John Lenahan (born 1961 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, US) is an American illusionist and entertainer resident in the UK since 1984. A successful corporate entertainer, he came to greater fame as a result of a 1994 appearance on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

show ''

How Do They Do That? ''How Do They Do That?'' is a British television show, produced by Telepictures and Reg Grundy Productions in and broadcast on BBC1 from 25 January 1994 to 23 April 1997. Originally presented by Jenny Hull and Des Lynam, the show explored feat ...

'' explaining the

sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...

trick known as

Three-card Monte Three-card Monte – also known as Find the Lady and Three-card Trick – is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-dow ...

, as a result of which he became the first person in 85 years to be expelled from The Magic Circle. His subsequent television appearances have included his own 1997 series for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

, ''Stuff the White Rabbit''; and the ''Secrets of Magic'' specials for BBC One. He is a former holder of the title

Street Magician of the Year A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt ...

. Lenahan also provided the voice of

Talkie Toaster This is a list of characters from the TV sitcom ''Red Dwarf''. Major characters Overview Details Alter egos Ace Rimmer Arnold "Ace" Rimmer is an alter-ego of Arnold Rimmer, also played by Chris Barrie. Ace first appears in the episod ...

in the first series of ''

Red Dwarf ''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. ...

'' and presented a 1987 factual series on BBC Two called ''The Open Road''. The 1987 series featured Lenahan travelling across the UK and finding out about the lives and traditions of British people. Lenahan's first novel, ''Shadowmagic'', was originally released on podiobooks.com by John himself, then later picked up by The Friday Project/

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in the UK. His second novel, ''The Prince of Hazel and Oak'', was released as a paperback in April 2011, and the third and final instalment, ''Sons of Macha'', was released March 2013. It was announced in early 2022 that Lightning Books would publish ''Son of Shadow'', taking the characters from the ''Shadowmagic'' trilogy into the next generation, in July of that year.

References

External links

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Podiobooks: ''Shadowmagic''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenahan, John 1961 births Living people People from Philadelphia American expatriates in the United Kingdom American expatriate male actors in the United Kingdom