#The magic circle show series#
This led to him becoming, from 1979, chief consultant to Daniels on his BBC magic show, and he remained with the series throughout its 15-year run.
#The magic circle show tv#
In 1970, when Nixon began a new show on Thames TV called David Nixon's Magic Box, Ali wrote to him with some suggestions for illusions and was hired to work on the programme. His character was based on "the silent comedians of the past, with moves and feelings from Oliver Hardy and some of the others, but the Arabian Nights get-up came from the 1934 film Chu Chin Chow". Originally his character spoke, but "someone suggested I do it silently so I could work anywhere, and that was the luckiest thing in my whole life," he recalled, since it enabled him to travel the world and perform. He continued to perform and won several contests, which convinced him to give up retail and concentrate on his act, "The Shriek of Araby". He took jobs demonstrating and selling tricks behind the counter at several magic shops in London, including four years as manager of the magic department at Hamleys in Regent Street. "Ali seemed to be a common oriental name, and Bongo came from the fact that the British used to call India Pongoland, so I wrote a song, 'My name is Ali Bongo, and I come from Pongo tiddly Pongoland'." When he left the army, he helped found the Medway Magic Society.īongo took his unusual stage name and costume - which resonated with his exotic upbringing - from his role as a ship's cook in a pantomime that he co-wrote. This convinced him to pursue a full-time career in show business. My parents couldn't consider the fact that I wanted to be a magician."Īt 18 he joined the Royal Army Pay Corps and performed in Naafi shows that he also helped to write. "That was three shillings more than the average wage for a week. "I could earn three guineas for a kids' show," he recalled. Realising that his parents would not be able to afford to send him to university, he left school early to perform children's magic shows before doing his national service. At 11 he won a scholarship to Sutton Valence school, where he formed a magic club.
By 1935 his family had moved to England and settled in Sutton Valence, in Kent. The precocious boy learned his first magic trick from a newspaper article when he was five. David Renwick, the creator of the BBC comedy drama Jonathan Creek, based his lead character, a crime-solving master of illusion, on the magician.īongo was born William Oliver Wallace in Bangalore, India, the son of an army officer. He was a magic consultant to David Nixon and Paul Daniels on their television series and also appeared himself on several children's shows.
Ali Bongo, who has died aged 79, was a flamboyant performer and creative behind-the-scenes magic inventor.
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