Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Dynamo

Episode Date: January 5, 2018

Emily goes for a walk and a talk with magician Dynamo and his Newfoundland puppy Bunty - they chat about the challenges he faced growing up, the magical great-grandfather who kick started his career, the woman who keeps him grounded and they bump into a fellow celebrity dog walker on their travels! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm not a giant. I'll say that. I'm not a giant. Yeah, but that's interesting that you've got a giant dog. Yeah. What's that about? It's obviously a complex, isn't it? Hi, and welcome to Walking the Dog with Emily Dean.

This week, I went out for a wintry north London stroll with the magician Dynamo and his newfoundland Bunty. So Dynamo's obviously become famous for doing all those epic scale stunts, like walking across the Thames and levitating above skyscrapers. But his real superpower, I think, has been overcoming some real obstacles in his childhood just by working hard and being a really nice person. And weirdly, Bunty the puppy, I mean, he said puppy. She's more a bear. She's also had a tricky first few months of her life. And she's equally a bit of a sweetheart. The only

difference between them is that Dynamo doesn't start eating the furry bubble on your hat mid-conversation. He might make it disappear, though. So, FYI, avoid wearing hats around both of them. I'm going to get off and let you listen but I really recommend his book it's called Dynamo the Book of Secrets and he gives so much away about magic I'm practically a professional levitator now I loved it

please remember to rate review and subscribe I'm going to go there because that would be magic Dynamo's going to love it are we ready to go she's been ready she's ready she is Bonte's ready come on Bonte we're going to go for

can we say the walkies word Yeah, yeah. In the walkies. I feel like it will have magical powers if you say it. I'm going to introduce the podcast formally. Yes. I'm so excited I can barely speak. That's also because it's really cold. This is Emily Dean.

This is walking the dog. And I'm with Dynamo with his very lovely dog. Do you want to introduce her? She's called Bunty. And she's a new fountain. Believe it or not, she's actually still a puppy, even though she wears like 10 stone. She wears more than me.

When I was walking a few other day, there was a little girl walking past with her dad and she goes, Daddy, look, it's a gorilla. Well, she's one of the most beautiful dogs I've ever seen, Dynamo. She's gorgeous. She's 14 months old. Yes, she only just kind of actually started walking properly because she had an accident when she was

two months old. Yeah, what happened? She jumped out of a window. She's never seen a window before and she jumped after a window, I think chasing a pigeon and yeah, she broke both of her front legs. but thankfully I know the Super Vet who was able to literally work his magic and when you say SuperVet the SuperVet wasn't it not a Superbet which is amazing so I love that that happens in a celebrity world you can just say who am I gonna call

SuperVet you know I met him because he came to my show he brought a lot of his staff to watch my show at the O2 Arena when I was on tour and it literally exchanged numbers and you know I thought oh I don't know if I'll ever call him or you know if I feel like I should call super vet but then obviously the accident happened and you know thank God we had his number because he was the only person getting slippy it is it's a little bit icy if anyone can help me through this it's you if if you go I go with you maybe it would go on the glass bit there yeah there we go let's go here so yeah it's still icy from the

he's the only person probably even bunty's slipping bonte's sliding around and she's done it's very Bambi on eyes she's very she's looking very cute so these dogs I called her when I first saw her she was bounding yeah she's like the Peter Pan dog is that Nana it's the same yes the same same same type of dogs and are they traditionally I mean she seems so good-natured and really kind of super enthusiastic and are they quite nurturing dogs are they they're very lovely they they're great with kids they are they serve it they're the best dogs to have for young children they're very protective of of humans

well. Really? Yeah, they are natural swimmers which you might see in a lot of while because I think she's probably going to try to go in into the dog pond here. But yeah, in in Italy and where they're from in Newfoundland they actually train them to jump out of helicopters into the sea and rescue humans. Really? They can they can, if they've got like their life vest on they can serve, they can swim with like eight humans on the like holding on to them at the same time. She wants to go into the pond is that all right because it's a bit icy? I think it should be alright.

I mean, she probably won't go too far in. That's the sound of, you can probably hear the sound effect. That was Bonte splashing her way into the pond. You like it in the pond, don't you, Bonte? So SuperVet, who I'm a big fan of, I love his show. And in fact, I've got a dog, Raymond, who would fit into one of Bunti's paws, and we watch it together.

He actually watches it. He gets very excited by all the dogs on it. Does Raymond bark, whenever Bunti see his dogs on, on television. She barks at them. Well, Ray doesn't bark, he does the tobacco noise. Which he goes, oh, so he does that. It's true. Is that the mating call?

So you rushed her down to SuperVet and he did, she looks great now, I've got to say, he's done a brilliant job. Her two front legs have actually bionic limbs. He had to put all this like metal and these bionic and things and stuff like in there because her front legs just were not working. Really? Yeah, and she had eight operations in the last year.

must have been really worried for a time. Oh yeah, I mean it was very touch and go. There was certain times when, you know, whenever you put in, you know, any operation on animals, they can get infected really quite really easily. And if you get a certain types of infection, it can actually mean that you can't cure it. And there's a few times where, you know,

where literally it came, it almost came to that. But like I said, supervets, the only person in the world who could have fixed her. It's such a lovely story. And you had a dog before, didn't you? Yeah, I had a German shepherd called Bessie. Yeah. Who, sadly, she passed away just over a year ago now.

Just before we got Buntie, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, she had a good, you know, she had a good long life. She was 11 when she passed away. She passed away of pneumonia, unfortunately. Oh, you've got a stick! Bunti's got a stick! Yeah, so my German Shepherd, Bessie, she was amazing.

as well, loved her to pieces, you know. Oh. She came on tour with me. Did she? Yeah. She met Super Vet as well when he came backstage to see me at the show. She got to live the high life, Bessie did, because when I was on tour, we went over to Ireland and stuff like that in Australia and thing. And she came on private jets.

So, oh yeah, she had a lovely time. She was like, we could leave her backstage. She was the only dog ever to be allowed backstage at the O2 Arena. All right? And we could leave her backstage without, you know, without a leader or anything on. And she knew everyone who worked. worked for me. So if anyone who didn't work for me came in, she wouldn't let him in. She's security. Yeah, she was like security. She's, she's brilliant. She's cheap security.

You don't have to pay it. Yeah. So tell me about your dogs growing up then. So did you have dogs growing up? Yeah, I had a Jack Russell called Mitzi, very different from Bunty, like, never stopped yapping and was running around like, like, like, like, like, no one's child. She got given to her family member and we, uh, she was with my mum's ex-husband and And then in the divorce, he kind of got the dog. He got custody? Yeah, well, he actually gave her to the grandparents because they had Jack Russell as well.

To your grandparents. Yeah. Well, it was, yeah, kind of my grandparents, but not, it's my mum's, oh. Come on, where are you going? So yeah, they went to some other relatives. Yeah. See she was called.

So then for a while, I didn't have a dog. Because then I kind of, quite recently after that, I moved down to London. And then I was trying to obviously make it as a magician down here. Which way do you want to go, Bunty? Bonte, you lead the way and we'll follow. Should we go that way? Because that's ticking is out of the heat.

Oh, let's go this way then. Come on, Bonte. So tell me a bit about when you were growing up in Bradford. Your mom had you when she was pretty young, didn't she? Yeah, yeah. They showed me when she was young when she was just out of school and my father wasn't out. He was actually, they were together when I was born, but,

when I was old enough to actually know him, he went to jail. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he went to jail when I was like four years old. That must have been tapped on him, oh? Yeah, I mean, in a way, because I was so young, I wasn't necessarily used to having him around because I was, you know, I was a baby. So when you're like three years old, you're not really understanding the world like that.

But then as I got a bit older, you know, and going to school and that and realizing that, you know, most families have three, have mom and dad. Then it was strange, but then in those years, my mum, my dad had had different boyfriends and she remarried, was remod a couple of times in my time. I think that's when my grandpa became like my father figure. And was it your great-grandpa or your grandparents? It's my great-grandpa, but I still call her grandpa because my mum's mum lives in America.

That's it. Yeah, she's in my grandma. And my mum's dad lives in England, so they both remit before I was even born, I think. Got it. So then Mitzie went to live with my mum's dad. This is the Jack Rassel. Yeah. And then my Nana in America, they live in America.

Now, they've got a lot of dogs. Because I actually, when I decided to turn professional magician, I left college and I used some money that I'd saved up and went out from my 18th birthday, my grandma in America. She got me a plane ticket and she started out of visa so I could go stay there for eight months. And basically, they were going on tour. they've got a big RV. They've gone on tour with their 19 award-winning golden retrievers.

So I'd help them do the dog shows in the day time. I like how proud you are of them. There's a sense of family pride there. They're award-winning. Oh, they are. It's very important that that's set a name check. Cobblestone goldens, if you Google them, they come up. Where do you want to go? We haven't been that way, have we? Come on. Should you go this way? You won't go this way? Come on. Show me which way you go? So yeah, they had these golden retrievers, and I would basically, I'd help them do the dog shows in the daytime and then in the evening like we'd go to different places like New Orleans Las Vegas you know like all across America doing all these

different dog shows and all the places we went to like I would kind of get you know find the local magic club or find the find the any magicians that are in the area so then in evenings I get to spend time you know learning from kind of you know like really good magicians yeah and taking all these things I've learned I've been when I came back to England I'd kind of created like a business plan on how I could actually actually make a living for magic because in the UK at the time I didn't really know anyone that was doing magic for a living well it was interesting because magic I mean I'm not going to say na but it had that sort of thing when I was growing up I'm a generation slightly older than you but

it was you know it was a sort of dad's thing wasn't it with the waistcoat and the uh Saturday night early TV and then it became cool yeah yeah I mean for me if I'm honest I've always thought it's been cool because I appreciate the fine detail that goes into it you know maybe the magicians at the time were not necessarily the trendiest people in the world and they were probably you know they were of the old generation you know they were top out and tails guys you know and magic hadn't really kind of evolved with the times as fast as some of the industries yes so then I think what you know what you know young people weren't necessarily getting into it as much because your

motivation I suppose when you were younger and you've been really honest about this in the past. That was partly your motivation was you were bullied at school, weren't you? Yeah. A lot of people do get bullied and you know I think it's important that, you know, if it's happening to you, you should talk about it and, you know, speak to someone because it's one way to definitely kind of try and put an end to it. Like I was getting a lot of trouble at school, but also out of school as well because the area I grew up in Delphal Estate and the kind of surrounding areas were not necessarily the kind of easiest places to, to grow up in, you know, If you were a skinny lad like I was, you know, you're kind of an easy target.

So people, you know, at school they'd take my dinner money off me. So I'd go for days without dinners. You know, skinny enough as it is without having to not getting dinners. And they'd put me inside wheelie bins. There was two big massive hills at the school in the fields. And they'd jagged me to the top of the hill and push me down the hill in the wheelie bin and stuff like that. And just, you know, kind of stick my head, don't my head in the toilets. You know, the cliched stuff that you hear about happening from bullies.

put out, they put cigarettes out on me and stuff like that. So exactly the most pleasant thing. And what did you do? Did you tell anyone or were you living with your grandparents at this point? There's another dog there, isn't you? Yeah, yeah. I just don't want them to go run away from us. There we go.

I didn't really tell anybody about it. I was too scared, you know, because that's the thing. The bullies put the fear into you that they think that you're, you know, but you think that if you tell anybody, it's going to make it ten times worse. And to be honest, sometimes if you tell the wrong person, it can make it worse. Yeah. You know.

Well, you sort of absorb that shame, don't you? And it becomes just part of who you are. Yeah. You know, for that period when you're being bullied, it's like I'm a bad person. For me, it sounds weird. For me, it was normal life. I didn't know that this wasn't normal. I assumed everyone went through this type of stuff.

Right. You know, because I hadn't known anything else. Yeah. There's a doggy coming. That's a brave doggy going to take you one. on Banty? Yeah, so, you know, growing up at school, like I said, I got bullied a lot, but it just became kind of what I was used to.

And then I never really spoke about it to anybody. My grandpa once came to pick him up from school and he got there early and I didn't know this and he saw them put me in a wee-libbing and then from then on, you know, he said, you know what? He kind of approached me about it and he says, listen, that stuff's not, you know, you should tell us if that's happening to you. because you know we can tell the we can tell the teacher we can you know try and stop it but I was kind of still like you know I just don't say anything you know just leave it

and then he said well let me show you at least like some some techniques you know to stop it from happening and I'm there thinking yeah I'm gonna learn some karate I'm thinking like I'm gonna beat him up but the techniques he the techniques are like were like magic techniques which he I knew he did like here here's this matchbox you know like how's that gonna help me but then he showed me things like how to take away their strength so they couldn't push me around anyone And I just thought this is not going to work. What sort of thing how to take away their strength? Well, like, so obviously, like I said, they used to put me inside the wee-de-bin

and put me down the toilet bin, but if they can't pick me up, then they can't put me in the bin and in me off. So he's shown me this amazing technique to stop them from being able to lift me. Well, I think I've seen this technique, because didn't you do this on David Hay, the boxer? Yeah, yeah, and he's a big guy. Yeah, I'd say he's almost as big as Buntie. Yeah. So then I presume...

But I didn't think it would work, but I did try it, but, you know, when it happened, I tried it and it worked and I was like, wow. It was like, it was like literally life-changing. It's like a comic book story. Do you know what I mean? Like, that's how a superhero gets born, is there's a kindly sort of granddad who, it's an amazing story. You know, it's weird, like, because you bought it up, but, you know, when I do like a talk about kind of my life, generally, it does echo certain things like, like Peter Parker from Spider-Man. You know, like he had a bully at school, Flash Thompson. Yeah.

And, you know, and his father died in a plane crash, you know, when he was really young. You know, like my dad went away to obviously to jail. So it's kind of like, there's a lot of similarities, you know, aside from his love and red spandex. Yeah. But we do kind of share a lot in common. But, you know, but like he found his ability, you know. And I think magic was the thing that I thought. Well, magic found me.

I don't think I found it. I think it, you know. And then did that change? presumably at school what that does it makes you you have a slight force field around you presumably but then do you become a bit 11 in stranger things do you become like that's that's well well that's what happened because you know I was already I didn't have that many friends anyway because you know I was like I was a skinny kid from the council estate in a school where most people most

of the kids they had you know like weren't brought up in broken families you know they were a lot better off than myself, the majority of them, anyway, you know, obviously not everyone had the luxuries, and the guys who used, who kind of couldn't pick me up, rather than look like they got defeated by little old me, they spread rumours around the playground that I was a demon child. So, but my grandpa thought, you know, he said this is perfect because then he showed me other things to scare them away. But you've got very piercing blue eyes as well. So that's quite good for the demon brand. Yeah, well, it's stuff like, um, to fend off the bullies. For one second. So, like, you know...

Dynamo's pricing with the dog chain and he's showing me a trick and I'm not scared. Well, one of the things that they, you know, whenever they'd try and take my money off me, he says, well, show on this, you know, if they threatened to break your bones again, we'll then say, look. Oh, Dinamo just bent.

Don't feel no pain. Donnie has just bent his little finger back. At the same time that Bonte did a, went to the bathroom. So there you go. That's incredible. So stuff like that is... Obviously, you, I saw your reaction.

to that it was quite a look of terror on your face so that's you know that type of stuff is obviously going to scare them away i think there's going to be a little face off here i can see another big beautiful dog what's this dog come we've got two dogs coming up nearest dunny we're going to be two against one bunty you can take him but i just say you know dynamo has a slightly Liam gallagher approach to bring up his dog you can take him some come on listen if i'm going to get compared to liam gallagher i'll take that because he's a legend he is Make friends. Don't get too crazy. She loves other dogs, you know?

Really? Yeah, she's really friendly. She's fascinated by him. Hello. Hello. Hello. Oh, she's a little frightened, yeah. She's so sweet.

So, yeah, so. We've never been here before. I've been to this park. It's really lovely. We should say, I don't want to give away too much about where you live, but we're in North, we're in a North London park. Should we say that?

Yeah, we're in a North London park. Yeah. And it's really beautiful. And what I like about you, I know, I read that you'd said this somewhere, that you said, I keep it real, I come from the north and I've stayed north. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. People say to me, oh, you moved to London now.

I go, yeah, but I still live in North London, so I'm still in Northern. Yeah, you're still in a northern. Yeah, you've still got my accent. I've been living in London for like 16 years. I've still got my Northern accent. So I'm really fascinated by this idea of you sort of changing the narrative. if you like. Do you know what I mean? So you made a decision you were like right I can I'm a bit other I'm an outsider I'm kind of slight and I'm different to these kids

that obviously boosted your confidence didn't it? Definitely like you know first off it did like you say it did kind of alienate me a little bit because people were a bit scared of me because of what you know because of this stuff I was doing the magic I was doing but in a way I used that just to kind of get myself through the rest of my kind of last couple of school years without getting any hassle. Yeah. But then it did become quite lonely. I didn't have that many friends anyway.

And the area I grew up and you couldn't really go out and play and make friends because it was a bit too dangerous. But yeah, I didn't have that many friends and magic was protecting me but it was also alienating me quite a lot. But when I went to college

after I left school, on the first day, I'd never really, like I said, I'd never really perform magic. Did you get sort of GCSEs and stuff? And were you academic or did you just sort of? I was, you know, I got, I think I just, I passed enough to get the college course I wanted to do. Yeah. But barely, you know, like I think I got, I got like four Cs and then the rest were kind of like D's.

And, you know, they weren't, I wasn't like a student. You know, I think, I don't think I'd like say, I had the best time at school anyway. And, you know, I kind of probably spent more time trying to protect myself than focusing on my actual work I was supposed to do. So when I went to college, it was like a breath of fresh air. And on the first day, like I said, up to this point, I've never. perform magic for entertainment purposes. So when on the first day, you know, when everyone's like introducing themselves, because I went to school,

like it was a two hours away from the, sorry, college, it was two hours away from the school I went to. So yeah, and so no one really knew me, no one knew my back story, no one knew that I got bullied at school or anything there because no one from my school went to this college. So it was like a fresh start. You can reinvent yourself.

Yeah, and on the first day, you know, when we're kind of going around the table saying, hey, I'm Paul, I play football. I was like, hey, I'm Stephen, I do magic. Yeah. I was like, magic, you do magic? Yeah, and they were intrigued, so I showed them it. And they loved it.

And I was then the magic kid at school, you know, at college, you know, and I ended up getting, you know, bookings for the college parties. And I ended up dropping out of college because I got so much demand for magic work. But it became, you know, the thing that I wanted to do. And then you went to Las Vegas, as you were saying. That's like your gap here. You know how a lot of sort of, you know, it's a very middle class thing in North London. When I grew up around here, where everyone would say,

yeah I'm going to Israel or I'm going to Australia. The first time in my life I've ever been called anything like middle class. No but you did you did your version of that which is you went to Las Vegas to do magic. To do with dog shows. Which I love.

Yeah. Then I realised the power of magic it would allow me to build I had you know like I said I grew up in a family like a broken family but then through magic I was able to create a family of my own through you know like social media became

you know I joined Twitter really early and you know it was like my my friends on social media became like a magical family. So wherever I'd go in the world, I could say, hey, I'm in this place, do you want to see some magic? And people would come out and see it, do you know what I mean? So it meant that I never had to feel lonely anymore because there was, you know, magic had allowed me

to have, like, people come and see me anywhere on the planet. Well, do you think also something like that, it's a way of relating to people and socialising? How are these ones? They're beautiful out there. That's gorgeous. Oh, naughty. Wait, Cody, now.

Loose, this one starts trouble, that's why she's got the muzzle. Oh, I see. That's like me. They're beautiful, though. They're lovely dogs. She's just friendly, she loves all. Yeah. She's nice.

It's still a puppy, but yeah. It's going to get bigger. Thank you. Oh, they had quite a temper on them. A little bit. She's fearless though. I know. Well, she's so good-natured. But she's...

They're a bit of hand of the Baskerville. those ones. This way, this way. Would you just say you were an introvert dynamo when you were as a person rather than an extrovert? Yeah, massively an introvert and also like I was interested but I was quite shy. I had ambitions to not be introverted but I didn't have any real role models to show me

you know the way like so my grandpa I'd see my grandpa at the weekends but it wasn't like a four time father it wasn't you know and my mum was you know she was really young when she had me so she was busy doing in my earlier she was. was busy kind of doing her own university courses and stuff like that. Was she? Did she go back and train? Yeah. My grandparents were looking after me and, you know, so it was kind of like.

And did you ever have a period with your mum where you were kind of, have you always gotten well with her and do you understand about her being young? And I suppose that's something that happens with age, isn't it? That you think I get what you're in a difficult situation and I'm, you know. Yeah, I mean, you know, me and my mum's relationship's always been slightly strange, It's not in a bad way, just like, you know, in kind of like, we've become kind of more like friends as we've become older, but I, you know, but she's my woman, you know, and she's my mom, you know, I know, like,

in a one way, like, because she was young and kind of young-spirited, then she's, you know, she's allowed me to go out there, come, move to London on my own and seek a career in something but she wouldn't even understand, you know, like, as a parent, if you say to a parent, I'm going to become a professional magician, Like, Mock's my friend. Oh, Bonte.

What kind of dog is your dog? He's a cocker. A cocker. Oh, right. He's absolutely lovely. We just borrowed them. He's my friend's dogs. Oh, really?

Nice to meet you. Come on, this way. I'm like, come on, Bunty. When, you know, you started becoming a star, did you find with your old life, back in Bradford and I don't know what the situation is with your dad, with your dad and I won't pry if that's not something you want to talk about but did that feel suddenly like life had changed so dramatically for you hadn't it and did it change your

relationships with people because that can sometimes happen I think all my all my real friends from badford are still like my closest probably you know my best friend johnny farley is the one is the person i've known the longest out of anyone about you know from my school days and we're still best friends now you know obviously he's got kids of his own you know he's kind of he's up in Bradford still but you know he gets down when he can and I go see him when I can but in regards to I know it's there's a change more in other people than what I really I don't think I've particularly changed too much myself obviously I maybe you know maybe I'm a little bit slightly more culture because I've traveled a lot more and I've

been more fortunate to see things that not everyone gets to see but it's stuff like silly things like you know you go back to visit your relatives and then they'll bring you a cup of tea, but they'll bring you it in their best china with a saucer. You know, like they assume that they've got to kind of, you know, bring out of the best stuff for you. Yeah. Now, when I'm like, you know, you can just give me any old mug, I don't care, you know, it's a cup of tea, do I mean? Well, it's that... Well, it's that...

Well, it's that... Everywhere smelling of wet paint for the Queen. Do you have a sense of that happening a bit, like Dynamo's coming around? A little bit, but then, like I said, it's only when I go... If I go back to see family at Christmas and it was like a family party, there's inevitably going to be cousins and stuff that I don't see, I see maybe once every three years, you know what I mean? And they're the ones where it's a bit like,

they don't really know me. I don't even really consider them. They are my family, but obviously by, you know, by blood and all that stuff. But I've not grown up with them, do you know what I mean? I'm not, I don't really know. I probably couldn't even remember half of their names because, you know, they've all of a sudden decided to start coming to the Christmas parties, you know over the last few years you know in the chance that they might get to see you know

and they always turn up you know with like with stuff that they want signed and all that sort of which is cool but you think well that's like this is family they kind of shouldn't you know but that's interesting again because I think that's continuing the theme about you always standing out in a way do you know what I mean outside of everyone else and even what happens I think it's fascinating because I think with famous people, what happens is fame. You're kind of drawn to fame often because there's something not missing, but there's been some sort of, something's happened to you. Do you know what you mean?

Yeah. You know, you look at other super successful people like Eminem. Obviously he had a very rough childhood and you hear about it in his songs. If you can hear the pain, but he's had to go through. and he puts it, lays art there in his tracks. Or people, you know, like Amy Winehouse, you know, she was such a talent, but obviously I had so many, you know, issues that she was in as well, which is probably without those issues,

would she have been as interesting as she was? Would she have had the passion in her music? And would she have the soul in her voice if she hadn't have had those hardcomings? So I think, you know, definitely, you know, all these things that have happened to me in my life, all the negative things still, you know, I wouldn't change in for the war because they made me who I am today. And I'm interested in the fact that you're small as well.

I wouldn't say you were small. I would say you were a decent height because I'm petite. I'm the average male height. Yeah. I think you're a nice height because I'm petite. I think you're a nice height because I'm petite. I think we're nice petite people. But I always think if you're not massively tall.

I'm not a giant. I'm not a giant. Yeah, but that's interesting that you've got a giant dog. Yeah. What's that about? It's obviously a complex, isn't it? It's definitely a complex. right if I got you know I'm making up for for for you there out with these big giant dogs

I don't know I just think I just I like like I think for me these giant dogs they're interesting and they're like a dog's dog in it you know they're like they're impressive and you know yeah I just find them fascinating and then also I think it's slightly because when I became started to become famous and obviously Bessie around my German Shepherd you know she was like the perfect guard dog and you know I could actually the one of the good things about walking around with my dog especially a dog that's so big is that it's one time where I get a bit of not I guess I get a bit of like you know a bit of free time where people don't necessarily approach me as much

so like you know because I'm more than happy when I meet people to do photos and to you know maybe do a bit magic every now and then and you know I love kind of meeting the fans and people that have kind of put me in a position that I'm in but sometimes you know I just want a little peaceful walk on my own Of course, yeah. Having the big dog, people, you know, some people love dogs and they're not scared to go up to her at all. But often, like you're seeing, she gets more attention than me, so it helps to detract attention a little bit. That's interesting. I'm sure that goes on a bit as well.

I like her to get all of your attention. I interviewed Sarah Milliken, and I think she was saying she really likes taking her dog out because her dog gets more attention. Her dog's sort of the star on the dog. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Oh, Dynamo, we're on the ice again. So let's talk about your career.

You're walking on water. You're really good of walking on water. I've seen you. Well, talking of that, I mean, your career's been extraordinary, hasn't it, really? And you started out, you got this video together, really, yourself, didn't you? You got Prince's Trust Loan. Yeah, yeah. And then you kind of hustled your way into it, really, didn't you?

Yeah, even the Prince's Trust Loan was, I hustled that a little bit. Early on when I decided, you know, after I came up from America, and after I'd kind of, I'd spent a lot of time in hospital costs of my colonise disease as well. But once I kind of got through all that and had the operations and stuff like that, you know, I decided, all right, I'm going to try and actually really make a go of it. You know, I want to become a professional magician and just do his full time for a living. And I kind of put a business plan together. But it wasn't exactly the best business plan. It was like, you know, a few scraps of paper. Like a bag package and something, yeah, yeah. And I was trying to get funding, but no one would give me any money. You know, banks wouldn't even take a meeting with me.

You know, I was this little 18, 19-year-old kid from Delphil Estate, you know. I didn't exactly have any collateral or look like I was the most trustworthy kid in the world. I'm walking into their meetings saying, oh, you know, I'm going to walk a water, I'm going to fly, I'm going to do all this lot. They obviously look at me like, I'm an idiot. But then at the local youth club run by Emil, place called Mapper, I'd do magic all the time, and Emil introduced me. introduced me to a guy called Tony and it turned out Tony knew this guy Prince Charles

he'd probably heard of him and he uh well I've seen you you did a trick for him as well which I saw yeah I didn't yeah I've been fortunate enough to meet him on quite a few occasions now and is he sort of acknowledged that did you tell him what it was through a prince's trance yeah he knows yeah yeah he knows I think I was I was the first magician that they never even kind of funded they gave me two thousand pound to get a a laptop and a camcorder so I could start filming my ventures put on YouTube and then you sort of wheedled your way backstage and you met you know you sort of Chris Martin and people like that and Ian Brown as well and did you just black are you just quite a black

are you quite good at stuff like that yeah because why would they have let you backstage did you you just think you know what I think that's part of one of the good things to come out of growing up on Delphal estate was that everybody on the estate was a natural hustler you had to have your wits about you had to have that bit of a that black ability to do anything because like I said nobody ever really gave you a time a day you know and the stereotypes of where you're from it closed so many doors so we had to have a concert you know we had to be a create stories so that people wouldn't wouldn't look into where we're from you know we had to kind of kind of create an

illusion of grandeur to be allowed in certain places do you know I mean and because of that I think when it came to my magic having the blagging skills and the magic combined, it was a double whammy. You know, so it was actually quite easy for me because I was so used to kind of getting out of far trickier situations. So trying to meet a famous person backstage at an event was... Well, I suppose you sort of had nothing to lose as well. Yeah.

Because you just thought, well, I don't care. I don't really care with anything to me. Well, the thing is, we'd film it. Even if we got rejected, we'd film it because it was just, it was interesting footage. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, there's a, there's a, a, model I kind of live by, you know, it's better to try and fail than it is to fail to try.

Yeah. You know, I've got another good one for you. I like Samuel Beckett said, and I've got this poster on my wall, I've got a print of it, and it says, no matter, try again, fail again, fell better. And I like the idea of fail better. Yeah, well, you know the guy, the Colonel for KFC, you know, he went to, I think, 600 restaurants before they take it, before one of them decided to buy his recipe off of him. If it had stopped after first 10, we never have care of...

You know, we never have his empire. Yeah. Imagine not having KFC dynamo. I mean, I can't eat KFC, fortunately. So you have to be quite careful about what you eat, don't you? Yeah. Oh my God, there's a pack of dogs. This is going to be a doggy party.

And there's a little toddler on a trike. It's all happening. Hello. There's, we've got two dogs in front of this, haven't we? Yep. Hello. There's a bit of a standoff going on. Yeah.

Hello, you. You're brave. And Vanty's sort of in the middle of them. And they go in the water again. Do you know what it reminds me on? When Vanty approaches, it's a bit like Godzilla or something. Yeah. Everyone just parts.

But then she's so gentle nature. She's so gentle. This way. Bunting, and I go to water? What, Vanty? You're going to get water? So then it really started taking off for you after that, didn't it? Yeah.

Once I got that kind of the Prince's Trust loan and started to be able to go out and film my stuff and capture, you know, because up under this point, I'd try and sell the idea of what I wanted to do. You know, I'd try and convince people that, you know, we could make a good TV show out of this, but nobody got it.

But then, so I'm like, the only way to show people is to actually go out and do it myself on the budget and then show them the results. Yeah. Which is kind of what I did. And you know, I ended up compiling some of the best bits onto a DVD that I put together myself cost me less than a thousand pound.

And I literally remember we sold 8,000 copies in a month for Twitter before, you know, I think MySpace might have been around back then. But this wasn't when you had, like, you know, when you could tweet and everyone would see that you've got a new book out. Yeah. Which I do have, by the way. Yeah, which we will discuss in a minute. But, yeah, so.

I've read your book. Oh, thank you. Well, I need to talk to you about that because the thing about magic is that I should say we met, you and I met through the radio show that I do with Frank Skinner. And we met because it was a rather weird way of meeting because Frank had mentioned you on the show. and he'd said he'd been at an event and you hadn't done magic. Yeah, yeah. Well, he never asked, didn't it? No, and he said, well, I just don't get it.

You know, if you're a magician. He has to remember, but he is, like, the comedy legend, Frank Skinner, right? You know, and he's come up talking to me, and inside I'm like, yeah, I used to watch this guy on TV, and he's like, he's a proper legend. And I was just, you know, I was just appreciative of the fact that he knew who I was and, you know, and liked what I did. And, you know, I kind of, I don't like necessarily sticking magic in people's faces if they don't, you know, if they want to see it.

So I then ran into you with Frank Skinner at an event, another event, and sounds like we just spend our life. Oh, she come on. She just likes to stay in bad at a lot. Oh, do you like it there? We can stay there if you like it. She looked, that's her, that's a, that's a fancy special place. Yeah.

You did a trick for us, which was brilliant. And what I was about to say is... This was at the end. Yeah, at the opening of the Ned. And I, I get really panicky. I have the same reaction when someone does magic that I have when someone does... tells a joke because I feel pressure is on me. Yeah, yeah.

And I think, am I going to fail? Am I going to ruin this for them? You are the only person I have never felt that with because I felt this guy knows what he's doing. It's fine. It's all going to be all right. Because even if I get it wrong and I read out the wrong card or something, he's such a pro.

I don't know, you just made me feel okay about it. That's a good comfort, thank you. And you've got this book out called... The Book of Secrets. Book of Secrets, which I read. It's a beginner's guide. And I really enjoyed it because I'm quite surprised, though, by how much you give away. And it was brilliant because I thought, I mean, there was definitely things in there.

But at the time, I was thinking, is this too much to give away? Yeah. But then I'm thinking, you know what? Like, I want to give a potential newbie to magic, but enough inspiration that they might want to make, you know, might want to read more magic books, to get into magic themselves, you know, and pursue it as an actual hobby. Whereas, you know, I didn't want them to just read it, not learn anything and put it down.

So I wanted to kind of arm them with the tools to actually be able to impress their friends at school or impress their friends at work. Also, I wanted to make sure I covered kind of all range levels, skill levels, because, you know, even if you were into magic for a few years, I wanted stuff to be in there that you might not have known about. You know, so even professional, there's some stuff in there, but I still do in my professional repertoire. You know, there's some stuff in there that we'll fool other magicians. Well, no, it's not going to fool us. I know what you're doing now.

I've read the book. But I was going to say there was something you said in the book, which I really like, which is you're referred to your, is it, Ruby, your niece? Yes. Have I got that right? Yeah, Ruby there, yeah. And you were saying that it got her off the iPad, which I thought was brilliant, because that is something.

Bancy, oh, look. She's right in the centre of all these people. It's so cute. You know, like, had you had an iPad, would you have done all those tricks? Would you have got into, would you have learnt magic? Would it have been an escape route for you? No pun intended?

Or would you have just been on the iPad sort of Googling how to deal with colleagues? Definitely because I'm an introvert, I probably would have been, you know, it could have quite easily just been one of those guys who sits on his computer and doesn't talk to people. You know, I probably could have learned,

like, you know, I could have been maybe a top coder or make computer games or do something, you know, make like build websites and something like that because I you know I love I love like the all the things it's magical all the things you can do with a computer in this day and age but I think magic was the thing that gave me the social skills they came in the confidence to be sociable because that's what I was lacking and that's what I think is really important about the book is in this day and age like

I say so many kids they'll be sat at a table with their friends but they're all on their phones they're not looking at their friends they're not being sociable face to face so you know I think where magic it kind of, once you read about it and you learn a little bit about it, you get excited to want to show people. So then you have to put the phones down and go and actually interact with people one to one.

And then the more you do it, when you know, when you know you've got something amazing to show someone, the more you do it, the more confident you get with it, and the more you want to show more people. And then eventually, you know, you realise that you're learning how to interact and I think in this day and age,

in a way, although we've become more connected in the world generally, we've kind of lost that social, kind of the social skills. abilities. Do you think kids see you like when you meet parents and when you run into people do you think they they slightly idolize you in a way kids? Some kids do definitely know it was really interesting at the book tour to have young kids coming up to me and wanting to show me magic which is first off I'm thinking these

kids are brave because it's like if I saw someone I was a massive fan of like you know Wayne Rooney he's your friend isn't he but like if I saw if I met M&M and M right you know like even if I knew how to rap there's no way I would even try and spit a rap to the rap god himself m and m you know I won't have the confidence to do that and I'm quite a confident person now I didn't used to be like I am now because of magic so like you know to see these like you know know six year old kids you know eight year olds 12 year old you know come up to me and having the confidence to show me magic it's a testament to the magic itself and you know

and I think it just shows that everybody does lead a little bit of magic in their lives oh I love that you seem really sort of measured quite calm every time I've met you, which isn't that many times, but it's at mutual friends parties and you're very sort of calm and together. I can't imagine you losing your shit over anything. Do you have a temper? Do you ever get, what annoys you?

What annoys me? I don't get annoyed by that much stuff really. I guess the only thing, if I... This isn't even that bad, right? But when I'm at the cinema, yeah? Like, I hate when people are on their phones. Does that bother you?

Would you say something? I don't really say anything because I don't think it's always, I don't think it's my place to say. You know, I don't think people should be really, I don't like the idea of people being told what to do. Yeah. You know, like obviously you have to, you know, teach us have to discipline the children

and have to teach them to do the right, do the difference between right and wrong. But I don't think that I should tell another human being that they can't do this and they can't do that. Because if people, because I grew up with everyone saying to me, you can't make a living do magic. put the cards away Stephen, you can't do that.

That's not how you, you know, stop messing out with those stupid jokes, you know. You know, if I'd listen to them. When you ring up though, but you've just said, Stephen, that interests me. So when you ring up, you go, hello, yeah, is that the electricity board? Yeah, this is Dynamo speaking. Can I speak? Do you say that when you ring up service providers and if your internet's down? Do you say, yeah, your name, yeah, it's dynamo?

I mean, I'll be honest. Sometimes if I call and I'm just kind of not getting anywhere I sometimes do drop the D-bomb and let them know I'm like I can't it or I'll say Oh well is it possible you could get somebody

You know from like the management department To give me an email Yeah my email is Dynamo Beep beep beep beep beat beat You know So I give them my actual Like one second And they say what

Dynamo like the magician I'm like yeah It goes Because you got And most of the time You usually they say, you know what, I thought I recognised your accent. Because often, you know, they do tend to realise it's me after a while.

But you're in a very select group, along with Madonna and Rihanna and you're a one name only person. Yeah. Do you have it on your credit cards? On my business card, yeah. Not on my, obviously on my person. So Stephen. What about your passport? No, not done it.

No, only on the visas. Like on some of the visas it says, obviously the cost. company stuff so it's uh it's definitely just come in handy at times but I'm kind of like on the other side of things that little boy's very excited but he's trying to be cool he went oh my god but you know it's not every day he sees the co-host of the Franks show exactly yeah but like you know I guess for me there's another side the flip side of it is that I don't really care I never really got into this to be famous I really I I'm I'm I care that people care about the magic because that's my art, that's what I work so hard towards

and I'm very lucky that people seem to like it. But I don't really give a shit about fame. Do you know? Like, you know, I'm very lucky that it gives me some really, I get to do really cool things and I get to meet amazing people. But for me, it's always just being about being able to do magic and for the rest of my life and make my living, doing the thing I love the most. But when I'm not working, I like spending time with my dog, spend time with my wife, you know, Well, I know you and you're quite private, which I really respect with your wife, but I just wanted to say I did meet her and I really liked her. I thought she was such a laugh. If I go out of her, she gets all the attention because she's beautiful.

She's stunning looking, I should say. And she's got such an amazing personality, you know, like she. She's very friendly and warm, isn't she? Yeah, yeah. Like if all the good traits of Buntie, you see how friendly Buntie is, right? She takes after my wife. And can you tell me how you met her? That wasn't me saying my wife. if there's anything like a dog because I just realized how that could have sounded. So there's my disclaimer there. But no, Bunty's very well-natured because my wife looks after one. They share a similar good nature. And you guys met at V-Festival.

Is that right? Yeah, we met at V-Festable. We've been married five and a half years now. Do you believe it? Wow. We met like, I'd say, seven years ago. And yeah, we fell in love. And how long after you met did you propose?

Bessie was actually, her dog from, she had Bessie from, a pup. So when I met I had obviously her for the last half of her life. I knew she was a dog lover, that's why I liked her. So how long after you were dating did you propose? Quite soon, actually. I'd say, I'd say like eight months in. Like when you know, you know, don't you? Well, you say that, but I think a lot of young men, handsome man, successful, you know, everything's happening. A lot of men in your position would have thought, Oh, you know what? I'm going to go on the road, have a bit of fun for the next five, ten years, and then marry a 22-year-old when I'm 60. You just don't strike me as that kind of a guy at all.

I kind of got it out of my system, I guess, when I was younger. And also, like I say, when you find... Someone never got out of the system. You know, when you find the one, I think that you just know. And it's also, there's things you get, you know, even in a relationship, it's different from, you know, dating and so that, you know what I mean? you like I've been with her for like five and a half years now I'm married married five and a half years how you doing mate you're right Merry Christmas come on Merry Christmas hello how you doing This is your friend in it Bunty

It's all right she's skipping around a bit more is they Yeah she's doing good at all operations Yeah she does good yeah so That's a lovely dog I'm Emily by the way You should do you should do a podcast you should do a podcast with John I'd love to yeah yeah yeah he cares about me Yeah you've got you've got some stories

Nice to see you mate See, man. Really nice to meet you. Have a great Christmas. Bye bye. Yeah, yeah. We need to say quickly, that was very exciting. That was John Moss from Culture Club.

It was very exciting because I recognised him immediately because it's very much my generation. I've known him ever since I've lived in this area. Because he's a local, isn't he? Yeah. Nice guy. Sorry, you were saying about your wife? You know, I think, you know, like you were saying about obviously, you know, like a lot of people in opposition would have probably just run wild.

But I guess, you know, like my, uh, you met my wife, so you know what she's like. And, you know, for me, like she had everything I'd ever dreamt in, in a woman. And, you know, and even to this. In what way? Just personality, looks, just her nature, you know, where she's, and also she's kind of a very interesting, you know, mix. She's kind of mixed race like I am. Because your dad's from Pakistan, is that right? Yeah, yeah.

And her family were originally from out of Mongolia. Her father's side and her mum's side was Irish. She was from Westport in Mayo. So she's really kind of a really interesting mix. And also like, you know, she's got quite a big family, which I never had. And also their family used to foster kids and take kids who needed to be home and stuff like that.

So they always had really busy homes. And whenever I get, you know, when I spend time with their family, it's just amazing. amazing. But I think it's interesting for you because I know you say well when you know you know and all that But then I as I'm sure you do encounter a lot of people in this world and I think sometimes people don't know What's good for them in the sense that I think you're quite smart and I think you've worked out that that's what you really need someone on this journey with you I'm going you know I'm doing my tours and making my TV shows and it's you know It's often hard for someone not in the industry to understand well you don't you have to be in the industry to understand

to understand how much work goes into what we do. You know, there's times where you're on the road for six months, you know, you're not even getting to go home. And do you miss these guys? Oh, I miss them, like, mad. But then they are still understanding, you know, they... And it just works. I think that's part of why they're still that spark, you know,

because... Yes, that's true. Nothing is ever stale and static, you know. You know, I'm away, I'm home enough to have, you know, have the home life I need, but I'm also away enough to miss them. Yeah. You know, and vice versa. And then I get to go to amazing places, so then, you know, I get to fly out to come and see me and, you know, and we get to do really amazing things. You know, for me, you know, I grew up without having a father around and not really having a mum around so much. So I'm quite comfortable being on my own. Yeah. You know, when I'm creating new ideas, I like to lock myself away and kind of create, you know, work on new stuff. And you don't, you know, you don't strike me as a little.

kind of neurotic person do you know what you mean I've definitely got my demons you know have you what are they I don't know I guess I think for me you know having having my wife there is definitely like she is my security you know I feel she's my soulmate and you know if she wasn't there I'm sure there's be times when I'd be like driving myself insane going a bit stir crazy you know because like she understands me better than anybody because she's had the opposite lifestyle growing up that I've had I think that you know she balances me out I see that

you know I obviously I know but not not growing up with my father around my mum around there's definitely going to be parent issues there for me you know there's definitely going to be like is there sort of abandonment issues yeah definitely but because I've got a family of my own now you know we haven't got a kid yet but we've got bunty you know got a puppy you know so I feel like

so do you think if you have because I have abandonment issues for sort of different but similar reasons. And I think I've always done the opposite, which is seek out partners who are going to leave me because I feel comfortable with that. And so what I'm saying is you've instinctively done the right thing, which is find someone who's not going to do that. And I bet what she makes you feel is,

it's okay, I'm not going anywhere. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, and she just allows me to be me, do I mean? Like, she loves me for me. She, you know, when I left Bradford and came to London, you know, and started doing... Buntie's making a friend. Oh, I know, they all want this hat.

I was going to say, like, the thing with my wife is that she's the first person I think I've ever met in my life where I feel totally comfortable, just being myself. And for many years, going, you know, full school life, I had to pretend to be something I wasn't, trying to make us become successful, I had to pretend I wasn't from Delphal Estate,

I wasn't from, you know, I wasn't from, you know, I mean, I've had to constantly kind of, of creating illusion of what my life is about whereas my wife you know she was the first person ever felt confident just to totally just be myself and be comfortable my own skin can you cry in front of her yeah of her yeah do you cry if you know if there's a reason to cry when is your last cry the last time I cried was actually when Bessie died yeah when Bessie died that was that was horrible but We cried together then, obviously, you know, it was bad.

Do you feel when you're doing these stunts like, you know, I sometimes, I get nervous looking at you when you're doing the levitating in front of Christ, the Redeemer statue or you're at the top of the shard, which I saw alive, because I was in an office book. Oh, you watch it? And I thought, what's going on there? And then I did, I thought, oh, it's dynamo up to his old tricks again. Oh, look at that little doggy.

But do you get nervous? I mean, I would be vomiting the day before something like that. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get nervous. Obviously, you know, it's going to be a sense of anticipation. I think you get nervous before I walk out on any stage. But I think there's a difference between good nervousness, like, you know, there's that anticipation, then nervousness thinking, oh my God, I'm going to die.

You know, like, I've got past that stage a little bit. I've got, I just have to trust myself and, you know, believe, you know, after doing a few of the bigger stunts, I started to think, all right, you know, I'm pretty good at this now. You know, I take it, I dedicate myself to mastering things, properly you know and I do all the correct safety precautions you know and I kind of you know do all the training that goes into it you know I'm not just an amateur going

out there and just doing doing jackass type stuff you know I'm just going 180th floor please mate's the top like you know I have to kind of you know take it deadly serious I've got I've got a wife I've got a dog at home you know you know I've got to make sure that I'm coming home to them at night my wife never watches my big stunts she's always she she she my wife and my manager and my friends I think they get more nervous than I do really I can't look at look at them, you know, so they watch them back on, you know, on the TV or when I've done it. Well, you seem like you have good people around you, and I think that's important as well, isn't it?

Is that I see you have that sort of showbiz aura around you, and I've seen it. I've been with you at events where it's sort of like when a boxer walks into a room. I know that sounds a weird comparison, but it's like a sports one or something. It's like people get very excited, and it's not like you're in EastEnders and people are going, oh, there he is. But it's like when people do recognise you, the level of excitement is huge. Yeah, yeah. Because as you say, it's magic. It's something special you're bringing to people's lives, you know, that's utterly unique.

Yeah. Like, yeah, it's unique. It's something that, you know, if I walk in a room, there's an opportunity, there's possibility that I might do something that's completely impossible that's never been seen before. And so how do you see, ah, Dynamo, I'm so going to fall. You need to help me, Dynamo. Only you can help me, Dynamo. I mean, the great thing about being a magician is that... Bunting, come on.

You know you've got a pension and it's in Las Vegas. Yeah, if I... That is literally the equivalent of the retirement home for the magician, isn't it? Yeah, but, you know, I kind of... Can you see yourself with a couple of tigers? No tigers, but, you know, loads of dogs. Loads of bunty's. But would you do that?

Would I do a Las Vegas residency? I think like if the opportunity came up and I thought, you know, I like the idea of doing it for maybe six months. I don't want to do it for like eight years. I don't have to make that commitment. You know, if a small residency came up where I could go, you know, go in and out and just, you know, do a run run.

Because I love the fact that I get to travel around so much, you know. Yeah. You know, I'm a, like I didn't, I taught to Australia. Yeah, which is great. You know, I'm getting, I'm taking it to some other places. You know, whereas if I'm, with Las Vegas, a lot of those acts get stuck there. Well, that's the thing you can end up just living there, you know.

And as I said, it becomes, they pay so well, don't they? That's the other thing. Yeah. And the thing is, it's like, I think, you know, you've got to balance out between the, obviously the magic and the passion of the art has to come first before the money. Yeah. You know, it has to be right for the brand because essentially, you know, I'm representing all of magic. You know, like magic for me is, like I say, I don't want.

I don't want it ever to that point again where people can kind of go in full circle, where people can ever describe magic as being math. You know, when I first got into it, a lot of people's perception of magic was that it was NAF, so for me it's about, you know, showing people that magic can stand alongside other art forms like drama, like singing, like dancing, you know, like acting, like, presenting, you know, because essentially as a magician, you do use all of those disciplines, you use choreography in the work, you use, you know, you use voice skills that you'd learn in drama school. You know, I obviously didn't go to drama school, so I've kind of just learnt them through trial and error and just through performing a lot.

And, you know, it would be kind of good to see magic kind of in years to come to see more magicians out there and to see magic being trekked with the same respect that the other industries get. And, you know, hopefully I'm hoping to pave that way. I mean, I did, like I said, I did the tour and, I was the first musician in history to headline the O2 arena. Which is amazing, isn't it? It's a huge space. Just by doing that, I'm hosting a show, doing shows in the same venue that you get the likes of, like, say, Madonna, Jay Z, Colfay, Colfair, Kanye West, you know, they performing these arenas. So when you're performing, you know, Peter Cair and when they, when you're performing,

there's putting magic on that same level, that's what I'm all about. And do you, when you're going out to do you, when you're going out to do you, do a gig like that though you're converting those nerves presumably i see i've just i will just imagine you being backstage like i say being sick but you don't do that no no like i are you quite calm or do you get do you have like a rider and do you have a ritual and are you like right i have to get there early i listen to music loud i i go sometimes i've got a big enough car park i go for like do some donuts in my car like i like drifting like i like i love driving stuff and you know he'll do some donuts

Yeah, but when I'm on tour, I'm usually not allowed to do any of my fancy driving, because I used have to wait, literally the day after I finished my Australia tour, I went straight to a drifting track and did some drifting sessions. Really? Yeah. Yeah. And is that how you unwind? Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I love, I've always loved watching car chase sequences and they always thought they're cool to be at a drive like that. And I spent, you know, as I've become successful, I've had enough money to be able to get, get taught.

And I met people like the Stig, you know. Oh, did you meet the Stig? Well, you're in a quite a minority. And I've kind of, you know, I'm like... I think even his wife doesn't know what he looks like. I think he wears their helmet in bed. I met, you know, I met obviously become friends with people like Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson. You know, and these car guys who've kind of, you know, through the networks

have introduced me to the right people to teach me how to do that stunt driving. So I've just been slowly learning bits of it. You know, maybe in future they might come up for James Bond sequence, you know. I can see you having a cameo in a Bond film. That would be cool. Dynamo, that would be great. I mean, I look all right in a suit, maybe, you know. I think you could be, I think that's the way for.

I think. I've got all the gadgets and the skills and, you know, like. You've got the piercing blue eyes. It's going to happen. I can see it happening now. Would you do, do you like the idea of acting? If the right opportunity came up, I would definitely take a look at it. I'd want to spend, you know, quite a bit of time getting it right.

You know, I wouldn't want to just jump into a film and, because I'm not an actor. You know, I haven't had the professional. training and I want to make sure that the art form gets treading the right way. You know, I want to make sure that I can do acting justice. You know what I mean? So I wouldn't want to play like a cliche magician. You know, I don't want to play myself. I'd want to actually act.

It's like the thing I was saying though. I'm not afraid to, I'm not afraid of failure. Because, you know, every failure for me is you learn something from it. And if you do something and you get it right all the time, then you only learn what it's like. to get something like all the time. You don't learn how to modify things, how to tweak things and change them,

how to like get out of situations. You know, like often there'll be times on performing, because I'm improvising a lot, where in my head, the effect is not going to turn out how I wanted it to, but the audience doesn't know what's coming. So because of my experience, I'm able to kind of turn the magic into a different effect. So it's still amazing to the audience,

even if it wasn't what I initially intended. And it's a bit like a comedian, you know, the good ones know how to take a heckle from the audience and turn it into a positive moment in their show. Yes, yeah. You can always convert it because you've got enough stuff in your back catalogue stored on your hard drive. If you've done sign up comedy and you've never been heckled before, then you don't know how to deal with a heckler. So it's not until... But you get heckled though, don't you sometimes?

Occasionally. I read that and I'm a shot. What would you say to it? What do they say to you? Let's say someone's on stage and they've picked a certain card and then someone's in the audience say, yeah, but what if it was the Queen of Heart? But then I'm like, there's a queen of hearts. You know, like it's not necessarily heckles, it's more challenges, magical challenges.

Like, you know, like if I put someone's phone in a bottle, they're like, oh, well, can you put my watch in a bottle? I'm like, alright, there you go. Yeah, yeah. That's, but that's kind of come from, kind of perform magic and working men's clubs, you know, like in the environments, you know, you're dealing with the toughest crowd. They're quite junk and they, you know, they're not afraid to tell you if it's rubbish or if it's good or, you know, so, So I think, you know, that's why if you look at a lot of, I guess, like Frank Skinner, for example, you know, he probably did the rounds, you know, performing in some of the worst places ever to the, to get to the point where he's now. And because he's done all that, he became one of the greatest comedians in this country. So, you know, it's...

Well, I just, I don't even know what to say at this point. Frank is going to be so happy that you said that. He's a comedy genius. I mean, I think also you're right, though, but I notice, and it's something, when I did this podcast, I mean, I'm fascinated because there does seem. to be this running theme throughout which is just that sense of you know just that determination and just like you say that turning failure into a positive all the time because you have to sort of fail before you can become successful don't you there are no shortcuts and i find that interesting as well because i do think with this generation the sort of younger generation i think i just i think sometimes

shortcuts you know i look at certain tv shows and i just think it's this idea that i want to be a star right i want to be one now and it's like no it's it's hard there's hard work involved like there's a technical side to magic you had to learn it's like standing on the stage you know people sometimes think that it was a bit of an overnight success but yeah but i mean like 17 years is a long night you know i've been working at it now i'd say for a good you know i'm 34 now so i guess when i was like 70s when i really started to wanting to make it a profession you know it's kind of like it's a long time well that's what i mean and i think if young people look at you and realize that's why i think it's and they realized, no, there was work involved in that.

Well, I think we have to end the podcast now. I've really enjoyed it. It's been awesome. I've loved talking to you. And Bunty's had such a good time. She's met loads of amazing doggy friends. She's been for swim in the ice. She even tried to walk on the ice, you know,

she's trying to walk on a water like her dad. You know, she's a good old time, aren't you, Bunty? I loved meeting Bunty, and I've loved meeting you, Dynamo, and I think you're a really interesting, inspirational person. Thank you very much. And I really loved your book, and I really did enjoy it. Are you going to do magic to your friends at Christmas? I'm just saying I might be showing Frank Skinner a few tricks

That's all I'm going to say I might be doing that I might bring you for some tips but you know No it's really good and everyone should buy it and we should say it's called The Book of Secrets Well it's a great book and everyone should get it It actually what I think is it in the Times best sellers list It should be

Well we'll be now Well I'm going to give you a hug because I've really enjoyed today Thank you so much Bonte Are you going to get How long was it going to take you to clean her down? I've got a little hose. I can hose her down and then, like I said,

she can go and lie on the underfloor heating and cool off trial. This is the reality of Dynamo's life in the alley with the hose. It's not all glamorous. It's not all hanging out with Wayne Rooney and Chris Martin. I really hope you enjoyed listening to that. Can you remember to rate review and subscribe

because I love reading your feedback and without all of you listening, there would be no show. Well, they would, but it would be a bit pointless. What I'm saying is I need you, but not on a scary call the police way, yet. Is this too weird?