MENTORING an act for the the county’s answer to Britain’s Got Talent, is just the latest step in the career of Cirencester magician Alex Robertson.

Gloucestershire's Star Talent, to be held at Cheltenham town hall on Friday night, sees six well-known faces each performing a special act in front of a celebrity judging panel which includes Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Alex Robertson, 28, a member of the prestigious Magic Circle society, founded in 1905, has trained up Corraine Collins, owner of Corraine Collins Dance Studios in Cheltenham, some of his mysterious skills so she can perform a card trick act.

He is a full-time magician and former Royal Agricultural University student, whose regular slots include performing at The King’s Head bar in Cirencester every Sunday lunch-time.

He was approached earlier in the year to get involved in the show.

He said: “The VIPs got to choose what act they wanted to perform and then the organisers got in contact with potential mentors.

“Corraine chose magic and so they approached me to teach her. Two months ago she couldn’t do any tricks, but we’ve worked a few hours a week on sleight of hand, showmanship and misdirecting the audience; it’s been going very well.”

“She’s got a five-minute slot to impress the judges. Of course, there’ll be some nerves but I have confidence that she’ll do very well.”

And the new-added confidence Alex feels through magic is very important to him.

“You need to be assured when performing a trick for strangers, let alone on a stage in front of an audience,” he said. “I think there’s going to be around 700 people at the show on Friday, for example. You have to have the balls to get out and do stuff like that.”

“I was studying magic probably more than my degree while at university. I was practising two or three hours a day for my first two years. Something like that.

“If I’d put as much effort into my degree, I’m sure I’d have got a first.”

Originally from Kent, Alex grew up on a farm and moved to Cirencester to study agriculture at the Royal Agricultural University, before opting to do business management.

He graduated last summer.

But his new found skills are a fairly new departure for him as He got into magic “very late,” he said.

“I was working in a bar about a year before I moved to Cirencester, over a very quiet winter, and I found people responded very well to one or two tricks that I’d learned to amuse myself.

“It was great to see their responses.

"Really engaging with people you don’t know at all, and seeing the wonder on their faces is a great feeling. So I kept practicing. I do card tricks, spoon bending, mind reading, that kind of thing. A good variety of stuff. I know people who specialise in one thing and that’s great but I definitely prefer to do a variety of things.

"Different audiences respond in different ways.”

Alex was one of the first local young entrepreneurs to appear on The Rock the Cotswolds list of promising young entrepreneurs, which led to him working closely with Cotswold TV, who have helped to promote his talents.

Gloucestershire’s Star Talent will be hosted by TV personality Dr Dawn Harper and aims to raise about £50,000 for local charity National Star, which works with people with disabilities, enabling them to live their lives independently and to the full.

It is being held tomorrow evening, starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets are still available and to purchase them and for more information on the event, visit the show's website at glosstartalent.org.uk.