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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