21. Pencil Vanish

Effect: A pencil disappears.

Secret: Show a pencil or pen and drape a large handkerchief over it. As soon as the pencil is out of sight, secretly extend your forefinger under the handkerchief as you allow the pencil to drop down your sleeve. Take the handkerchief with the other hand as if holding the pencil through the material. Throw the handkerchief into the air and the pencil has vanished!

22. Knot From Nowhere

Effect: A knot mysteriously appears in the corner of a handkerchief.

Secret: Before your performance, secretly tie a knot in one corner of a handkerchief. Show the handkerchief but hold it with the knot hidden in your right hand. The left hand now lifts the bottom end of the handkerchief and places it in the right hand along with the top corner. Give the handkerchief a shake and drop the unknotted end. Repeat this two or three times. On the second or third attempt allow the knotted corner to drop, retaining your grip on the other corner. All you have done is change the corner you are holding but it appears that the knot has formed by magic.

23. Card To Matchbox

Effect: A playing card changes into a matchbox.

Secret: Trim a playing card and glue it to the top of a matchbox. Carefully fold the card over the box as shown. Glue a matchbox label on the back of the card so when the card is folded it looks like an ordinary matchbox. Show your audience the playing card. The matchbox is hidden behind it. Bring your hand over the card and secretly fold it up over the box. Remove your hand and it seems that you have made a playing card change magically into a matchbox.

24. It's Matchic!

Effect: You reveal how many matches were moved while your back was turned.

Secret: Secretly put a small pencil dot on a match, just below the head. Do this on all four sides of the match and then put it back in the box. When you show the trick, remove ten matches from the box and put them down in a row. The marked match must be placed at the left end of the row. Turn your back and ask someone to move any number of matches, one at a time, from the left end of the row to the right. When you turn around you have only to spot the position of the marked match and count from that to the right end of the row to know how many have been moved.

25. Baffling Bands

Effect: Three loops of paper are cut with surprising results.

Secret: You need three strips of paper, each about five centimetres by one metre. Glue the ends of the first strip together to form a loop. Do the same with the second strip but give one end a half turn before gluing the ends. In making the third loop give the paper one complete turn before gluing.

Cut down the centre of the first loop with a pair of scissors. This will make two loops as one would expect. When the second loop is cut in the same way it forms one extra large loop and the third one produces two loops linked together.

26. Jumping Elastic

Effect: An elastic band penetrates the fingers.

Secret: Place an elastic band over the first two fingers of your left hand as shown. With the right hand stretch the band to show it really is over the fingers. Close the left hand, at the same time secretly allowing the tips of all your left fingers to go into the band as shown in the second drawing. Open your hand and the elastic band will jump from the first two fingers to the third and fourth fingers. Keep the back of your left hand towards your audience at all times when performing this trick and it will look like the band penetrates through the first two fingers.

27. Walking Through A Postcard

Effect: A postcard is cut so it will go over your body.

Secret: Boast that you can walk through a postcard then make the following moves. Fold the postcard in half lengthways. Make as many cuts as possible from the edge of the card to the centre and from the centre towards the edges as shown. The more cuts you make the easier the trick is to do. Unfold the card and cut along the centre, from A to B. You can now open out the card into a large loop that will easily go over your body.

28. Sympathetic Diamond

Effect: A large Ace of Diamonds changes colour when coloured handkerchiefs are passed over it. Secret: The principal diamond on the card is actually cut out. It gets its colour from a piece of card held behind the Ace. Each time you want the colour of the diamond to change the secret card is moved to a new position. To get a multi-coloured diamond, position the card centrally so all four corners on the card are visible through the diamond-shaped hole. The handkerchiefs hide the movement of the secret card, look colourful and provide a reason for the colour changes.

29. Matchless Ribbon

Effect: Matches change into a ribbon

Secret: Glue together several half matches and put the finished block into the drawer of a matchbox, together with one ordinary match. Put a ribbon in the other end of the drawer. You push open the drawer, take out the single match and let everyone see the box is apparently full of matches. Tap the box with the match you have just removed. Open the box again (but this time from the other end) and show that the matches have changed into a ribbon.

30. That's It

Effect: You apparently read someone's mind to identify an object selected while you are out of the room.

Secret: You need a secret assistant. While you are out of the room someone selects any object in the room. When you return, your accomplice points to objects around the room but you have arranged that the fifth object he points to will be the chosen object. Identifying objects three times in succession (after arranging a different code number with your accomplice for each repeat performance) should be enough to convince the spectators that you possess amazing powers of mind reading.

31. Wallet Of Wonders

Effect: A 10p coin changes to two 5p coins.

Secret: To make the special wallet required you need two sheets of paper, folded as shown. Open out the folds and glue the shaded areas together. Put two 5p coins in the centre of the top sheet and fold it around them. Fold up the bottom sheet and turn the whole lot over. Place a borrowed 10p in the centre of the empty sheet and fold the paper around it. As you do this secretly turn the whole packet over.Open the paper to reveal the two coins.

32. Find The Lady

Effect: A spectator tries to pick the Queen – but ends up with the Joker.

Secret: Glue a piece of a Queen to an Ace. Place a Joker on top and slightly to one side. Put another Ace exactly on top of the Joker. Show the cards (with the Joker hidden). You appear to be holding two Aces and a Queen. Turn the cards face down, as you do so spread them to separate the Joker and the Ace. Invite someone to take the Queen. He will take the centre card – but it is the Joker!

33. Link Up

Effect: Two paper clips link together without you touching them.

Secret: You need two paper clips and a sheet of paper. Fold over one-third of the paper and place a clip over the top of the doubled thickness. Fold the other end of the paper in the opposite direction to the first and place the second clip over the two thicknesses of paper just formed. The position should now be as shown.

Pull sharply on each end of the paper and the clips will leap off into the air and link themselves together.

34. Numbered Thoughts

Effect: While you are out of the room a three-figure number is chosen. On your return, you read your assistant's mind and reveal the number.

Secret: When you return to the room after a number has been chosen, you place your hands on either side of your assistant's head. Your friend now tightens and loosens his jaw for the appropriate number of times to signal each number in turn, pausing between numbers.As your fingers are near his temples you can feel this muscular movement so it is easy for him to transmit numbers to you without saying a word.

35. Pin-through Pin

Effect: You separate two linked safety pins without opening them – proof that solid can penetrate solid. Secret: Link two large safety pins together. Hold them as shown. Pull them apart with a sharp downward movement on the right hand pin. There is a knack to getting this movement exactly right but with practice you will be able to do it every time – and the pins will separate. What actually happens is that the pin on the right opens the left pin for a moment. The left pin closes again and it appears that you have caused metal to penetrate metal.

36. An Expensive Roll

Effect: A bread roll is broken open and a coin is found inside.

Secret: Hold a coin on the fingers of your right hand. The audience must not know this, so keep it hidden. When you are at the dinner table take a bread roll and place it directly on top of the concealed coin. Bend the roll downwards between your hands. This causes an opening in the bottom of the roll. Force the coin into this opening.Now break the roll from the top. As the roll breaks, the coin appears from the middle of the roll.

37. Travelling Ace

Effect: The Ace of Diamonds vanishes from the pack.

Secret: Put the Ace of Diamonds in your pocket. Arrange the remaining Aces so the Ace of Hearts is behind the other two. With the point of the Heart uppermost it looks like the Ace of Diamonds. Turn the cards face down as you say: "I will put these Aces in the pack – the Ace of Clubs, the Ace of Diamonds and the Ace of Spades". Ask a spectator to go through the cards and take out the Ace of Diamonds. When he fails to find it, you take if from your pocket.

38. Flag Of The Realm

Effect: Red, white and blue ribbons change into a Union Jack.

Secret: Fold a Union Jack and place it on a sheet of newspaper. Put another sheet of newspaper on top and glue the two sheets together with the flag hidden between them. The prepared newspaper is on your table at the start of the trick. Show some red, white and blue ribbons. Wrap them up in the newspaper. Tear into the newspaper bundle and pull out the flag. Leave the ribbons hidden in the paper.

39. Dictionary Deception

Effect: You read someone's mind.

Secret: On the top right corner of each right hand page of the middle third of a dictionary write the word printed at the top of the left page. Hold the spine of the book in your left hand and ruffle the pages with the right. Ask someone to stop you anywhere. Make certain he stops you somewhere in the central section. Open the book wide and ask him to remember the word at the top of the left hand page. You look at the word you wrote on the opposite page then pretend to read the spectator's mind.

40. Turn Over Card

Effect: A chosen card reverses itself in the pack.

Secret: Spread the cards face down and ask a spectator to take any card. While he is showing the card to the rest of the audience, secretly reverse the bottom card then turn the whole pack over in your hands.

Walk towards the spectator and ask him to replace his card in the pack face down. As you walk back to your table, turn the reversed card face up and turn over the whole pack again. All the cards are now face down with the exception of one card – the one the spectator chose.