A rector in Somerset really can cast a spell over his congregation – as he is an experienced magician.
While his day job at Yeovil’s parish church of St John is spreading the word of God, it turns out James Dudley-Smith has a trick or two up his sleeve.
The 45-year-old father of two has in fact been a member of the Magic Circle since his 20s – before he was a priest.
The son of a former bishop, he did not at first follow his father’s footsteps into the church – instead studying languages at university and teaching in Dorset for several years.
But his love of magic goes back to childhood and was inspired by his father Timothy, once bishop of Thetford.
Mr Dudley-Smith said: “I remember him performing rudimentary tricks when we were little children.
“My magic dates from an early age. I tried to play the piano and I wasn’t much of a sportsman, but with magic I found a hobby that gripped me. I started with a little box of tricks you buy in a toy shop. I grew up in Norwich and I landed on a book in the library there with more advanced tricks.
“Before long I was spending a lot of pocket money on it. I built up a routine and within a year I was beginning to perform little half-hour slots at children’s birthday parties and other gatherings in the village where we lived.
“Because my dad was a bishop it wasn’t difficult to get bookings.
“When I was older I used to drive around on a moped wearing a denim jacket with a suitcase of tricks on the back.
“They didn’t always work. You drop the wrong thing at the wrong moment.
“It was tremendous fun. I remember being booked up for a children’s party at a community centre to discover I was performing in front of the specially gifted children of Norwich. I was trembling as I set up thinking of 30 highly intelligent boys and girls peering through their glasses determined not to be fooled.”
As a teenager he was given the title ‘Wizard-in-chief’ by the then Bishop of Norwich Maurice Wood. He earned the title after performing at a party for children of clergy at the bishop’s house.
The magic continued when he went to Cambridge University to study languages, securing himself performances at college balls.
Mr Dudley-Smith joined the Magic Circle, probably the best-known magicians’ group in the world, and one which guards the secrets of its trade closely, while teaching at Canford School in Dorset and was introduced by a parent of one of his pupils.
He said: “The only secretive bit about it is we won’t give away tricks and illusions that originate from within the circle. The secrets need to be kept.
“It is an international society of about 3,000 members.
“There are other clergy in the magic circle and it even has its own chaplain, Peter Liddlelow – a curate in Barnet, London.”
He taught French and German at Canford School for five years, and it was while working alongside the chaplain there that he decided that he wanted to become a priest.
He said: “My faith has been very important to me. While I was at university, I knew this was something I needed to think about and pray about very seriously and decide whether this was the right future for me. That is why I looked at all sorts of jobs. I considered journalism and I nearly got a job with a magic company but it closed before I could join. I ended up teaching and really enjoyed that.
“Working with the chaplain I quickly found it was more exciting than teaching irregular verbs.”
He was not accepted the first time he went through the Church of England’s rigorous selection process, but two years later he was admitted and took up study for a theology degree in Oxford.
He was ordained in 1997 at Salisbury Cathedral and served as a curate in Wimborne in Dorset before moving to Yeovil five years ago.
Yeovil People