My first taste of magic was when I was five years old but it didn't really make an impact on me until I saw David Blaine when I was 12. Seeing his TV special gave me an instant epiphany. I wanted to become a magician. I never knew magic could be so personal, so interactive and so cool.
My interest in magic kept growing. I started to watch David Blaine every day before school (because I got his TV special on tape), after school, and even at the weekends. I would just keep practicing and learning so I could become just as skillful as he is. My Dad soon came to realize that this wasn't just a phase in my childhood. He saw that I was infatuated with learning the art, performing it, and that it brought me joy and a confidence he hadn't seen in me before. He took it upon himself to look for an outside source that could help me advance in the art of magic. After hours of research on the Internet he found a club, called the "Young magicians club" (YMC) which is the youth initiative of the world-famous Magic Circle.
The YMC is where I learnt the most important part of magic; being myself and making the magic my own. It's very easy to adapt another performer's persona and presentation, especially when you're 12. They also taught me how I could make my magic better, but most importantly how to make myself better as a performer.
After two years I took it upon myself to enter one of the YMC's most prestigious competitions in the hope of winning the coveted title of "Young Close Up Magician of the year". At 15 years old, in 2004, I became just that. It was just the start of my journey to becoming a professional magician.
After winning that title, I started to get a little media attention. I featured in my local newspapers and had a spot on Stephen Mulhern's "Tricky TV" show which aired on CiTV. Another two years down the line I entered a different competition with a Michael Jackson-inspired act. It gained a lot of attention and rave reviews as it was so original and I was the youngest competitor. I didn't win the competition but I won the runner up prize and the media started to notice me. I was the cover story in the Financial Times Magazine and have since appeared on an ITV show with Tinchy Stryder and had my own slot on Sky's 'Soccer AM' for their end-of-season special.
Now, at 23 years old, I've performed for some of the biggest brands like Louis Vuitton, Victor & Rolf, HTC, Nike and G-Star Raw, as well as A-list celebrities including Thandie Newton, David Haye, Wretch 32 and James Corden. I even performed at Marvin and Rochelle's wedding! I also get the chance to perform at some really cool events for the likes of Great Ormond Street, the MOBO's and HTC.
One of my recent collaborations is with HTC, who got in contact with me after viewing a few of my videos on YouTube. They gave me the chance to try out the HTC One X smartphone and put the camera through its paces. I'm a really big fan of the phone and my favourite feature is the slow motion video which I used when filming some of my tricks to check that they were really slick. You can see them on YouTube, along with some other footage I have taken over the past couple of months, giving viewers an insight into my life as a magician, what I get up to and of course my magic. I also loved the 'Continuous Burst Mode' which I used to take pictures at the Watch the Throne concert. You can take up to 99 photos just by holding the button and then choose your best one. You can see them on my blog and check out what I've been up to recently by searching #MyHTCUrbanAdventure on twitter.
I have come very far in a short space of time, but it's only a fragment of where I want to be as there is so much more to come. I want to take my magic to another level and I'm taking the steps I need to do that. I'm doing more TV work as we speak. I'm not allowed to talk too much about it but you guys will be hearing a lot more about me very soon. However, in the mean time I'm going to be releasing a few videos on YouTube using the HTC One X, showing you my true interpretation of magic and the things I get up to which is going to be lots of fun.