Ali Do Lali -Magician-Fire Eater - Magician South East

With more than 30 years in the business Ali Do Lali can rightly claim to have pioneered many tricks and illusions that are now par for the course at children parties. He discovered magic at the age of six, and started winning competitions at 16, but his dad insisted (as dads do) the conjuring remain a hobby, and the young Ali Do lali stuck to his studies.

Ali Do Lali's skills were honed and his routines were perfected during any spare time he had after qualifying as a Biomedical Scientist (specialising in Hematology) and, appropriately enough, working as resident Hypnotherapist at his local skin clinic. "Back in those days, if you didn't pull a rabbit out of a hat at some point, you weren't a real magician", says Ali Do Lali. So he trained rabbits not only to sit in hats, but also to leap on to his back, then walk from shoulder to shoulder in an "it's behind you" routine that had young audiences in stitches. "These days", he adds, "the kids want more elaborate illusions, because of what they see on TV."

Again, Ali Do Lali obliges, swallowing razors blades, levitating kids, decapitating Dads and appearing to saw volunteers in half (usually exhausted Mums looking for any excuse to lie down). The shows are age appropriate: under-fives are treated to more gentle trickery and balloon modeling, with the explosive stuff saved for the over 12's.

"To be a successful entertainer, you have to enjoy working with kids", says Ali. "If you're enjoying yourself, they start enjoying themselves". Much has changed since he started out, and not just in terms of the tricks: despite the huge number of party magicians available for hire these days, Ali Do Lali remains one of the most likeable and professional there is, no longer tied to routines and able to milk hilarity from the strangest, most unpredictable places.

The late Roald Dahl, a patient at the Ali Do Lali's hospital in the '80s, was so impressed with the entertainer's way with kids that he asked him to perform for his own grandchildren: and you don't get greater praise than that.