Syrian Street Magician Beheaded..
A street magician in Syria beloved by children was beheaded by Islamic State group militants after his performances were deemed to be insulting to God, the Daily Mirror reported Wednesday. The murder of the magician, who was known as “Sorcerer,” was called “barbarism and butchery” by a Syrian activist who knew him but fled to safety in nearby Turkey.
“The magician was a popular man who entertained people with little tricks on the street like making coins or [a] phone disappear,” the activist told the British tabloid. "He was just called Sorcerer by people, and children loved him. He was doing nothing anti-Islamic, but he paid for it with his life.”
But to the Islamic State, the group formerly known as ISIS, the street magician’s tricks were anti-Islamic because they were performed through “illusions and falsehood,” according to the Mirror. They also said the Koran forbid the tricks because the time people spent captivated by them could have been better used by going to a mosque, the tabloid added.
Press Release: New Book Reveals Secrets of the World-Famous Piddington Mentalist Act
LONDON, UK – 6th January 2015 – Manipulatist Books Global today announced the publication of Piddington’s Secrets, by Martin Hart, a broadcast journalist, which reveals the secrets of the Piddington’s world famous and mentalist act of the late 1940s.
The book explains, finally, exactly how the Australian husband and wife mentalist team of Sydney and Lesley Piddington gave one of the most famous stage and radio telepathy acts of modern times in London. The book is based on a notebook belonging to Hart’s grandfather, Brian Hart, a London bus driver who observed the Piddington’s methods while working on the BBC broadcasts where the Piddingtons demonstrated ESP to over 20 million listeners every week.
“It all started with a ‘throw-away’ comment from my grandfather,” said Hart. “When he was working for the BBC, he made notes in an RAF notebook revealing their methods. The notes were pertinent to his job on the shows. That’s where it all started. I had no idea their methods were unknown.”
The Piddingtons act was the most unfathomable ESP demonstration the world had ever witnessed and many scientists were convinced their powers were real. They performed in theatres across Britain which included the London Palladium. In their act, Sydney Piddington could transmit his thoughts to his wife without talking, even if she was miles away. Today, 70 years on, baffled magicians and scientists are still unable to work out how they did it. Sydney Piddington invented his secret methods during his three-year imprisonment in the Changi POW camp in Singapore during World War II. He later married Lesley Pope and they formed the act in Australia before bringing it to England.
To this day, their methods have remained unfathomed, although many theories have emerged. Magician Penn Jillette attempted to explain their methods on a radio show in New York. Martin says his theories were way off the mark. Magicians across the world have attempted similar tricks but none have ever achieved the standards of realism Sydney Piddington did. Hope of discovering their methods was believed lost when Sydney Piddington died in 1991 and wife Lesley developed Dementia in 2006. They never revealed their secrets, not even to close family. When quizzed, their catch phrase was always the same; “You are the judge.”
Piddington’s grandson Jesse Cox said in a radio documentary, “We will never know how they did it. There will only ever be theories.” However, the actual BBC recordings and film footage from British Pathe, supports the methods in the notebook and clearly shows they are genuine. Martin says once you understand the methods you can spot all their mistakes. Piddington’s surviving family gave Martin Hart permission to publish the secrets as a book and his investigation uncovered an incredibly revealing story behind their cunningly skilful journey to fame. Martin explains that they never used hidden devices, sleight of hand or an audible code to communicate secretly, in fact they were always searched thoroughly before performances. He also adds that the methods could still be used today.
The book is now available through magic shops and online. For more information, visitThePiddingtons.com
CONTACTS
Martin@ThePiddingtons.com
Press@Manipulatist books.com
DETAILS:
Pages 223. 50+ Photos / diagrams. Hardback. 6” by 9”.
YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d58gx_yKC0E
Comedy, Magic And The Christian Faith – Stephanie-Rose Keeling spoke with John Archer..
By Stephanie-Rose Keeling for Cross Rhythms..
John Archer is a comedy magician, working for CBBC, gigging in comedy clubs and performing at Christian festivals. Stephanie-Rose Keeling caught up with him at ONE Event about his thoughts on success, being true to your faith at work and being funny.
Stephanie: How did you become a Christian?
John: I’ll tell you how I became a Christian, I was basically going out with a girl, I was 19 and the girl was a Christian. I started going out with her and she dragged me along to church. So it was a process really of being dragged along to church, listening to sermons, asking questions and then I went to Art College and on the course there was a guy called Richard Nicholson and he played bass guitar in a Christian rock band called Giant Killer in the eighties. I played guitar and sang a little bit in bands myself so I got talking to him and it was him that led me to the Lord one night in a little hostel in Whitby. That came after a lot of listening to things and asking questions, so it was a gradual process and then a point of decision through chatting with Richard.
Stephanie: Brilliant. So you’ve had an amazing career. You worked for CBBC, can you tell me a little bit about how you integrate being in the media industry, but also being a Christian as well?
John: Do you know what, I don’t really think of it as being an issue or a problem. I’ve got my Christian faith and I’ve got Christian values and I try to apply them when I do my job, but I don’t think it’s any different whatever I was doing really. You might get different challenges; people seem to think that because you’re in the media that you’re gonna get drug things thrown at you and wild parties, but unfortunately I don’t get much of that [laughs]. So the same as any Christian would in any job, you deal with the situations the same way.
Stephanie: I like that. So in terms of young people wanting to be successful, what would you say to them about how to find success and what do you think the meaning of success is?
John: I don’t know. For me success is being happy. I think success is doing something you’re happy with and you feel proud of. My idea of being successful is I just wanna do what I do as best as I can, not because I wanna be better than anybody else, just because it’s satisfying to know that you’re doing what you’re doing well. Again in any job, I think if I was a dentist – well I wouldn’t want to be a dentist – but if I was a dentist [Stephanie – you’d have good teeth] I’d have good teeth, I would – I’d wanna be a good dentist. So I think success is just about doing what you do well and being happy.
Stephanie: Yeah definitely. So can you just quickly tell me in a nutshell, a bit about your career, so your magic, what you do in the Christian sector and what you do on CBBC?
John: You know, that’s a hard question. People say what do you do and I do have a very broad amount of things that I do. My main job that I always classify myself as is comedy magician. Sometimes people call me a comedian, but I always think, well it’s not just a comedian and I’m not a full on stand-up comedy guy, I’m sort of comedy and magic. So that’s what I class myself as – comedy magician, but I do secular gigs, I’ll do corporate events, big works dinners, I’ll do comedy clubs, I’ll do anywhere with any comedy magician…private parties. Then I’ve got the church side of things, the Christian side of things, where they might just want entertainment in the church, but sometimes they want a bridge building thing where I can share a little bit about my faith. Others want much more full on, so they want my comedy testimony, which is what I’m going to be doing here at the ONE Event. Then I’ve got the television as well and I do a little bit of variety television. My best friend is Tim Vine, so whenever he’s doing TV I quite often get roped in by him to write things for him and then the CBBC show and bits of television that come up – I do them as well so I’ve got my finger in lots of pies, but they’re all related to being a comedy magician.
Stephanie: A jack of all trades. So let’s finish this off then with a joke. Tell me a joke.
John: Do you know what, I don’t tell jokes. I write jokes for Tim so [Stephanie: so you’re just naturally very funny] No I’m not really naturally very funny, I work hard at it, but I’m not a joke teller, I sort of say silly things, which out of context don’t make sense, and I pick on people and I mess about, so yeah, you’ll have to come and see me.
Stephanie: Definitely do that then. Brilliant, thank you very much!
John: Thank you! 
http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/life/Comedy_Magic_And_The_Christian_Faith/55075/p1/