What’s the difference between an expert cardsharp and a professional magician? One will send you home with a smile on your face for the price of an evening’s fun and entertainment; the other is a magician… Okay, you saw that coming. We all know that the tricks of both trades have overlapped ever since playing cards were invented, with the same cunning routines demonstrated for either honest or dishonest payment.

The father of modern sleight-of-hand magic, the late great Dai Vernon, spent almost his entire life scouring the USA in a neverending quest to learn the most secret and difficult card manoeuvres.