Female magician Helen Coglan became world famous in the world of magic when she
Fooled magicians Penn & Taylor on their Fool Us TV show.

As a child Helen was inspired by her dad who was recognized worldwide as  an early
pioneer of magic and illusion.  Her dads award read, Some men see things as they are
and ask why, I dream of thing that never were and ask why not?  That is my dad in a
shell, and he was my inspiration.

Helen say in  my Magic career I have had a couple of proud moments. One would be fooling Penn & Teller on their hit TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us.  I was able to perfom a trick that Dad (Arthur Coghlan) had invented. It was one-of-a-kind and definitely not a trick that anyone had ever seen performed before!

Another proud moment was when I became the first female magician  in the World to perform Houdini’s famous Water Torture Escape. This was the first escape I ever performed. It created a lot of Media attention. I  had the opportunity to perform historic escape on National TV.

Very few magician have ever attempted Houdini’s Water Torture Escape.  Helen will go
down in history as the first women to ever perform this escape.  Helen says doubt, the Water Torture Escape was the most challenging  effect she has ever mastered.

 She said once I’d committed to performing it, there was no turning back. Being an underwater escape, the main preparation was practicing holding my breath underwater. The escape was the easy bit – learning to hold my breath underwater was the hardest  part of
mastering this magic effect.

I would practice by lying in the bathtub and gradually increasing the amount underwater by a few seconds each time until I was able to hold my breath for two minutes. To help me relax during practice (and also during the actual escape) Elton John helped me out.  No, Elton is not a magician that I am aware of, but  I’d sing Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in my head. Disclaimer: Don’t try this at home, there is much more to this Escape than singing in your mind.   

Helen say, she hope to continue to entertain audience in Australia and around the world. She
also said that since she was a little girl she had  a dream of performing in Las Vegas.

She says, she hopes to continue to perform the rest of her life.   I love the magic world and supporting young female magicians.  I believe in goal setting,  I think it is important (and also exciting) to always have a goal to work towards. I think my goal at the moment is to try to fool Penn & Teller again! The new Season starts airing in the US in June. so I hope to have
the opportunity to return.

I also have a goal to bring magic to the Gold Coast of Australia.  I’m in the process of  organizing a Convention for later this year here on the Gold Coast. One of the main features is that Magicians will be able to meet with the Producers of Penn & Teller: Fool Us and even audition for the Show. It’s the first time the producers have come to Australia and, apart from the auditions, they will give a Lecture about the Show/Magic on TV and many more awesome subjects.  There will also be the usual Convention highlights – Lectures and Workshops, Competitions, exciting Guest Appearances and Dealer Displays. It will definitely be a Convention not to be missed and I am excited about it.

Do you think Life is Magic?

Of course Life is Magic! You see it every day in so many different ways. Sometimes I think people just need to stop and appreciate the good things.  If you are thinking about picking
up magic as a hobby, make sure you sign up for our updates here:  LEARN MAGIC