Geoff still has a few magic tricks up his sleeve

Nine of hearts. Keep it to yourself. It's the card I've silently chosen at random from a splayed pack held up in front of me by veteran Shropshire magician Geoff Rushworth.

Seconds later he is showing me the pack. There is a card missing. And there's a card in his pocket.

You can guess which one that is.

And I'm left asking the cliched question: How on earth did he do that?

Not that there's any chance of him letting on, of course.

In his long career, 70-year-old Geoff has appeared around the world. He's been on television, in shows, at Hollywood, in clubs, and on cruise ships, and entertained the likes of Muhammad Ali, Priscilla Presley and Cary Grant.

"I was three years, 11 months and one week old when I saw a magician at an event at the Gay Meadow. My sister won the baby competition, which is how I remember the date.

"The magician performed from the back of a dray. He was very good. He was, I've found out since, Dan Leano, from Wrexham. He did three tricks – razor blades from the mouth, aerial fishing, where he produced goldfish over the crowd, and a dove vanishing in a little box.

"It sowed the bug," he said.

The next key event was a motorcycle accident in 1954.