Welcome, fellow magicians, to my first Presidential page. Since becoming President I have been trying to think about what to write for my first page. I did consider giving you a censored version of my weekend at Blackpool this year, however I thought this could wait for my second page as it would be cutting it too close to get the page to Keith in time to produce the Billet this month. Then the idea came to me that this month I would write about how I got into magic, for those of you that don't know. I first became interested in magic when I was about twelve years old. I guess I started like many people by being bought a Paul Daniels magic set, which I would use to torture my parents with. From here my magic did not move on that far for a few years, until my mother found out that buying me magical books was a good method to get me to read some more. My magic then took a back seat when I went to university to study mechatronics (mechanical and electrical engineering); mainly due to study and not drinking in the local pub. When I finally left university it took a couple of years before I started magic back up again. It all happened when I was at a dinner with Sarah, who I had just started dating at the time, and there was another guy doing magic at some of the tables. I thought to myself that I could do a better job that him. So from that point on I started to practice again. It was also at this point that I decided to join a local club so I could meet other like-minded people and after a search on the internet I applied to join the Bradford Magic Circle. So that was a not-so-brief tale of how I became interested in magic. I think I will leave out the details of my audition for now, as it involved the spilling of blood and a scar that is still visible. Well, for those of you that are still awake I hope you found my first page of some interest, and will want to read next month's page about the Blackpool Magic Convention. | 
