Wedding Industry Awards

This month I was delighted to receive notification that I had been announced as a regional winner in the upcoming Wedding Industry Awards of 2012. It was an honour to be even shortlisted, but I was overwhelmed to find out I had won. This year I’ve been honoured to perform at a number of weddings, and I’ve witnessed some very special moments. This now means that I will travel to London in January for the awards ceremony, which will be held at the fabulous Café de Paris. It’s bound to be a great night, and it’ll be good to meet with the other regional winners.

Merry Christmas!
Christmas 2011 has been absolutely jam packed full of events for me. The majority have obviously been Christmas parties, but there has also been a couple of weddings and a 21st birthday party thrown in for good measure! In the month of December I was booked at a total of 27 events including a number of nights at the G Casino in Birmingham, aswell as various other Christmas Parties, weddings and a 21st birthday party thrown in for good measure! 2011 has been a very successful year and I’m already looking forward to what 2012 brings – there’s plenty to look forward to already!

I hope everyone had has had a fun 2011 – here’s to 2012!

Don’t forget to Contact  Me for any event enquiries you may have, large or small!

River Thames Boat Party
In my career already I have performed in many different venues – hotels, restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, golf clubs, conference centres, beaches and even Ice Bars, but November saw a first for me. I was invited down to London to perform at a 21st Birthday Party on The Yacht, an exclusive venue on the River Thames. I’ll admit I haven’t been on too many boats so it took a bit of getting used to, and as we swayed with the tide I almost lost my footing a few times! The guests enjoyed live music, cocktails and magic from yours truly with a beautiful backdrop of London by night. I guess I can now add ‘boat parties’ to my list of events that I cover, something I hadn’t even thought about! Thanks to everyone who attended and gave some great reactions, and I’m looking forward to performing on The Yacht in 2012.

BRMB Live! 2011
The excitement continued throughout November when I had the chance to perform for some of the biggest stars in pop music today. On November 26th, Birmingham Radio station 96.4fm BRMB hosted a live concert at the LG Arena featuring JLS, Pixie Lott (right), Cher Lloyd, Matt Cardle, The Wanted, James Morrison, and many more! I performed for guests in the hospitality area before the show started and also at the exclusive after show party, and as the guests took their seats I made my way backstage to entertain some of the acts who were waiting to go on. All of the photos, and a brief video clip can be seen on my Facebook page. For those on Twitter, I received this tweet from @thelgarena – the official twitter account for the LG Arena.

“We are backstage at @brmb #live2011 right now and @fletchermagic just freaked us out with the best close up magic we’ve ever seen!”

If you’re on twitter and you’ve seen me perform, then feel free to send me a tweet! The feedback not only helps me improve all the time, but it helps other people who might be interested in booking me.

And just as the dust settles, I’m up again preparing for my Christmas shows. It’s a busy end to the year, and I’ll be updating my highlights of 2011 on the news page of the website next month.

Tweet me, poke me, follow me, like me, connect with me, do whatever you do on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and Flickr!

Awesome Birthday Cake!
I celebrated my 25th birthday in October and my girlfriend went through the trouble of making me this delicious cake!
It was a special day aswell when I was reminded that 20 years ago my parents booked a magician for my 5th birthday party – little did anyone know what implications that decision would have! Call me biassed, but I’d highly recommend getting a magician for your child’s birthday. Whilst I don’t perform at children’s parties myself, I do have a list of suppliers that can help out so it’s always worth getting in touch if you’re planning a party.

The 2012 Wedding Industry Awards
2011 has seen me perform at a wide variety of events and it’s easy to say that weddings have been the most popular. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that I have been entered into the 2012 Wedding Industry awards for ‘Best Entertainment’ in the West Midlands Region. The awards set out to raise awareness for the best suppliers to the wedding industry with everything from photography and wedding dresses, to caterers and florists. Couples who have used my services for their wedding in 2011 have been asked to score me on quality of product, value for money, level of service before the wedding, level of service on the day of the wedding, level of service after the wedding and ‘recommend ability’. The regional shortlists for each category will be announced next month, so I’ll have more news for you then! In the mean time, you can read all about the awards on the official website

Don’t forget to Contact  Me for any event enquiries you may have, large or small!

Students and Cartoons
During September, I had the chance to work with John Roberts., a very talented caricaturist from Cheshire. We were both performing at a welcome event for foreign students at Birmingham City University who were starting their first year of studies in England. Most of them had travelled from countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Morocco and many of the students did not speak English as a first language. I’ve worked with John a few times, and whilst the speeches were happening during the evening, I finally managed to convince him to draw a caricature of me! You can see a larger version on my Facebook. page – I’ll let you decide on how accurate it is. I wasn’t sure to laugh or cry, but either way John is a great artist! Check out his website here.

Magic at House Parties
September also saw me perform at a 21st Birthday Party in Worcestershire. Whilst the majority of events I perform at are hotels, conference centres, and golf clubs, every now and then I am asked to perform at a house party. Magic is possibly the only oct effective form of entertainment to have at a house party. If you only have a small group of people then most musicians would pass on the offer to entertain, as would many comedians. With close up magic, I can give a performance to everybody and ensure that we really kick the party off with a bang! Performing either outside or inside, the guests can be stood around the kitchen, or sat on the sofas in the living room – it really does not matter. If you’re having a house party any time soon, then use the contact page.

Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the goings on in my little world…..on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and Flickr!

Flickr Photography
Over the past few months I’ve been sent quite a few live performance shots from various event photographers. I thought it would be quite nice to share them with my clients so I’ve uploaded a batch of photos to Flickr!. For those of you who don’t use Flickr, I strongly recommend having a look – its a fun way of sharing photos with friends, and great if you have a large collection you want to show off! I’ve added a few more photographs to my Flickr page, so be sure to take a look at my photo stream. If you use Flickr and have some photos of me from your event, let me know!

Real Magic!
Most brides dream of their wedding day having beautiful sunshine all day with not a cloud in the sky. On August 27th I travelled down to Hertfordshire for a wedding performance near Stevenage. Driving down the M1, the heavens opened up and it started to rain quite heavily and I feared the worst for my booking! Upon arrival at the venue however the rain was coming to a holt, and the sunshine had emerged from behind the clouds clouds and caused a perfect rainbow. I managed to capture this photograph myself using my phone and a photography application called ‘Photosynth’ which allows you to create panoramic photos (I should get commission for this!).

Football Is Back!
Being a big football fan, I’m so glad the football season is back! Over the summer I actually got my hands on the Premier League Trophy (right) – well actually I came close to it, but the burly security guards wouldn’t let anyone lay a finger on it. I offered to make it disappear and reappear in my trophy cabinet at home, but they didn’t take too kindly to the joke!

Last season I had the pleasure of performing at a few different football stadiums at various events. Some were directly related to football (match day entertainment during the day) and others were private functions for clients that just loved the facilities on offer! More and more people are looking for a unique venue to have a wedding and football stadiums are often included in the short list of possible venues. The hospitality on offer is second to none and the food is prepared by some of the best chefs in the country. Just a thought!

Don’t forget to Contact  Me for any event enquiries you may have, large or small!

Triumph Motorcycles
This past month I travelled down to Berkshire to perform for Triumph Motorcycles at one of their new showroom openings. It was a great evening and great to be asked back, as I have performed for Triumph before! I’ve had some great feedback, and the event was being filmed by Fatt Film so hopefully I’ll have some live footage to add to my site. It was nice to perform outside in the sunshine, entertaining the guests whilst a hog roast was available.
It’s nice to say that ‘every day is different’ with my job, and events like this really add variety to my career. It proves that close up magic is the perfect form of entertainment and really is suitable for any event. It’s always wise to get in touch sooner rather than later to save disappointment. Already this year I’ve performed at weddings, birthday parties, awards ceremonies, radio stations, gala dinners, product launches, and now show room openings!

Summer Weddings!
Weddings are without doubt my favourite type of event. Everyone is there to have a good time and enjoy themselves. There are always tears of joy and rarely tears of sadness. I’m privileged to be part of somebody’s special day and honoured that it happens to me so often. July has been a packed out month for weddings and there have been some great reactions from the audiences. Just look at the photo on the right – shock, excitement, astonishment, surprise all captured in one picture of me entertaining the bride and groom.
Saturdays are obviously the most popular days of the week for weddings however with lots of venues being booked up nearly two years in advance, it’s becoming more popular to get married on a different day of the week. Many hotels offer discounted rates during the week, and during July I provided wedding entertainment on a Wednesday, a Friday and also a Sunday. In the past I’ve also attended weddings on Mondays and Tuesdays. If you’re getting married and can’t book a Saturday at the venue of your dreams it’s always worth asking for the other days, as you’ll be surprised at the savings you’ll make!

Christmas Comes Early
July is not only a busy time for weddings, but also a very busy time for….Christmas Parties! Some may find it strange, but a lot of larger organisations start preparations for their Christmas parties. So my email system in July has been clogged with people already looking to book me for Christmas 2011. It’s encouraging news as with the current economic climate, a lot of entertainers have been suffering and to have such a strong interest is very promising!
If you are involved with the planning of Christmas event, then I’d love to hear from you. If I’m personally unavailable for your function, I can offer alternative entertainment from The Magic Circle aswell as recommend suppliers for room decor, outside catering, live musicians, and so on!

Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the goings on in my little world…..on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

RAF Magic
I’m lucky with this thing I call work – I get to attend some very cool parties. I headed up to RAF Cranwell again in June for the Magic Themed Summer Ball. RAF Cranwell is a location I’ve performed at a few times now, and the military are always a great audience. On this occasion I was performing with two other magicians aswell as a live band, a fun casino and a funfair. The whole venue was decorated with a magic theme, and the rabbit in a top hat that greeted the guests at the entrance was one of the most impressive balloon sculptures I’ve ever seen. I’ve added a few more photographs to my Facebook page, so be sure you take a look at some of the great reactions shots, and stunning room decor!

Regular TV Magic
It seems in 2011 that magic has finally been given a chance on television. We’ve already seen programmes such as The Magicians (BBC1), Penn and Teller : Fool Us (ITV), and Channel 4 even had it’s own ‘Magic Night’ back in January. Now we’re over halfway through the year and Penn and Teller have already returned for a series on Saturday night prime time, and a new show has been given rave reviews. English magician Dynamo now appears on Watch (Sky Channel 109, Virgin 124) in his show ‘Magician:Impossible,’ every Thursday at 9pm. He’s been performing some amazing illusions and in the first week Dynamo tried to cross the River Thames…on foot! Be sure you tune in, and tweet me your thoughts on the show – it’s always interesting to hear your thoughts!

A Summer Of Live Music
I’ve always been a fan of live music, no matter what genre. They’re not usually my cup of tea, but Take That are touring at the moment with their ‘Progress’ show, and I treated my mother and my sister to a day out (right). Nearly 40,000 fans packed into Villa Park, the rain held off and we watched a spectacular show. Dancers, gymnasts, waterfalls, confetti showers, balloons and a large caterpillar all made this one of the most theatrical shows I’ve ever seen. The stage set up was incredible, and included a 100ft tall robot which came to life and made its way to the centre of the stadium. There are hundreds of fan videos on YouTube, so check them out if you can’t get a ticket to one of the shows.
Have you seen any concerts or festivals this summer? I’m keen to find out who is the best touring act at the moment. After seeing Kings of Leon, Bon Jovi, and Take That so far this year, I’d have to say after 30 years Bon Jovi are still putting on a great live show. If the rumours are true however, I’d love to see Rolling Stones next year. Fingers crossed!

You can ‘deliver’ your tweets and messages to me using your favourite social media platform. And yes…I did download those funky social media trucks just so I could use that pun. : -)

Don’t forget to Contact  Me for any event enquiries you may have, large or small!

Q. How much do you charge?
A. There is no set fee, so it is best to Contact Christian direct to get a no obligation quote.

Q. We are having a large event with 1,000 people attending. Will you have time to entertain everyone?
A. It is common in the entertainments industry to consider 1 magician for every 100-150 guests. If you are having a large event, Christian can book extra magicians of a similar, excellent standard on your behalf to ensure everybody is entertained.

Q. How soon should we book?
A. If you have a date in mind, then the earlier the better. Popular dates (Christmas parties in December, Weddings in August, etc) are booked up 12 months in advance so it’s best to get in touch right away.
We understand that sometimes the thought of having a magician at your event might be a last minute consideration. You’ve planned, booked and paid for everything else at your event….but you saw Christian perform at a party last weekend and want him for yourself! Fear not, use the Contact  page, and check Christian’s availability. You never know – you might get lucky!

Q. We have some guests at our event that are hard of hearing. And some non-English speaking guests – how will you cope?!
A. The magic that Christian performs is visual and breaks all language barriers. You don’t need to speak English to understand that something has vanished into thin air. Some recent audiences have included foreign guests from France, Spain, Japan, Dubai, India and Argentina – all of whom do not speak English as their first language.

Q. Do you have insurance?
A. Christian has public liability insurance for up to £10 million, through First Act Insurance.

Q. Do you perform at children’s parties?
A. Unfortunately not. However if you are looking for a children’s party entertainer, Christian can recommend some of the best in the business!

Q. Can we see you perform before we book you?
A. Absolutely! Christian performs at a lot of private parties which are obviously invite only, but any public appearances will be posted both on Facebook., and also the home page. of this website.

Q. Can you predict the lottery numbers?
A. Let’s be honest here….if it was possible, Christian would be doing it every week rather than offering his services as a magician!

Equity – The Performers Union
Those of you who keep up to date with me on Facebook will know that during May I became a proud member of Equity, the union for performing artists all over the UK! Aswell as offering legal advise to performers regarding contracts, performing conditions and payments, Equity also gives me Public Liabilty Insurance for up to £10 million – which I hope I’ll never have to claim on! (I’m hoping it will offer my clients peace of mind though!). Equity also reserves my professional name so no one else can use it, so now my fans really can sing “There’s Only One Christian Fletcher.” Altogether now….

Footballers and Pop Stars
May is always a particularly busy month for Football clubs. As the 2010/2011 season came to a close, I provided match day entertainment at the home stadiums of Birmingham City and also Aston Villa. As a huge football fan, it was great to be part of the match day hospitality, and have the best seat in the house for two crucial games! On May 1st I entertained at Birmingham City’s derby match against Wolves, and on May 24th I was at Villa Park for the final game of the season between Aston Villa and Liverpool. During both matches I entertained top clients from companies including Nike, FxPro, Heineken, F&C Investments, Budweiser, and Barclays in the hospitality suites before the game and during half time.

Birmingham City FC’s Big City Event was held on May 16th, and this brought players, club staff, and fans and sponsors together to celebrate the success the club had achieved during the 2010/2011 season. Despite being relegated from the Premiership, the club won their first major honour by defeating Arsenal at Wembley 2-1 to win the Carling Cup. There was also success off the pitch with the Conference and Events enjoying a successful season. The Big City Event itself incorporating the End of Season Player Awards ceremony and live entertainment from local headliners Ocean Colour Scene and X Factor’s Treyc Cohen, aswell as table magic from myself! It was great to be a part of it, and you can see the Big City Event photos by clicking this link.

I had the pleasure of entertaining students at Newport University’s Summer Ball towards the end of May. What a night! I was part of the entertainment which included top acts Tinchy Stryder, Chase and Status, The Hoosiers, and Funeral for a Friend and Chase along with top ventriloquist Paul Zerdin (left). Add to that a fair ground, a silent disco, a jazz band, a fun casino, and some amazing food on offer and I think it’s fair to say the students were spoilt! It was an enjoyable performance and I was captured in some great photographs from designer and photographer Adam Palethorpe. After you’ve had a look at this website, head over to my Facebook page and you can see some of the photos taken by Adam, and some of the great reactions I caused!

Britain HAS Got Talent!
A massive congratulations to David Penn and his performing partner Karen Tomkins for their efforts on this years Britain’s Got Talent! Although they didn’t make it into the final, they were the first magic act to appear in the live semi finals, and the judges had nothing but high praise for them! It’s great to see magic finally be given a chance on prime time television and in David’s own words…Magic is Back!
I’d also like to say congratulations to Pip Langhorne who along with her dog Buddy, made it into the Britain’s Got Talent Final. After David and Karen said goodbye in the semi final, I sided with Pip who is from my local area! She did everyone from Bromsgrove proud, and will no doubt go on to have massive success.
I performed with Pip in May at a charity bingo night at Cadbury World, to raise money for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Military Department. The night was a great success, and with some great prizes on offer (including an all inclusive family holiday for 7 nights to Majorca!) we managed to raise over £2,000. Unfortunately because the function rooms were in close proximity to the food production area, Pip wasn’t allowed to bring her dog Buddy but we were still treated to her amazing vocals. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of Pip (and Buddy!) in the future!

Penn and Teller Return!
You may remember at the start of the year Las Vegas headliners Penn and Teller graced our screens with their show ‘Fool Us.’ Hosted by Jonathan Ross, the idea of the show was for Penn and Teller to be fooled by up and coming magicians. If any of the acts were successful, then they would get the chance to perform live in Las Vegas in Penn and Tellers show. A once in a lifetime opportunity! The one off show was a massive success, going down well with both magicians and muggles! Due to popular demand, the duo have returned for a whole new series! I took the journey down to London to watch 2 of the shows being filmed and while I can’t say if anyone was successful or not, I can say that the viewers are in for a real treat! Some of the best magicians not only from the UK, but from all around Europe were on the show, and it’ll be great to have magic back on prime time Saturday night TV. The new series starts on June 18th, at 8pm on ITV and ITV-HD.

Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the goings on in my little world…..on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

Summer Has Arrived!
This month I was invited to perform in the seaside town of Hunstanton. It’s a lovely place, and although it was a long drive to get there I can honestly say it was worth it. Not only was the sun shining brightly, but the audience was very receptive and my performance was well received.
Here in the UK we seem to talk about the weather so much. It affects all of us in one way or another, and even as a magician it can affect my performances! I, for one am glad that the clocks have gone forward and we are now officially into summertime. When the sun is shining, and the evenings are longer it appears as though everyone is just a little bit more chirpy. It makes my job so much easier to entertain people when the weather is nice. It’s like my job is half done already – the sun is shining, the audience is happy, we’re half way there! I’m not saying I hate winter…but when we get rain and drizzle, and someone has the ‘nasty cold thats going around,’ it takes a lot more to get people in the mood for a party.

Britain’s Got Talent 2011
April also saw the start of the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ 2011 series. I’m still not sure about how I feel about this programme. On one hand, I feel that it’s a truly remarkable show and especially in the early stages, it can be one of the most entertaining shows on television. On the other hand I worry about some genuine, talented people not being given their chance to shine…because the TV editors find the awful people funnier!
Magic as never really gone down too well on Britain’s Got Talent. Close Up Magic performed in the same style as what you’ve probably seen me do, cannot play to a theatre of 5,000 people. The cabaret style magicians that have been brave enough to have a go, have often been the victims of clever editing from producers. Terrible comments from the judges with your face on screen is never going to bode well for future work. You can have a world class act, but be made out to look like a complete fool if they think it will give better entertainment to the public. I hope this year we shall see some real talent make it through to the final as opposed to someone getting through just because the judges felt sorry for them!

Prince William and Kate Middleton
We finished off April with the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. What a fantastic day it was for the whole country! I enjoyed the bank holiday by watching the ceremony with a few friends and then having a barbecue. After the terrible recession we’ve had over the past few years, it was nice to see the whole country enjoying something – I think we’ve given up hope with our footballers!

May see’s the end of the football season, so I’ll be back next month to tell you all how I got on performing at Birmingham City FC’s end of season awards dinner, and I’ll also give you a sneak peak into the new series of Penn and Teller’s Fool Us!
Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the goings on in my little world…..on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

Don’t forget to Contact  Me for any event enquiries you may have, large or small!