Ian Saville - Short Biography

I was born in the East End of London, England, on 30 April 1953. My background is Jewish, and I went to Hackney Downs school (which, despite having such illustrious old boys as Harold Pinter, - winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature - Steven Berkoff and Michael Caine, has recently been closed down by the Government.)

I began conjuring at the age of 11. I went in for talent contests, reaching the semi-finals of the Butlins national talent contest (alongside pianist Bobby Crush and comedian Mike Reid). Then I became interested in "serious" theatre. I studied Drama at Exeter University, worked with the touring political theatre group Broadside, and in community theatre. Around 1979 I started developing a "socialist magic" act, using magic tricks and ventriloquism to present and celebrate a socialist view of the world. This act, in its several variations, has been performed in theatres, cabaret clubs, festivals, as well as conferences, demonstrations and on picket lines throughout Britain and abroad. Parts of it have also been performed on television - appearances include In Search of Happiness (with Angus Deayton), Jonathon Ross's The Last Resort, BBC's Cabaret at Jongleurs, Channel 4's The Happening and many others. Contents of the cabaret act change regularly, but standard tricks include "The Class Struggle Rope Trick" and "The vanish of the military-industrial complex".