Now that's entertainment

He had no plans to stay and certainly did not expect to become an entertainer.

Sam Bond and Simon Harwood spoke to the reluctant performer who has been bringing magic to the streets of Stroud...

LEE James says he can do David Blane's levitation trick but he can't show us today because he's got the wrong shoes on.

Like any good magician Lee refuses to let us in on his professional secrets.

"I tell my kids a little fairy dies every time you reveal a secret," he said.

"People who do it in the business get totally ostracised by the magic societies so it's only a short-lived thing anyway."

Lee claims most people don't really want to know the artistry behind the tricks - they like the mystery.

But does magic actually exist or is it all just smoke and mirrors.

"Is magic true?," says Lee with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, if you go to the right gig and see the right person, it's a magical experience. "I've always said the magic is what the performance creates.

"That said, I have seen stuff that I've no idea how it works and it really makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck."

Lee, 37, grew up in Melbourne and came to England in 1991.

"I don't feel homesick, I loved it while I was living there but the first opportunity I got I left.

"Sometimes people just see the good side of it - nice houses, lots of space, good weather.

"But the culture is quite different to here, it's very American."

Lee was drawn to Stroud when he heard about the innovative Co-housing Project that's been set up in Slad Road.

"We saw an article in the Guardian which directed us to a website," he said.

"There were all these things I was always banging on about to my wife Sarah and never realised they had a name - Co-housing."

"We came to Stroud to meet David Michael, the guy behind it.

"We met him once, we met him twice and the third time we met him we handed over £40,000.

"At the time the Co-housing was just an idea so it felt like a bit of a risk.

"But this whole idea of sharing resources really appeals to me.

"The fact that it's car free and means it's good for the kids and you can let them out the front door and they'll have the whole site to play in.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

Though you wouldn't guess it from watching his act, Lee reckons he is a reluctant performer.

"I'm not a natural, I stumbled into it," he says.

"I had friends who were doing it in London and they used to laugh at my wage packet at the end of the week compared with what they were earning in a couple of days."

"Six months before I started I would never have thought I would be a performer.

"When I tell my friends back home what I am doing now they don't believe it.

"Standing up in my home town in the High Street and getting into a balloon is not something I thought I would ever be able to do but you surprise yourself sometimes."

Lee first turned his hand to street entertainment when he and Sarah were living in London.

He was moving from job to job, turning his hand to everything from driving buses to being a bouncer.

He started doing his own balloon modelling act which went pretty well and started questioning more and more why he was doing the nine to five grind.

"One day I said to myself, if I earn more than the £40 I'm getting a day I'm going to quit my job and do this," he remembers.

"I think I made £44.

"My wife had a proper job with a proper wage so I could afford to get out there and muck about."

"Now I'm the main wage earner.

"I'm not going to get rich from it but I've got a working week of about two days and I get a wage like everyone else gets.

Alhough Lee started off busking with his balloon act it soon developed into more structured work.

"All these people kept coming up and asking if I did kids parties. and I would say no," he says.

"But eventually I thought, why not, I'll give it a go.

"The first ten I did I was awful and I thought if I'm going to do this I'd better get good at it." He decided to broaden his act beyond balloons and delved into the world of magic.

"I got talking to a few people and managed to join a couple of magic societies, read a few books and found out the way to do things properly and I've never looked back," he says.

His first audition to join a magic society was a nerve-wracking experience.

"You do a ten minute set in front of a bunch of these magicians who know it all," he says.

"Some of them have invented the tricks your performing and were doing them way back in World War II or something.

"You can't surprise them, they know exactly what you're up to and they're just looking for technique.

"It's a nightmare, really, really scary."

Despite his claims not to be a natural, Lee loves the thrill of performing.

"It's fantastic, it's such a kick," he says.

"The first time I got a buzz was at a children's party.

"I walked on stage and I was just flying and the audience reaction was just amazing."

As Lee's career developed he got off the streets and started doing corporate events.

"It's like being a jobbing musician.

"A different bed and breakfast every night, a different shopping centre and the same show.

"It's quite a lonely job as you're usually the only one there and you don't meet many other entertainers while you're working.

"But it's well paid and I still enjoy it."

Lee does meet up with fellow magicians when he gets the time, visiting magic clubs or going on weekend conventions.

"There's a whole other world out there," he says.

"You stay in a hotel with a bunch of other magicians for four days and just have a ball," he said.

"It's all closed and you've got to be a member of the society to buy tickets.

At the conventions top magicians do ten minute sets and then spend the second half explaining exactly how they did their tricks.

"For someone like me who's relatively new to it it's fascinating," he says.

While Lee specialises in stand up magic and close up tricks he has just developed a new act which he showed off in Stroud a couple of weeks back under the stage name of Airhead de Bruce.

"In a nutshell, I've got a voice-activated vacuum cleaner which inflates a six foot balloon which I slip into.

"As a finale I get the audience to count down from ten and having gone in in cycling shorts and nothing else I pop the balloon and come out dressed as Elvis in an explosion of confetti."

"My career's come full circle a little bit now that I've got my new street act and I'm really into it at the moment."

And the public seems hungry for magic which is currently enjoying a surge in popularity.

"Magic has seen a bit of a renaissance because of people like Darren Brown and David Blane," says Lee.

"It's not about your old Paul Daniels stuff any more.

"It's got a bit more streety and cool.

"When you do their tricks your riding on their coat tails."

But copying the tricks of the celebrity magicians is not as easy as might be expected.

"You can walk into a magic shop and say 'I want David Blane's card through the window trick' and they will sell it to you," says Lee.

"And the next time you see it you'll know how it works but that doesn't mean you'll be able to perform it.

"You need the basic skills and background knowledge and that can take years.

"Some tricks are completely sleight of hand, some are just psychology or observation, others are self-working and can't fail once you set them up and a lot of it is out-and-out deception.

"I'm into observational magic. You can really tell a lot by body language and the way people react to things.

"A lot of it is choosing the right person."

"And I enjoy is doing magic with a normal deck of cards, no gimmicks, no nothings, just your skill and presentation.

"90 per cent of the magic is in the presentation.

"It's like telling a joke with the trick as the punch-line.

"The trick itself might only last 10 seconds, how you build up to it is what makes you a good or bad magician."

So does Lee dream of being the next Darren Brown or David Blane?

"Not really," he says.

"I'm not an inventor and I didn't get into it to be famous.

"I got into it for a laugh and I'll be happy if I just make a living out of it."