Val Andrews

Val Andrews
Born	Val Andrews February 15, 1926 Hove, England
Died	October 12, 2006 (age 80)
Categories	Books by Val Andrews

Val Andrews (1926-2006) performed as The Great Valentine, Bronco, Val Vox the Magical Raconteur and The Mysterious Vanson. Andrews was also a prolific writer of magic.

Biography

Born in Hove, England just a few hours after Valentine's Day, hence the name Val, he was the son of an architect. For many years of his life, he lived in Brighton, England.

In 1943, he moved to London and became friendly with Will Goldston, George Davenport, Bobby Bernard, Al Koran and Fergus Roy amongst other magic notables. In 1957 he married Doreen and had a daughter Christie.

He was a prolific writer, having almost 1,000 books and booklets on magic and the allied arts published. He wrote many of Tommy Cooper's scripts and biographies of famous magicians including Dante, Murray, Will Goldston, Horace Goldin, Carmo, Kalanag and Chung Ling Soo. He frequently contributed to Abra, Magigram and other magic magazines during his day. He also wrote new Sherlock Holmes stories, usually with a magic background to them.

Honors and Awards

• In 2000, Val received, The John Nevil Maskelyne Prize, from the Magic Circle for his literary work
• Literary Fellowship by the Academy of Magical Arts.

Marketed Tricks

• Val Andrews' Unfaked Book Test (1992)

Books

• Commercial Comedy (1952)
• Val's Varieties (1964)
• Goodnight, Mr. Dante (1978)
• A Gift from the Gods (1981)
• The Coin and Card Magic of Bobby Bernard (1982)
• Life... Dull It Ain't! (1983) [about Horace Goldin]
• The Wonderful Magic of Chefalo (1983)
• Four Seasons in the Life of Val Andrews (1984)
• Unfaked book Test (1985)
• David Devant - The Junior Partner (1988)
• Murray - The Encore (1988)
• Great Lyle and his Cavalcade of Mystery (1989)
• Dante Scrapbook (1990)
• Houdini: The Last Word (1998)
• Fred Culpitt - A Brief Biography (2000)