HE HAS been perfecting his craft for the past 13 years, but it was in 2015 when magician Jamie Raven truly shot to fame when he managed to make Simon Cowell believe in magic.

Raven wowed a nation with his tricks and has since gone on to leave minds boggling in theatres all around the world.

Dressed sharply in a suit with a fresh pair of Converse trainers, the instantly personable magician admits that he was a bit sceptical about the platform which skyrocketed his career.

“I had been asked to do it (Britain’s Got Talent) every single series of the show before I actually appeared on it,” Raven explains to the Gazette.

“But I was working corporate events or weddings and it always seemed that the magicians were there to fill a space or to be a bit of a comedy act, so I didn’t want to get laughed off TV by Simon Cowell.”

However, quite the opposite happened with Raven winning the hearts of the nation and even making a believer out of the TV show’s most critical judge.

After breaking box office records with The Illusionists and doing his own headline shows, Raven will return to Basingstoke with his new show Making Magic.

Raven aims to take his audience on a journey through the magical world in which he operates, explaining how magic works, why magic works and what it means to so many different types of people.

The trick for Raven now is how to keep his act fresh for someone who is a returning audience member.

He added: “There is a saying there is only seven magic tricks in the world, but it is the way you dress them up.

“So when it comes to performing, it isn’t like I sit down and write a show, it is a constant thing.

“I have notes in my phone which is a constant balance of how I am going to form a show, and I can be influenced by anything from music, to something I overhear which I think will make a good joke.

“In the end I have all these post-it notes and it is like one of those scenes from a detective drama where there is a piece of string putting everything together.

“If someone was to walk into my house, they would be so confused, but to me I look at it and think: ‘that will be a show in September.’”

When putting a show together, Raven admits it is a lengthy process with a lot of trial and error, but, as with anything, practice always makes perfect.

For modern magicians now, there is so much content that people can access and make their own act, from just seeing a couple of YouTube tutorials.

“When I started it was like learning music, you learn the scales and learn other people’s music and then you put your own spin on it,” added Raven.

“Nowadays there is a plethora of channels where people can find more magic.

“Right now, if you wanted to get involved in magic you can just Google it and you can learn a bunch of tricks.”

When it comes to Jamie Raven, not everything is always as it seems, so expect the unexpected.

Jamie Raven will appear at the Haymarket on Tuesday, 16 October.

For tickets and more details, visit anvilarts.org.uk.