New career's on the cards for Jody

SITTING at his uncle's knee Jody Greig wasn't satisfied with just being amazed at what he'd seen - he wanted to know how it was done.The card trick and then the coin found behind his five-year-old ear - was it really magic? If it was he wanted in on the act.

Fast forward almost 30 years, go especially quickly past Paul Daniels' reign on Saturday night television, and Jody has just been crowned the Forth Valley Magic Circle champion, only three months after joining the secretive organisation. So for his next trick he's going to make his teaching career vanish as he re-invents himself as a full-time magician.

If it all sounds a little unlikely then ask yourself if you've ever felt compelled to watch a Derren Brown show, gasped at the sleight of hand of David Blaine's street magic, or were inwardly delighted at the return of magic to weekend TV schedules with The Magicians on the BBC and Penn and Teller: Fool Us on ITV?

Perhaps you attended one of the events at last year's first ever Edinburgh International Magic Festival, are looking forward to the centenary celebrations of the Great Lafayette's death at the Festival Theatre this May, or are mourning the ending of the Harry Potter book and movie series.

Without a shadow of a doubt, magic is back, although this time it's minus the sequinned waistcoats, playing card ties, beautiful assistants and awful catchphrases, which we liked not a lot.

And 33-year-old Jody Greig is ready to surf the magic zeitgeist, though he says it's been in his blood since those days in Carrick Knowe where his uncle would try and bamboozle him.

"He was a two-trick pony," laughs Jody. "But I just loved it. I was visually stunned by it.

"I was always a person who wanted to know how things worked though, be it an engine or card trick, so over the years I've been getting more and more involved in magic."

Sitting in the aptly dark interior of the Malmaison bar, Jody pulls a pack of blue-backed playing cards from his pocket and deftly shuffles them. After asking me to choose a card, he somehow manages to turn the deck red - all except the five of diamonds, the card I'd chosen.

"Sleight of hand, close-up work is what I do," he says. "But what I love about it is that it's a science, an art, a philosophy. It's such a huge discipline that you're constantly learning, and I just love learning. I've an engineer's brain so taking tricks apart and putting them together again my way... well it's just a fantastic journey."

He admits though that throwing his lot in with magicians is a gamble. "I've a degree in software engineering and worked for the MoD for four years, then went travelling, then came back and studied to become a teacher. I've been teaching computing in East Lothian for the last while, and while I love teaching there are no full-time jobs available, so I thought it was now or never to give magic a real go.

"I never did any tricks in the classroom - although I showed a few in the staff rooms," he says. "I know now might seem like a crazy time to do this as the corporate world has reined in its spending on functions, but for me the time is right."Already Jody has been hired to perform at functions at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and has also had work from Scottish Widows, East Lothian Council and Macmillan Cancer Support.

He's also thinking of a potential Fringe show, and then there's the Magic Festival, which will be returning to Edinburgh this July.

"There's certainly a lot happening for anyone who is interested in magic," says Ian Buchan, secretary of the Edinburgh Magic Circle, civil servant by weekday, Magic Ian at weekends. "I mostly do children's entertainment, but just last weekend I was doing close-up magic for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Usher Hall, and although there are fewer corporate functions, if you're good then you can get work.

"I think magic is definitely going through one of its more popular phases right now," the 56-year-old adds. "I've been doing it for 25 years and it's had its peaks and troughs, and this is definitely a peak and I think in some ways it is thanks to people like Derren Brown and David Blaine who've introduced different types of magic to new audiences. And now it's back on mainstream television on Saturday nights, which I think can only be for the good."

Ian, who has been heavily involved in the Lafayette celebrations this coming May - which will see Paul Daniels perform in Edinburgh - got the magic bug after he saw street magic in Covent Garden. Then his wife was given a box of magic books by a colleague and he was hooked.

"I think while Derren Brown and David Blaine have been doing their own thing, the public are still amazed by magic in general," he says. "They are as interested in a card trick as they are in a huge illusion. Right now close-up magic at functions is incredibly popular and I think it's because people just hope they'll be able to figure out how it's done."

Back at the Malmaison and Jody Greig is still showing card tricks, before he makes a coin disappear by the appearance, as if from thin air, of a small porcelain hand. It's a little creepy, even if it's a good trick.

"I decided to study magic properly when I was in my early 20s and my friend Graham Keane showed me a card trick he'd learned. It took me right back to the days my uncle used to do the same sort of thing, and I just thought 'well now I have to learn it properly'," he says.

"Graham and I are still trying to outdo each other with new tricks and we joined the Forth Valley Magic Circle together.

"Hypnosis is the next thing though. I really want to learn it properly.It's an amazing science and can be a real power for good. But it's sleight of hand and misdirection which will always be the basis of magic for me.

"I'm not surprised it's making a comeback on television as well - Derren Brown has helped with that, challenging the public's imagination.

"There are so many great magicians out there that the public should never get bored with magic. And hopefully I'll be one of those."

• For more information on Jody Greig visit www.jodymagician.com. For more information on Ian Buchan visit www.magicianedinburgh.com.