I've got my mind set on raising cash for Beatson...

HE has played mind tricks on Doctor Who star David Tennant, and Mel Gibson calls him 'magic Paul'.

HE has played mind tricks on Doctor Who star David Tennant, and Mel Gibson calls him 'magic Paul'.

Over the years, he has entertained and entranced hundreds of of people, on stage and on screen, with his uncanny ability to read minds and predict behaviour.

But now, Paul Hamilton wants to pull off his biggest feat yet - raising thousands of pounds for the Beatson Pebble Appeal, which is backed by the Evening Times.

The 39-year-old from Lenzie - who was treated at the Beatson for a rare cancer when he was 10 - is staging a spectacular show at Tiger Tiger on August 15, with proceeds going to the campaign to raise £10m for a new cancer research centre in Glasgow.

"I want to make as much money as possible," states Paul, firmly.

"I hope people will come and support us, whether it's groups of friends or families, or office nights out - I hope lots of companies out there will get behind us too, as this is such an important cause. We all know someone with cancer."

In fact, it is Paul's personal experience which is driving his desire to support the Beatson. When he was 10, he was treated for bone cancer. At the time, doctors believed he was one of only seven cases in the world.

"I had been always been perfectly healthy, and then my parents noticed an egg-shaped bulge on the back of my head," he explains.

"Initially, doctors thought it was just a cyst, but when they opened me up to have a look, they discovered it was my brain, pressing against my scalp. The cancer had eaten away all the bone marrow, so I had a huge hole where there should have been skull."

Paul was immediately rushed by ambulance from Stobhill Hospital to the Southern General, where surgeons fought to remove the tumour.

"I remember nothing of the operation, of course, but it was apparently touch and go at one point," recalls Paul.

"I remember afterwards, my parents coming in to see me, both in tears, and I couldn't understand why they were crying."

The surgery was a success and Paul was allowed home after four weeks in hospital. But four years later, the cancer returned.

"This time, I had to go to the Beatson for radiotherapy every day, and that really took it out of me," says Paul.

"I've never forgotten the care I had at the Beatson, though - which is why as soon as I heard about the Pebble Appeal, I wanted to help. And doing a show seemed like the best way of doing that."

Paul is a 'mind illusionist', similar in many ways to Derren Brown, the master of misdirection and showmanship who has had several TV shows and series.

"There is no difference between mind reader and mind illusionist - I just describe myself as an illusionist, because that's what it is," he explains.

"It's all about suggestion and psychology - I'm not a psychic, and I don't dabble in anything like that at all. In fact, I don't believe in it. What I do is illusion." He adds, honestly: "And it can fail! But, thankfully, that doesn't happen too often."

Paul's weekly shows, on Fridays between 5pm and 7pm in The Piper bar on the corner of George Square, are popular with crowds of office workers finishing up for the weekend.

"I cheer people up, make them think about things in a different way," he explains. "I love doing it. And at Tiger Tiger, I plan to do things on stage that have never been tried before, as far as I know, and I've been in the business for 20 years - for example, bringing someone out of the audience and getting them to remember' one of my childhood memories."

Paul adds: "Or asking a group of people to think about making a movement - and then predicting what movement each one of them will make. So it will be very different, and hopefully very exciting."

Paul was 10 when he got his first magic trick.

"I was fascinated by how it all worked, and that has stayed with me ever since," he says. "I started noticing things about myself too - that I knew who was on the phone before it was answered, and that I could really freak people out at school by telling them what they were thinking. I'm sure some of them thought I was a weirdo!

"But I did a lot of reading and trained myself, and thought, maybe I could entertain people by doing this."

Paul's first public appearance was aged 12, on Tiger Tim's Untied Shoelaces Show, an 80s kids show on BBC Scotland. He studied acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow after leaving school, and despite a few TV and film jobs after graduating, he decided it was not the career for him.

"I liked acting - I appeared as an extra in Braveheart, for example, and in Taking Over the Asylum with Ken Stott and David Tennant, when he was very young!" Paul explains.

"I got more enjoyment out of performing illusions to the other cast members, though. Mel Gibson called me 'magic Paul' on set, and David Tennant was a great laugh."

Paul still lives in Lenzie, with his wife, Gillian, and three-year-old son Ross, and he sells Blackberry mobile phones, but his dream is to give up the day job to become a full time illusionist.

"I love it, I always have wanted to do it full time," he grins. "Some of my friends say it's just because I've never grown up."

The cancer which nearly cost him his life as a child has stayed away, although around five years ago, doctors detected tiny spots of it in the front of his skull.

"They are so small, they are just leaving them there for the moment, as they don't appear to be growing," adds Paul. "I've never let it get in my way - it has never held me back. I'm quite a determined person, so I do what I want to do, whatever happens."

For more information on Paul's fundraiser at Tiger Tiger, email thotcontrol@yahoo.co.uk

How you can help

The Beatson Pebble Appeal aims to raise £10m to build the Beatson Translational Research Centre, which will cover all cancers, including those that cause the most deaths in Glasgow such as breast, prostate, ovarian and lung cancers.

The idea behind it is simple - small things can make a difference. Simply add one small pebble to another, and another - and watch it grow.

It doesn't matter how much you can afford to give - simply by making a donation will make a difference to the lives of thousands of people living with cancer in the west of Scotland.

Donate online at www.beatsonpebbleappeal.org - just click on 'donate' and follow the steps.

Send a cheque, made payable to Beatson Pebble Appeal, to Beatson Pebble Appeal, No 2 The Square, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ.

If you would like to give a regular gift - just £5.21 a month over four years would mean a donation of £250 - call 0141 330 3000 or email office@beatsonpebbleappeal.org