, so to walk out on to the Shaftesbury Theatre stage, that's a dream come true. Whatever happens in the rest of my life, I'm happy that I went on Britain's Got Talent."

Jamie's act began to take on its present character six years ago when he took advantage of a sudden opportunity at the Pennyhill Park hotel in Bagshot, Surrey. "I was wandering around the tables, doing my magic, when the comedian they'd booked was stuck in traffic, so I was asked, 'Can you do jokes?'. I said 'lots' when in fact I'd never done any, but it went very well and I've never looked back," he says.

Audience participation is a key part of Jamie's show. "There are two ways to perform magic: just performing it yourself on stage, or you can bring people on stage and magic things can happen, so 80 per cent of my show now involves people coming up to help me," he says.

"The greatest thing you can give someone is your time, and you can tell if they want to be involved, if they've booked a seat in the front row or if they're inching forward in their seat. I don't want people to feel nervous, or awkward. or embarrassed, but I do want people to have fun; and if they say something funny, that's great."

Now adapting his magic skills to playing to 500 to 2,000 people each show, rather than to diners at a table, Jamie has nevertheless retained his close-up techniques by projecting the routines on screens. "You want everyone to have the same experience, wherever they're sitting, and the screens are so good now, they can all get a good view," he says.

On the subject of screens, will Jamie be back on TV any time soon? "There's definitely a plan for more TV work," he says. "It's a medium to keep me in the public eye and we're in talks to film something this year."

Jamie Raven Live: Grand Opera House, York, July, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york