Paul Zenon
| Paul Zenon | |
|---|---|
 Paul Zenon in 2012 | |
| Born |
Paul Collins 29 June 1964 Skipton, Yorkshire, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | magician, skeptic, comedian, writer, actor |
| Website | |
| http://www.paulzenon.com/ | |
Paul Zenon (born Paul Collins on 29 June 1964) is an English stage and TV magician, comedian, presenter, corporate entertainer, commentator, writer and actor. He has appeared in numerous television shows and is an outspoken skeptic with strong views on claims of psychic abilities and the paranormal. He is the author of three books and an expert on the magician, escape artiste and Spiritualist debunker Harry Houdini and the history of Magic and Variety. Paul is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star status.
Career
Throughout his teenage years, Paul spent the school summer holidays working in the Blackpool magic and joke shop 'The House of Secrets' which was run by Bill Thompson, who became his lifelong friend and mentor.[1] When he passed away in March 2012, he was honoured by Paul and his other protégés with a one-off variety show 'Bill's Magical Mystery Tour' held at the Pavilion Theatre at Blackpool's Winter Gardens in August 2013.[2]
After early performances at seaside hotels, with several dates supporting rock band Hawkwind on tour and being the lead singer in Blackpool band Crackousrockanroll, at the age of 19 Paul travelled Europe as a street performer, performing magic and fire-eating and supplementing his income with fortune-telling. On his return to the UK, he began performing in summer seasons and comedy clubs and went on to host tours for the British,[3] UN and US Forces in locations including Germany, Gibraltar, Benbecula, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Belize, Argentina, the Falkland and Ascension Islands and on board the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible.
Paul has performed and presented at corporate events worldwide since the early eighties and more recently has been a regular performer at international Arts and Fringe Festivals including Edinburgh, Brighton, London, Dublin, Cork, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, both as guest performer and with his own solo shows, 'Turning Tricks', 'Off the Street, On the Road', 'Cabinet of Curiosities',[4] and 'Lounge Wizard'. He has also produced and presented shows in his own bespoke venue, 'The Marquee de Sideshow' at the Edinburgh, Adelaide and Brisbane Festivals. Since its inception in 2003, he has been a long-term regular in the Olivier Award winning New Variety show 'La Clique' and its spin-off production 'La Soiree'.
Between 1980 and the present day, Paul has made numerous television appearances as performer, presenter and pundit including a Royal Command Performance, several one-man 'specials' and more recently as a regular Dictionary Corner guest on Channel 4's 'Countdown'.
Paul is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star status and is a leading expert on the life of Harry Houdini[5] and other historical magicians and entertainers including Chung Ling Soo and Jasper Maskelyne. He is the author of three books,[6] and has been an active skeptic invited to give commentary on numerous television and radio shows.
Recently, Paul has ventured back into acting, making appearances in several short films.[7][8] He is currently developing his first one-man drama.
Television
In 1990/1991, Paul starred in the BBC Children's drama Tricky Business, playing the role of Micky. In 1992/1993, he was the presenter of Tricks n Tracks [9] on BBC One, a programme on which he also acted as Magic Consultant. In 1993, Paul wrote, produced and presented Magic You Can Do[10] for retail release.
He created, wrote and produced Crazy Cottage, an ITV game show which ran for three series between 1996 and 1998. As well as numerous guest appearances on many programmes, Paul was given his own Channel 4 'Comedy Lab' episode Paul Zenon - Turning Tricks,[11] in 1998 resulting in the commissioning of his first one-man hour-long Street Magic special of the same name in 1999. This was followed by consecutive specials Paul Zenon's Tricky Christmas (C4, 1999), Paul Zenon's Trick or Treat (C4, set in Prague, 2000) and White Magic with Paul Zenon (ITV1, set in Lapland, 2003),[12] where he acted as writer, presenter and Executive Producer.
In 2005 he wrote, presented and Executive Produced a prank special involving hidden-cameras Paul Zenon's Revenge Squad, broadcast on ITV. For ten years, Paul's been a regular guest contributor in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's Countdown and has made appearances on programmes such as The One Show (BBC1), The Culture Show (BBC2),The Gadget Show (C4/5) and 50 Greatest Magic Tricks(various), where two of his signature routines were included after a peer group poll.
One of his more controversial TV appearances was made in 2011 on ITV1's This Morning where he spoke out about his views on psychics and mediums.
Charity
He is the founder of The Wonderbus,[2] a Registered Charity[13] which takes older people from homes and sheltered housing on days out to see live entertainment and events.
After an early fundraising show at The London Comedy Store featuring comedian Stewart Lee, in the summer of 2008 he toured British theatres with comedians Harry Hill and Lee Mack to raise funds for the organisation. In 2009 he put together and hosted a highly successful benefit show at the London Palladium featuring comedians Dara O'Briain, Sean Lock, Lee Mack and Dave Spikey.[14]
Skepticism
During his early career, Paul worked as a fortune-teller and since then has been a long-term skeptic with regard to the paranormal and the supernatural.
In 2011, Paul wrote an article in the Daily Mail[15] suggesting that psychic Sally Morgan might be using an earpiece through which she could be fed information about members of her audience. This was after members of the public had called a radio station claiming to have heard her appearing to repeat back information that they said moments earlier they'd overheard coming from the theatre lighting box during one of Morgan's shows at The Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin.
Paul stated that stage psychics and mediums often use various Internet tools as well as traditional cold-reading techniques to fish for information with the intention of making their audiences believe that they are communicating with the deceased. He writes "if... performers like Sally Morgan aren't actually talking to the dead, then I think the public has a right to know". Shortly after the article was published, Paul discovered video footage of Morgan walking off a theatre stage and appearing to remove an earpiece. He announced this finding on live television on This Morning (ITV1). Shortly afterwards Morgan made a statement on her Facebook page saying: "I have done and will continue to wear an earpiece... This is entirely normal and allows me to take stage directions and cues from my Stage Director. Just to be clear, I have never received anything other than stage direction or cues from my Stage Director through an earpiece."[16]
Citing "substantial damage to her reputation, as well as hurt, distress and embarrassment" Morgan filed a complaint to Associated Newspapers and sued for damages over their allegations made via a number of articles about the subject. The Daily Mail eventually agreed to pay a smaller figure as settlement and retracted the allegation that an earpiece was specifically used to receive information about members of the audience.[17]
Paul continues to be an outspoken critic of those who purport to be psychic, particularly with regard to claims of receiving communications from beyond the grave. He has contributed to many debates on the subject both at live events including those hosted by Edinburgh Skeptics, Skeptics in the Pub(various), Center for Inquiry (London), Goldsmiths, University of London and Ratio Conference, Bulgaria as well as numerous radio and television programmes. In April 2014 he hosted the QED Conference in Manchester, England, also co-writing and appearing in the opening film.[18]
Corporate
Paul has specialised in high-end corporate entertainment for over thirty years, performing, presenting and hosting award ceremonies at venues worldwide. His client list includes Blue Chip companies such as Microsoft, GlaxoSmithCline, Sony, Telegraph Media Group, AstraZeneca, Royal Bank of Scotland, Volvo, British Airways, Hewlett Packard, Pfizer, Cadbury, HSBC, Sharp and Jaguar.
In 2011 and 2012 he was special guest at Gadget Show Live at the Birmingham NEC and London Excel, presenting specially-devised material to arena audiences totalling over 100,000.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | "Countdown" | himself – Episode #66.1 | TV series |
| 2011 | "Dr. Mzuza" | Dan Lemon | Short |
| "The Gadget Show" | himself – Episode 16.12 | TV series | |
| "Breakfast" | himself | TV series – Dated 25 September 2011 | |
| "Surviving D-Day" | himself | TV movie | |
| 2010 | "Countdown" | himself Episode #63.118 Episode #63.117 Episode #63.116 Episode #63.115 |
TV series |
| "The Gadget Show" | himself – Episode 13.5 | TV series | |
| 2008 | "Countdown: One Last Consonant Please, Carol" | himself | TV documentary |
| 2006 | "The Story of Light Entertainment" | himself "Variety" |
TV mini-series documentary |
| 2004 | "Magic" | himself – "Close-up Magic" |
TV mini-series documentary |
| "The World Stands Up" | himself | TV series | |
| 2003 | "Loose Women" | himself – Episode #5.27 |
TV series |
| 2002 | "50 Greatest Magic Tricks" | himself | TV series – also archive footage |
| 2001 | "An Audience with Des O'Connor" | Audience Member (uncredited) | TV special |
| 2000 | "Heroes of Magic" | himself | TV documentary |
| 1999 | "Late Lounge" | himself – Special Guest dated 12 March 1999 |
TV series |
| 1998 | "Comedy Lab" | himself – "Turning Tricks" |
TV series |
| 1997 | "Live at Jongleurs" | himself | TV series |
| 1996 | "Crazy Cottage" | Writer | TV series |
| 1995 | "Talking Telephone Numbers" | himself – Episode #2.8 |
TV series |
| 1994 | "Talking Telephone Numbers" | himself – Episode #1.6 |
TV series |
| 1990 | "Casino" | himself – Episode #1.2 |
TV series |
Books
Paul is the author of three books:
- 100 Ways to Win a Tenner: Scams, Cons, Games You Can't Lose! (2003).[19]
- Paul Zenon's Dirty Tricks: Pranks, Wind-Ups and Practical Jokes – A Guide to Getting Your Own Back! (2004).[20]
- Street Magic: Great Tricks and Close-up Secrets Revealed (2005).[21]
Street Magic was re-published in 2008 in a smaller format, with illustrations rather than photographs, it was also sub-divided into smaller sections which were released as individual volumes under various titles.
100 Ways to Win a Tenner was released in the States under the title 100 Ways to Win a Ten-Spot and in Australia as Bar Bets.
References
- ↑ "Under no illusion why magician is back in town". The Gazette. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Morley, Jacqui. "illusionist and tV personality Paul Zenon returns to his 'spiritual' home". 08/06/13. Blackpool Gazette. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ↑ Pollard, Su. "Su set to entertain the troops". Su Online. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
- ↑ "Brighton Fringe 2010 Paul Zenon's Cabinet of curiosities". fringereview.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ "The Hunt for Houdini's Airplane". airspacemag.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ "Books by Paul Zenon". amazon.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ "Films by Paul Zenon". imdb.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ "QED Conference 2014". qedcon.org. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ "Tricks n Tracks". imdb.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ↑ Zenon, Paul (1994), Magic You Can Do, Ramsey, Isle of Man: Beckmann, OCLC 650151619
- ↑ Paul Zenon's Tricky Christmas, Channel 4, retrieved 2 May 2013
- ↑ "Biography: Paul Zenon". Speakers' Corner (UK). Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ↑ "Charity Overview – 1126557 – The Wonderbus", The Register of Charities (United Kingdom: The Charity Commission), retrieved 2 May 2013
- ↑ "Theatre Review: The Wonderbus – Wycombe Swan", Maidenhead Advertiser (Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK: Baylis Media Ltd), 19 June 2008, retrieved 2 May 2013
- ↑ Zenon, Paul. "Contact with the spirit world ... or a load of crystal balls?". 09/26/11. Wales Online. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ↑ Morgan, Sally (14 October 2011). "Sally Morgan Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ↑ Halliday, Josh. "Daily Mail to pay £125,000 libel damages over TV psychic 'scam' claim". 06/20/13. The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
- ↑ "QED Conference Speakers". www.qedcon.org. QED. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
- ↑ Zenon, Paul (2003), 100 Ways to Win a Tenner., London: Carlton, ISBN 9781842229231, OCLC 52232080
- ↑ Zenon, Paul (2004), Paul Zenon's Dirty Tricks., London: Carlton, ISBN 9781844428571, OCLC 56457346
- ↑ Zenon, Paul (2005), Street Magic., London: Carlton, ISBN 9781844425327, OCLC 60320756
External links
- Official website of Paul Zenon
- Wonderbus website
- Paul Zenon at the Internet Movie Database
- Clip from upcoming documentary, "Miracles or Manipulations"
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