Last weekend, my lovely wife surprised me with a birthday trip to Simon Drake’s House of Magic in south London — a fantastic night out of magic cabaret in a house chock full of funny, spooky tchotchkes and whatnot. There’s slightly rude haunted cellar tours with a vampy vampiress, cold readings, magic pinball, truly outstanding close-up card/coin magic during dinner, and a fantastic stage magic show (I got to be the audience volunteer and got my hand sawed off). Between the pre-show warmups, the opening act (a surprise performance by the screamingly funny Dr Adam “London Underground” Kay) and the main event, we didn’t get out until 1230 in the morning, and were delighted by the entire evening.