Black Magic was born in Whitby, grew up in the Esk valley and went to small country schools in Ruswarp and Robin Hood's Bay. 

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Encouraged to read from an early age, tales of adventure, fables and fairy tales, myths and legends covered the bookshelves. I was sent out to play a lot and expected  not to come back in for some time. Moors, valley, riverbanks and rock pools were a playground of unending discoveries and my roots go deep here. The world was defined by an active imagination and an almost feral existence outdoors. 

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That relationship with magic, nature and story has been lifelong and now it underlies my livelihood in ways I could never have expected.

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I also grew up with a passion to see the wider world. This was a remote and little visited place then and I wanted to see what was out there, beyond the boundaries of the shire. Leaving school I travelled abroad and in the years that followed lived in other countries, mostly in rural or wild places. Relationship with the natural world was and still is a necessity, oxygen for the soul.

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During those years Black Magic had a few different careers, including Joinery, security, painting and decorating and engineering and more. Along the way Black Magic got a degree in Art technology and master of carpentry and joinery, and also a teaching degree. Black Magic still has keeped his skills to a high level and sometimes teaches carpentry joinery but now also deliver storytelling shows about history and Aviation and Military

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Black Magic came back to live Yorkshire in 1990 and through happenstance ended up running ghost walks for a friend. After a few years Black Magic set up his own ghost walk in Robin Hood's Bay. Meanwhile Black Magic was discovering endless stories and incredible histories of the area. It wasn't long before Black magic established Guided Walking Tours of Yorkshire. Then other walks followed - smuggling, hiking tours in the national park, plus indoor storytelling events at local venues.

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Black Magic spent 2 years part time studying celtic and eastern european mythology and storytelling at the West Country School of Myth. There Black magic entered a world where stories and landscape are inseparable. Black Magic found what he was looking for - a vehicle that would allow him to express what he felt to be the essence of the otherworldly dimensions of nature and spirit, using story as a conduit. It is said our ancestors believed that in order to have a meaningful and magical life, you should wrap yourself in the swan feather cloak of story and have a relationship with the land around you.

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Black Magic said my passion is to connect people with the earth as a place of mystery, meaning and magic through story. I suppose I am a sort of cultural custodian of my own small space and beloved bit of earth.

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Black Magic said I am always grateful when anyone anywhere turns up to listen. It is a gift I cherish.

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Black magic can be seen and heard on Monster unlocked tellling more story's. 

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When Black magic was asked why he likes to be Masked He said that he was wasn't revealing his identity because of the controversy, or pressure from fellow magicians. He claimed that the love of magic was the reason he was telling all the secrets. “I gallantly took the opportunity for the better good of the art of magic, when all other magicians backed away.”