Who is Iain Moran?

Hailed as "a legend"¹ by the public and "the definition of genius"² by his fellow magicians, Iain is an established, reliable, yet cutting-edge creative performer. Unlike many magicians (sadly), Iain is passionate about his art and spends hours every day practising and pondering, improving and inventing. He gives 120% to every engagement and almost always has to be dragged away by his driver because "they all wanted to see just one more trick".

So how did it all begin?

Iain's father was the supervisor of a group of care homes in south Manchester. Iain felt sorry for the elderly and disabled residents, with nothing to brighten their lives, and, when he was twelve years old, he decided he would entertain them. He dusted off the magic set every child has under the bed and knuckled down to some serious practice. The result was a triumph and Iain found himself in constant demand, not only at care homes but also, as the word spread, increasingly for birthday parties and other events.

When he left school, Iain spent a year working during the day at the world-famous Granada Studios Tours in Manchester, performing his magic on the Sherlock Holmes Baker Street set, and continuing with private engagements in the evenings and at weekends.

The Order of the Magi (Manchester's magic society) voted Iain Close-up Magician of the Year 1990. At 16, he was the youngest person to have been awarded that honour since the club was founded, in 1910. The following year, Iain went on to win the title again.

In 1999 Iain went to Italy, where he became one of the very few foreigners ever to win an award from the Club Magico Italiano. This led to a short series of lectures to Italian magicians on his own brand of close-up magic. In 2003 Iain returned to present a new lecture - this time in Italian!

Iain's lectures are very popular in Britain too, of course. Magic societies up and down the land invite this "award winning UK gem"³ to share his secrets and teach them his techniques.

In October 2001, the exclusive Ego magazine ran a one-man issue entirely about Iain. Years later, magicians are still talking about this.

Towards the end of 2006, Big Blind Media approached Iain and asked him to make a DVD with them, to coach magicians in card magic. Before they had even finished filming Covert Magic, the producers realised this was going to be a huge commercial success and persuaded Iain to record a second DVD, The Cullfather. Both DVDs have surpassed all expectations, not only selling like hot cakes but also receiving sizzlingly enthusiastic reviews from satisfied customers throughout the magic world.

In addition to the DVDs, magic shops across the globe sell booklets written by Iain and tricks invented by him - perhaps the best known among the latter being Hole Sensation, in which a card "visibly" disappears from between two jokers.

Iain is proud to belong to the renowned Magic Circle in London. With only 1500 members worldwide, the Circle has rigorous interview and audition procedures, to maintain its reputation for excellence. Although Iain reckons his audition was "probably the scariest thing I have ever done", it was well worth it.

When Iain became a regular performer at The Magic Circle, his talent was soon recognised by the senior members, who rapidly promoted him to his current level of Associate of the Inner Magic Circle with Silver Star.

¹ the Reverend Tim Garrett, at whose wedding reception Iain performed
² Kip Stevens on The Magic Café, the biggest internet forum for magicians
³ Seige on Talkmagic.co.uk

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