Seeing your mother in a guillotine as a child might be slightly upsetting but not for Eoin Smith – if anything, it was just another birthday party.
Vividly remembering turning eight years old, the only child said some of his friends seemed a bit worried at the sight.
But as a kid of a magician, he said: “It was just business as usual.
“I just knew that everything was in control, nothing was going to go wrong.”
The Rosemount resident rushed to say: “Not that dad put mum in a guillotine every day.”
The guillotine and another trick involving an appearing and disappearing drawing of a rabbit are some of Eoin’s earliest memories from his dad and magician, Ivor Smith’s, party performances.
However, despite Ivor’s passion for the craft, it was never something forced upon Eoin.
The dad and co-founder of Fifth Dimension added: “I was going to be delighted if Eoin found magic interesting enough to be a hobby if nothing more, but I was never going to make him do magic.
“The feeling was that he had to find it for himself. I was always there and willing to show, help and guide him if required.
“[Growing up] if he was having a party, I would ask you ‘Do you want me to do something again’, it was not something I forced on him for this party.
“It was only if he wanted it to be there. He always said yes, which was great.”
From career as housing manager to magician, and new sparkly business
For Ivor, it was a Christmas present in his early 20s that made him catch the magic bug.
Seeing that he enjoyed watching it on TV, his wife Helen, got him a book on magic for Christmas.
From there, the Seafield resident slowly delved further into the world of trickery, illusion and flare.
After joining the Aberdeen Magical Society in 1991, he started taking the subject more seriously.
Working as an area housing manager with Aberdeen City Council and then as a marketing officer with economic development, Ivor realised there was a unique way he could bring some life to dry presentations and training sessions.
That’s right – he’d use magic to “pep things up”.
He said: “Because it was going over so well I started thinking there might be a business idea there and decided to set the company up with two other colleagues.
“With a view to use magic when dealing with soft management skills, communication and teamwork and also to work at exhibitions for companies to attract a crowd.
Travelling the world and meeting Neil Patrick Harris
“We were just looking at how we could enhance the business person’s experience with learning.
“And one of the things that happened very quickly was that we got involved in health and safety training.
“A company asked us if we’d be able to do that, and it became our biggest market and still is, delivering safety presentations to companies around the world.”
Teaming up with Jeff Burns, who Ivor also performs a double act with, and Bill Duncan, they named the company Fifth Dimension.
This has led to many highlights and great opportunities over the years.
From travelling to Australia, throughout Europe and the Middle East, Singapore and Thailand to performing at the Magic Castle in Hollywood (a mecca for magicians) and Neil Patrick Harris visiting backstage, Ivor said it has been a “fantastic experience”.
‘I had my history teacher in the guillotine quite fittingly’ says son Eoin
The week Ivor joined Aberdeen Magical Society was also the same week Eoin was born.
Joking maybe his dad just wanted to get out of the house, Eoin added he also became addicted: “I don’t remember a time when dad wasn’t a magician.
“I loved it. The nice thing is that dad never forced me to like magic. It was very much an organic thing but I just couldn’t help but be drawn towards it.
“As dad said once you get hooked, once you get that bug, it never leaves you.”
Inspired by his past birthday parties, Eoin’s first on-stage magic trick involved a guillotine.
Competing in Hazelhead’s Academy talent show aged 17, Eoin added: “Having been inspired by seeing dad perform…I had my history teacher in the guillotine quite fittingly.”
Coming second, something he assured us he was not bitter about, the PR marketing manager with Planit Scotland started performing solo shows and close-up magic.
However, despite performing for the last 15 years, the 33-year-old said the father and son had “unbelievably” failed to perform a show together.
Something they are planning to change in September.
Four Magicians Aberdeen – first show together as father and son
The father and son, are planning to host a show called Four Magicians at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen in September.
Hosting with Jeff and fellow magician James Dickson, Eoin said never performing with his dad before was one of the reasons they wanted to put on the show together.
“But also it just seemed like a really fun thing to do,” Eoin said. “The four of us get on really well.
“We share quite a lot of ideas about how we like to perform but we also like to push each other and challenge each other to try new things and we put the show together to do just that.”
To mark the occasion, they have created a new father-and-son magic trick to perform together.
For Eoin who has been a solo performer for so long, he said he is looking forward to sharing the stage and working with his dad.
He said: “The trick that we’ve come up with together is probably something that neither of us would ever have thought of performing on our own.
“We’ve got different performing styles but we’ve got quite similar sense of humour.
“Dad and Jeff are usually a double act and seeing that in magic is rare enough but I think seeing four magicians on stage performing the same trick altogether, is something really new and different for audiences.”
Not just magic in common
With their shared interest, career choices and membership in the Aberdeen Magical Society, it is no surprise the pair have a close relationship.
However, Ivor said: “It’s not just through the magic, but just in life generally.
“We’ve got a very eclectic taste in music. Anything from classical through to heavy metal. Pink Floyd, rock, indie, you name it.
“That love of music meant that we’ve always gone to gigs, we took Eoin from a reasonably early age to gigs, and we’re still going together. We just got tickets the other day to go and see David Gilmour down in London.”
Eoin added: “We’re quite a close family. We always got on really well.
“Although mum’s not necessarily into magic, we all share other interests, like reading and we all love going to see live music and the theatre. We’ve got a lot in common. We all introduce each other to new things.”
Other halves prefer keeping the mystery alive
After being married for 41 years, Ivor said Helen is used to seeing all sorts around the house.
But he said she prefers not to know the ins and outs of the tricks being performed so it does not ruin the magic when she goes to watch Ivor at the bigger shows.
Eoin admitted his wife Aimee is the same.
First meeting when they were 14 years old at school, Eoin added: “She really likes to be involved and she actually helps me come up with things.
“Sometimes she comes up with a solution to a problem I’m having because she’s thinking about it, not like a magician.
“She’s really creative and has good practical skills.
“It’s something that we can kind of work on together sometimes but I don’t share everything with her.
“It’s like knowing what’s in your Christmas presents.
“Sometimes it’s best to keep that air of mystery.”
Conversation