The Billet Article - Librarian's Page

This article is taken from The Billet Issue - 412 - May 2006, Authored by Peter Wright

Librarian's Page

I have now received the complete Bradford Magic Circle Library from Paul Sunderland, and wow what a resource you have here. To see all 150 or so books together is quite something, and being a bibliophile I could not wait to delve in.

What a library, not only magic books but volumes on juggling, Punch and Judy, Gags with Gimmicks, Stagecraft, Quick change, the best way to make yourself heard while performing. The list goes on and on and this is on top of books on every aspect of prestidigitation, (alright magic, but you would expect a librarian to use long words wouldn't you).

I can't bring the whole library to every meeting, the books are packed into 3 large plastic boxes, but I will bring a different box every month so members can have a good selection to choose from. Remember, if we haven't got a book that covers a particular aspect of magic that you want to know more about, and you know of a book that covers it. Let me know, my details are on the back of the Billet, and I will put it to the committee to purchase the book. Can't promise anything, but you never know till you try.

I don't know if I told you but my other passion is films. I love the cinema and have even made little story films and documentaries myself in the past that have won awards in competitions. So I thought just to make a change from magic I would throw in the odd fact and trivia that you may not know, related to films that you almost certainly do know.

You all must have seen Ben Hur with its famous chariot race. Many myths abound about the race itself, most of which are not true, but let's count those chariots.

Nine are announced at the very beginning then, over the course of the race one crashes, then a second, then a third, two crash at the same time, then one more crashes out, making six crashes in total. However at the end of the race we see four chariots crossing the finishing line. Where did the extra one come from? Count 'em and see if I am not right.

Many DVD's have hidden files on them that you have press a sequence of buttons of the remote control to access. These are not publicized and take some finding, they are known as Easter Eggs and there are some surprising things hidden on those DVDs. We will be having a more detailed look at some of those in a later article.

In the meantime keep reading.

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