2026 is the Edinburgh Magic Circle’s 80th Anniversary!
The Edinburgh Magic Circle has been part of Edinburgh’s magical landscape since 1946, bringing together magicians, mentalists and mystery performers to learn, share ideas and, most importantly, enjoy making impossible things happen.
For me, it has been a huge part of my life.
I joined the Edinburgh Magic Circle in 2012 - when I was just 17 years old.
Technically, I wasn't supposed to…
The minimum age for membership was 18, and after a successful audition I was initially told to come back the following year when I was old enough. Fortunately, one of the members, Duncan Wilson, decided to advocate for me. He had the necessary disclosure certificates and, with my parents' permission, agreed to take responsibility for me until I turned 18.
And so, somehow, I became one of the youngest members of the Circle.
My first meetings were held at the old Police Club on York Place. It was essentially a working men's club in a basement - perhaps a little old-fashioned and stuffy, in the way that many magic clubs around the UK seem to be!
The Edinburgh Magic Circle has changed considerably since then. It feels much more vibrant, colourful, social and welcoming now, but the most important thing hasn't changed: it's a place where people who love magic can get together and make each other better.
And that's exactly what it did for me.
A recap of all the activities in the 2025/26 season!
My first EVER stage performance - in 2012!
Joining the EMC gave me opportunities that I simply wouldn't have had otherwise. One of the biggest was getting flight time - actually getting in front of real people and performing. I had my first ever stage performance through the Circle, along with countless opportunities to try things out, make mistakes, learn from them and gradually become more confident as a performer.
When you're learning magic, it's easy to spend years practising in front of a mirror. There's a big difference between knowing how to do a trick and knowing how to perform it.
The EMC helped me bridge that gap.
Tricky Ricky in the 90’s (sorry Ricky!) - Ricky has now been entertaining full time for 30 years!
I've been lucky enough to have some brilliant people around me along the way. Duncan was hugely important in getting me through the door in the first place. Paul Temple gave me lots of opportunities to perform as a young magician, helping me gain experience when I was still finding my feet.
And then there's Ricky McLeod - Tricky Ricky - who has a particularly nice bit of symmetry to my story. Ricky used to perform at my birthday parties when I was a child. Years later, I'm fortunate enough to consider him a peer. He's a phenomenal performer and entertainer, and it's quite surreal when you stop and think about that journey.
More recently, Grant Mitchell, the Circle's current President, has had a huge impact on the club and its development. It's been fantastic to watch the EMC continue to evolve while retaining that same sense of community.
I've now been a member for over a decade, and I've spent a number of those years serving as the Circle's Secretary. Even after all this time, I still regularly turn up to club nights, swap ideas, learn new things and inevitably end up showing someone a stupid little card trick.
The Circle has been around for nearly 80 years, and Edinburgh itself has an even longer history of magical performers - from Professor John Henry Anderson, the original magician known as the "Wizard of the North", to Charles Cameron and The Great Lafayette visiting Edinburgh.
I'm incredibly proud to have played a tiny part in that continuing history.
When I joined in 2012, I was a 17-year-old who was excited about magic and wanted to get better.
Since then, I've had the opportunity to perform on stages, in front of thousands of people, at weddings, corporate events, parties and venues across the country — and I've been lucky enough to make performing magic my full-time career for the last 12 years.
A huge amount of that growth happened because of the people and opportunities I found at the Edinburgh Magic Circle.
So, to the EMC: thanks for letting the slightly-too-young magician through the door all those years ago.
I'm very glad you did.