Yesterday was a staff outing at West Kent Towers, when Jon and I went out for lunch at The Swan in West Malling with our newest member, the world renowned magician, Jonathan Shotton. Regular readers of my blog will know that Jonathan is staging a magic show and cabaret for us next year at the Oast Theatre in Tonbridge.
En route I said to Jon, "whatever you do, don't ask him to perform a trick - he's off duty, and he probably gets sick and tired of being asked wherever he goes." We were both delighted therefore when within 30 minutes of meeting, Jonathan said, "I expect you'd like to see a trick?"
He then produced a pack a playing cards from his pocket, and with both of us watching him like hawks (less than 3 feet away) he first made all the spots disappear, then having done that made all the patterns on the back of the cards disappear too, leaving him with 52 plain white pieces of cardboard. His patter and skill certainly attracted attention in the busy gastro-pub garden, and we spent the rest of the lunch being watched enviously (and somewhat suspiciously) by others!
Jonathan is a great guy. Despite his early success and media attention, he was down to earth, wholly unpretentious and had a genuine interest in politics and helping us build the Conservative Party. He shared our passion about involving a younger generation in politics and was willing to use his skills as a communicator and event manager to do this.
Sadly he was unable to make the bill disappear - but it was worth every penny!
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