We all love a bit of magic. I was always enthralled by Paul Daniels peeling an orange to reveal a banknote and I loved Uri Geller destroying the cutlery. The magic, which lasts only a few minutes, has taken many years in gestation and practice, the greatest effort expended to conceal the effort expended. The most magical thing is the magician; why would anyone spend so many hours each day fiddling with a pack of cards or sewing pockets full of folding flowers into their suit just to get that gasp from the audience?
For my Christmas trick, I would like to introduce to you the next great magician, who will go global very soon, I am sure, even though he is still in his early twenties and a law student. His name is Federico Soldati and I have known his parents for about thirty four years.
The story begins when I was teaching at a language college in Nottingham. I loved the job and would gladly have done it for no pay at all, which was pretty much what I was getting. The students arrived from all over the world and stayed with host families while attending the college. Sometimes the host families were a bit thin on the ground, so suitable members of staff, mostly me, were co-opted. This is how I met Aviva. First she came to stay with us and then, on a subsequent visit, she wanted to know if her boyfriend could stay too, so he did. They were both bright people, very able and quick studies, anything I taught them stayed learned. I can’t remember how many visits there were but they married and became the Swiss branch of the family.
We moved and they visited us in our new town and house when their first son, Federico was on the way. The visits stopped when he was followed in due course by a brother and two sisters. It was quite some time and a lot of Christmas cards and parcels and photographs of the children before Aviva came to see us again a couple of years ago. She was already talking about Federico and his interest in magic and we were sent some video clips of him when he was a teenager, amazing the family.
Federico kept on practising. His father has insisted, show business being what it is, that Federico finish his law degree, which is a good idea. Favourites in the public eye can have a meteoric rise to fame followed, after a few years, by an equally spectacular descent. On the other hand, there will always be lawyers and at least he’ll be able to check the showbiz contracts himself.
In between his studies Federico has managed to perform everywhere, a couple of nights ago he was on stage in Venice. He has made appearances on television, including in talent shows such as Italy’s got Talent. As you will see for yourself, he has his parents’ good looks, a lot of charm of his own, the authority that comes from being the eldest in the family, the endorsement of Uri Geller, and lots and lots of practice – check out his action with that Rubik cube.
The next thing to do is to get him translated into various languages, but you don’t need to speak Italian to enjoy the show, just click around and watch the videos. It is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you a young man who is going to take the world by storm, he will delight, amaze and surprise you, ladies and gentlemen I introduce to you (and remember you read it here first) Federico Soldati!
Wishing you a magical Christmas.
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JaneLaverick.com – entranced.