Hi guys. I'm Mark Chandaue, been doing Magic pretty much all my life, 35 of my 40 years have been spent doing magic (and I spent the other 5 watching it
). Got started when my Father gave me a copy of Bobo's at the tender age of 4. Hehe he didn't expect me to read it but thought it would get me off his back for half hour or so whilst he was getting ready for a show (yup he was also a magician), instead it got me pestering him to teach me how to read. Still by age 5 I triumphantly showed him coins accross and thus a life long journey began.
In 1980 I became the Hamleys resident magician (back when Hamleys had a professional magic dept). It was a choice between this and a winter season in Switzerland, I jumped at the chance as this was a position my Father held around the 50's with Ron McMillan and Harry Baron (he also worked in Gamages with them) so the job at Hamleys had always been a bit of an ambition of mine. I left Hamleys after they were bought out and the magic dept was made more general public oriented and went back to performing. I was a working pro for most of the 80's then took a break and returned to it in the 90's. on and off but marriage made the travelling less appealing and since then I've made my living through my second love, computers.
The magic though is in the blood so it's always been there in the background, I still perform from time to time but dropped off the scene for a while. My first love is close up magic with a particular leaning towards coins, my favourite magicians are too many too mention but high on the list is my old mate Kevin Reay, oh and Lennart Green (who is obviously not human
). My all time favourite is probably Ascanio (god rest his soul). I only wish I could describe the sheer beauty of Ascanio's work, to see him perform was to know the full beauty of real magic.
Hehe well that's pretty much my life story
Mark
