Stephen Mulhern's secret second job as a kids party magician

ok.co.uk:

Magician Stephen Mulhern was entertaining the masses long before he started presenting on prime-time TV. He remembers doing magic shows for his family in the East End of London from a young age, saying, “I’d set up a stage in the living room, then buy sweets from the shop and sell them. “There’d be like a pre-show bit, where they’d have orange juice, and then they would see the show.Then when my sister was growing up, I’d do magic shows for my sister, then I started doing magic shows at other people’s parties.” Stephen’s stage might be a bit bigger now, but he hasn’t forgotten his roots. “I still do magic shows for friends that are in TV,” says the 47-year-old. “I’m trying to think who was the last person I did a magic show for – I think it was Holly Willoughby, I did [it for] her kids.

I did Emma Willis’ kids’ birthdays.” One thing he’s learned from children’s parties? “They’re the toughest audiences,” Stephen laughs. “Adults have got this thing that we all learn, where you [know whether] it’s the right time to talk or it’s not the right time to talk.

Kids have got no filter, so if they see how a trick is done, they let me know.They’re like, ‘Ahh, it’s under the table!’ At least if adults see something, they can quietly go, ‘I saw that, but we won’t spoil it for everybody else.’” Stephen’s career started in magic – performing at a Butlin’s outpost on his childhood holidays before presenting kids’ TV shows such as Finger Tips and Holly & Stephen’s Saturday Showdown.