'I went from redundancy to award-winning magician'

After being made redundant from his job as a personal trainer, Mathew Knight followed his dream of becoming a magician, and has since performed all over the world.

Now Knight, from East Bridgford, in Nottinghamshire, has seen his dream reach new heights after he was crowned the Magic Circle's close-up magician of the year on Monday.

Knight said he discovered his love for magic when he was in his late teens.

After winning the award at a ceremony in London, Knight said: "I'm still in shock about it, I did not dare to dream of winning it."

Knight was inspired by famous magicians, including Paul Daniels and David Blaine, and decided the latter's style was the one he wanted to pursue himself.

"I grew up in the Paul Daniels era," he said. "Watching him on Saturday nights, as well as having his magic trick set.

"It was watching David Blaine in the '90s when I was blown away by magic."

Before he set his sights on performing magic, Knight completed a sports science degree at Nottingham Trent University.

He got a job at a gym in West Bridgford, in Nottinghamshire, but was made redundant in 2010.

It was then Knight said he became determined to become the best magician possible and committed to doing the art full-time.

He said: "I got absolutely obsessed with [magic], and I transformed my living room into a show space.

"It was a huge goal of mine to win [the award]."

After years of practice, Knight decided to enter the Magic Circle's close-up magician of the year competition, which was previously won by the likes of Micheal Vincent, Fay Presto and David Penn.

The Magic Circle was founded in 1905 and is an international group with about 1,700 members.

During his winning performance at the ceremony, Knight said he used manipulation magic, which involves sleight of hand to make objects appear, disappear, or change.

He also performed his "object to impossible location" trick, which involves a borrowed ring from the audience move from his finger to his shoelace in a single second.

Not only did his performance win close-up magician of the year, he also won the crowd favourite award on the night.

Marvin Berglas, Magic Circle president, said Knight performed his signature card trick called the "invisible date effect", which involves two Jokers in a deck predicting a chosen date from a spectator.

Berglas said: "The competition represented a diverse mix of styles and talent, and it was a real pleasure for our packed audience.

"With the club going from strength to strength, I hope this year's competition inspires more of our members to try and win this prestigious title in the future."

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