The early summer sun is shining, Brighton beach calls constantly for one to cycle along and stop for a sunny cappucino but Magic is to be done, gigs to be gone to so the call of the seagulls must be ignored...

Spring has been exciting! I was called to audition for the new Simon Cowell talent show and auditioned along with 50,000 others. A couple more auditions later, I found myself in the last 100 hoping to be among 26 people who would actually compete on the show AND have an unlimited budget for diamond encrusted costumes! I assumed the last audition would only be in a hotel room in front of a couple of people but suddenly I was on stage in the West End Shatesbury Theatre before a 1,000 strong audience who had been encouraged to boo and hiss.

After two minutes of magic Simon Cowell pronounced... "You're cute. How old are you?", 35. "mmm, cute". So that's now official, 20 years in the business and the top promoter of talent's opinion is that I'm cute. Is that good? Not sure...but neither Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan or Simon buzzed me off and you could have heard a pin drop in the audience. I didn't get through to the semi-finals which would be a 90 sec slot on live TV in June but since magic usually takes a bit longer than that, it's one challenge I can ignore and concentrate on the current run of corporate parties that I'm busy with. It was fun fooling around with Ant & Dec though and no.... I don't know which one is which either and since they are earning a cool £40 million I don't suppose they care!

You'll see in the pictures the cast of the Good Old Days show at the Leeds' City Varieties in April which was a joy to perform at and yes, that is Gordon Kaye from 'Allo 'Allo you can see together with the fabulous Jan Hunt (Crackerjack!) and Vincent Hayes (Brickland Music Hall). It was a real inspiration to work with such talented pros and hang out listening to their stories 'til the early morning.

The other picture is of two of the Queen's trumpeters that I met at a huge gig in the Dorchester. You can imagine how I swooned over their costumes and just had to put one of their boots on me head only to have one complain that I had destroyed his careful polishing and did I have a stocking? Apparently they are the best for removing finger prints. It's an interesting life!

I've had my head down creating the new web site that I hope you like, working with Angel to organise gigs for the rest of the year and searching for a new house (the new starship!) to move into in July, still in Brighton but with a workshop and potentially a theatre of my own! Watch this space!

Dates are now going fast already for December so if you have a party or event that needs some Diva-esque Frivolity, please give Angel a call!

From the seagulls,

Romany x