Liam Power, the 163rd person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, experienced a life-changing moment when he was 16.

A family friend, who was visiting from America, and who was a magician, showed off some tricks. Liam was dazzled by his charm and skill. So he decided to learn magic.

Six years later, Liam quit his job as a chef to pursue a career in magic. He’s been performing professionally ever since.

As Liam explained, the key to a successful magic trick is to use layers of deception. No technique will ever work on everyone, so you need to use multiple techniques to ensure the audience is fooled.

The human brain is constantly making assumptions, because it would be exhausting to question the millions of pieces of information we absorb each day. An expert magician like Liam deceives people by doing things the brain doesn’t predict.

Liam performs at festivals, for corporates, at weddings and (in normal times) on cruises. He’s constantly thinking of new tricks, most of which have to be discarded because Liam discovers they have a flaw or don’t suit his performance style.

I look forward to attending one of Liam’s shows in the future.