My father wanted me to be a jockey, but because I suffered asthma and wasn’t strong on the horses I ended up getting a few busters. I ended up getting kicked by a horse and knocked out for a few hours, which never helped my education any…

I was living in Sydney, near one of the leading magic shops in the world. I bought a few magic tricks for my brother because he was more of a clown than I was, and I saw an ad for a magician’s convention in Katoomba.

There were about 50-60 magicians in this beautiful old country pub. This guy was doing a magic act and he was absolutely stupid. He started in plain clothes and appeared out of a phone booth as superman, jumping around, carrying on. He was bouncing around, running up the aisle and tripped on the stage, blood spurting everywhere. And I thought, god, I can do that.

I went on to have a successful career as a magician and produced my share of protégés. All of them had in common that their parents wanted them to be something that they didn’t want to be. I understood them and I saw how you had to give them support, showing them how interested you were in what they were doing and how much you enjoyed it. So that’s what I’ve always done.

Magic is a terrific teaching aid for learning patience. You can’t go out and do a trick first pop, it’s impossible. You’ve got to have patience because there are a lot of critics out there, especially when you are performing. Somehow, I learned the technique, because you have to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. What you learn is the ability to face people in difficult situations and not walk away hurt. But you still have to get up and have another go at it. Magic was a great assistant to me in life. You have to find your own self. You can’t be anyone else. Learn where others have been, then start your own path.

I gave up driving when I was living in Sydney ten years ago and moved to the Sunshine Coast to be closer to family. I don’t have a lot of places that I need to go but ComLink gets me everywhere now. The best part is I get to keep a whole garage filled with props!

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