Wayne Dobson 5/7/1957 – 7/7/2025
Wayne Dobson, one of the most popular and creative magicians of recent years, and a stalwart of The Magic Circle, has died.
Marvin Berglas, the President of The Magic Circle, said: “The magic fraternity worldwide, and our society in particular, mourn the loss of Wayne Dobson, one of the great magicians of the late 20th century. Wayne, our honorary vice-president, wowed millions with his TV shows in the 80s and 90s and his unforgettable appearance on the Royal Variety Show with Frank Bruno and boxing commentator Harry Carpenter brought the house down. He did not allow the onset of MS to stop his ever inquisitive mind devising, creating and inventing tricks to the end. We will miss him.”
Born in Leicester, Wayne became well known through various television appearances in the late 1980s and 1990s. He honed his style of superlative magic based around fast-talking patter and one-liner humour. It won him work as an opening act on tours with top performers such as Freddie Starr, Dean Martin, Dame Shirley Bassey and The Shadows.
He also began getting guest slots on television shows. In 1988 he was hired as a support act for Engelbert Humperdinck in his residency in Las Vegas, where he won positive attention and gained invaluable experience of entertaining at the highest level. Following that show-stealing performance at The Royal Variety Command Performance in 1989, he made weekly guest appearances on the Joe Longthorne television show. This led to ITV commissioning his own ITV series Wayne Dobson – A Kind of Magic from 1991 to ‘93, appearing with his regular assistant Linda Lusardi. He made several subsequent appearnaces before the Royal Family following this he toured the nation with the largest live stage illusion theatre show for two years.
During this career peak at the age of 31 he learnt he’d contracted Multiple Sclerosis, and whilst the condition gradually worsened over the next years he was able to continue in live performance until 2003 when he toured with the Joe Pasquale live show. Eventually though, as MS caused paralysis to spread to his feet, then took the use of his hands and slurred his speech, he ceased live performance for the public.
Wayne then built a business – which became DTrik with Mike Sullivan – selling his magical routines, illusions and creations to other magicians the world over, and he appeared at magicians’ conventions around the world up until two years ago. His Saturday midday show Wayne Dobson & Friends was a sell-out staple of the annual Blackpool Magicians’ Convention. By 2023, although his MS finally made it impossible for him to appear live on stage, Mike Sullivan developed an AI avatar of Wayne that allowed Mike to fly the Dobson flag and for Wayne to make his appearances, albeit via AI. Throughout his career Wayne received every major accolade the magic industry could bestow on him, including the Maskelyne Award and Hon. Life Vice Presidency from The Magic Circle. In the 2010’s he also became an ambassador for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC) charity and was an inspiration to the disabled, whether magicians or not. In 2023 his biography Wayne Dobson Legacy was published and became a best-selling magic book among the magic community.
Wayne was married twice, and the last decade saw him living alone in his specially adapted apartment where magicians from around the world would visit him to discuss magic and take lessons from him. He enjoyed close friendships with a host of show business stars, who delighted in Wayne’s indefatigable good humour. Joe Pasquale dubbed Wayne, “the funniest man I know”, and TV psychological star Derren Brown said of him, “…simply, Wayne is a legend.”
