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Val Andrews

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Revision as of 17:38, 5 October 2008 by Philippe billot (Talk | contribs) (Honors and Awards)

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Val Andrews (Feb 15, 1926 - Oct 12 2006), born in Hove, England, performed as The Great Valentine, Bronco, Val Vox the Magical Raconteur and The Mysterious Vanson and a was a prolific writer of magic.

Biography

Born 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.

Contributions

  • Val Andrews' Unfaked Book Test

Honors and Awards

Books

  • Commercial Comedy (1952)
  • Goodnight, Mr. Dante (1978)
  • Life, Dull It Ain't (1983) [about Horace Goldin](1983)
  • Four Seasons in the Life of Val Andrews (1984)
  • Houdini : The Last Word (1998)