Britain’s Got Talent finalist Jamie Raven has announced a UK tour of his brand new show, Making Magic – a look at how magicians do what they do.

Jamie burst onto the world stage during the 2015 series of Britain’s Got Talent. His magic even made Simon Cowell exclaim: “I now finally believe in magic”.

His appearances on Britain’s Got Talent and other subsequent performances have now been seen over 450 million times online and on TV, making him one of the most watched magicians in the world today.

In November and December 2015, Jamie headlined The Illusionists at The Shaftesbury Theatre, which went on to break the box office record for a limited engagement and in doing so became the most successful magic show ever in the history of London’s West End. In 2016 and 2017, he took his own one man show on a tour across five countries, playing 120 shows across 105 different venues. The summer of 2017 also saw the release of the official range of four Jamie Raven Magic Sets, with a fifth scheduled for release in December 2018, as he strives to inspire the next generation of Magicians.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought you could earn a living doing magic, for me it was just a hobby,” says Jamie, who studied economics at the University of Bath. “I went to university not really knowing what I wanted to do in life - I thought if I got a degree it would make me slightly more employable.

“While I was there I got lucky, I met an events planner. One day the magician they had booked cancelled, so he called me and asked if I could do it. I said yes, but didn’t have a suit. So he said ‘I’ll pay you £50 and give you a suit’, I thought it was amazing, I was 18 and that was my first pay cheque.”

After graduating Jamie says it was then he started working professionally as a magician, but his passion for performing tricks stemmed from when he was a child.

“When I was ten, we were on a family holiday and a magician came over to our table and showed us some tricks. Afterwards, he kindly taught us them and that was it. One was with this rope, where you snap your fingers and it stands up straight, like a snake charmer - I still have that rope.

“After that I slowly started to increase my repertoire. By the time I was 18 I had joined The Magic Circle.”

Speaking about the magicians’ premier organisation, the Tottenham fan from Ascot explains that there are three circles: the first is member of The Magic Circle, where you have to audition to get in; second is associate of the inner magic circle, where you have to take an exam and the final one is member of the inner Magic Circle, which Jamie describes as like the “knighthood in the magician world”.

The illusion Jamie performed in his audition, is now one of his favourite routines, “that little stick man on the back of those cards changed everything.

“I worked on that every day for six months, changing things, working out what could possibly go wrong,” says the London-born magician. “It takes a long time to prepare the devices and illusions. You start off with an idea, then you have to work out how your are going to do it and that takes a long time, then you have to practice it, which takes even longer and then to stage it.

“You also work out all the possible things that could go wrong and make sure the audience won’t even know it has ended differently.”

Sadly for the talented magician, there was a hiccup as he took to the stage at Watford Colosseum during his first UK theatre tour in 2016.

After he invited a male guest on stage to get involved with one of his tricks, he wowed the audience by bringing out stocks and a massive chainsaw.

He told the audience he would be able to run the chainsaw over the man’s head while it was in the stocks, but at that moment disaster struck.

With hundreds of people sitting in the audience, the chainsaw got stuck and the man was unable to remove his head from the stocks.

Jamie told the audience to“talk among themselves” as help came and the man’s head was freed – laughing as he took his seat.

He was asked to help during a later trick and happily obliged. It seems the mishap didn’t spoil the show, with many taking to social media to thank the magician.

Beck Theatre, Grange Road, Hayes, UB3 2UE, October 11 at 7.30pm. Details: 020 8561 8371, becktheatre.org.uk