A new high-tech facility is to be installed at the shop so magicians' work can be recorded, analysed and reproduced on DVD in minutes. The technology - the first in any magic shop in the country, according to owner Russell Hall, will make the Sheffield shop the best equipped in the country.

"In a few days time this will be the most technically-advanced magic workshop in the country," said 65-year-old former technical writer Russell who has been in the shop for 34-years now and reckons he's just getting the hang of it.

But he's not bad with a trick or two himself as he bamboozles a customer and his two grandsons at the shop's counter on Broad Street.
"We will be able to film a trick or an illusion from above and have it on DVD 10 minutes later for people to analyse," said Russell

"We will be having our first lecture in a week's time. We also publish the first multi-media magic magazine called Prestodigital. The shop is known around the world in magic circles.

"We sell books, tricks and DVDs to the US, Canada, South Africa and all over. We have just had our first order from China."

So what of the two up and coming youngsters Tom Hudson and Dan Ellis?
"They are very good," said Russell.