The Circle was fortunate to persuade David Devant to serve as its first president.

If The Magic Circle had not existed, J. K. Rowling would have had to invent it. The idea of an assemblage of people endowed with magical powers, regardless of profession, creed, nationality, social status and — if only recently — sex, convening weekly in a less than obvious location somewhere in London to discuss, dissect and demonstrate the innermost workings of their clandestine craft is the stuff of Hogwart's Academy. The society motto, "indocilis privata loqui," which translates roughly from the Latin of Lucanus as, "not apt to disclose secrets," adds to the mystique. Next month, John Fisher gives his personal view of The Magic Circle in its Centennial Year.

It's "FASDIU" time, which translates to Paul Cummins trademark "From a Shuffled Deck in Use," and next month's "Talk About Tricks" is a one-man column devoted to nothing but Paul's fooler-doolers from a shuffled deck in use.