Magicians Special 12 Again

Coming up, Britain's favourite magicians

conjure up memories of when they were 12.

I've never seen anybody with dreadlocks like that. I wanted them.

I would have absolutely loved a 50p piece

I could rub and make my dreams come true.

# Sometimes I give myself the creeps... #

Chh-chh-chh-chh!

# Hang tough! #

You'll like it! Not a lot! Oi!

Everyone was going crazy for no reason, and I was proved right.

So...

Want to know more? Well...

have you ever wondered what it would have been like

to be best mates with your favourite celebs

when they were your age?

What did they get up to?

What were their favourite songs?

And which TV shows did they watch?

Because despite the glamorous lifestyles they now lead,

once they were a kid with a dream, just like you.

This show turns back the clock with your favourite celebs

and asks them to become 12 Again.

He's one of the coolest

and most popular magicians on our screens today.

But back in 1994, when Dynamo was 12,

his skills weren't fully appreciated.

They thought I was a weirdo, you know. This geek, into magic.

He's the magical half of one of CBBC's legendary duos.

But back in 1990, 12-year-old Dom Wood was more tragic than magic.

I wasn't cool in any way, shape or form.

They're the classroom conjurers

who dazzle their unsuspecting pupils.

Watch!

It vanishes as well. THEY GASP

But back when they were 12,

Fergus Flanagan and Katherine Mills weren't quite so magical.

At school, I was constantly in trouble for being cheeky and lippy.

I think the teacher just had enough of me, so, yeah, I got detention.

He's one of showbiz's most magical personalities.

Ooh, ooh! Please!

And in 1989,

Stephen Mulhern was already getting a taste of life in the limelight.

I used to put on these shows for friends and family,

and I would charge them to see the show.

He's a master of magic who's become a firm favourite on CBBC.

Pretty cool, huh?

But back in 1998 when Ben Hanlin was 12,

he was already playing the crowd.

I used to always have a deck of cards in my pocket,

and any excuse, I'd whip out the cards and go,

"Guys, check this out! Check this out!"

They may be celebrity sorcerers today,

but it wasn't always that way.

So let's wave our wands and magic ourselves back to a time

when all our wannabe magicians were 12.

I would describe myself as more on the naughty side as a child.

I was quite shy.

I'm still quite shy, to this day,

but you know, I'm just more confident in myself generally.

Whereas back then, I wasn't so confident.

But unlike Dynamo,

some of our 12-year-old celebs weren't quite so shy.

When I was 12, I was cheeky and I was naughty, and I was into pranks.

When I was 12, I guess I was a little bit cheeky,

trying to be the class clown sometimes.

I would sum up my personality when I was 12 as very cheeky.

So, a load of cheeky monkeys, eh?

And what did they look like?

When I was 12, I was obsessed with my height.

I just kept telling myself that I was due a growth spurt.

I was like, "Any day now! I'm going to shoot up! You just watch!"

But it never really happened.

When I was 12, I was quite scruffy

and I used to get in trouble for being scruffy a lot at school.

And I always had quite bad skin, so I had spots and stuff,

so I didn't feel probably my best.

At 12, everyone else around me seemed to be shooting up, you know,

going through puberty and whatnot, and I was a bit of a late bloomer.

And, like, I later found out I had Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease is where part of your bowel

doesn't work properly,

so when you eat food,

rather than your tummy catching the goodness from the food you eat,

it irritates your tummy.

And obviously, because your tummy's

not capturing the goodness of the food,

then you don't necessarily get big and strong like you should do.

My mum used to cut all of our hair.

Never allow that to happen!

HE LAUGHS

And we all had the same haircut!

I had really bucky teeth,

which led to the nickname "Bucky O'Hare" from my sisters,

-which was not very sisterly and not very loving.

-Aw, bless!

Anyway, what tricks were our mini magicians up to,

and what inspired them to become mega magicians?

When I was around 12,

someone showed me my first magic trick to my face,

and I couldn't believe that someone could do something

this far from your nose that your mind could not work out

how it was done.

And from that moment on, I went, "I like this, and I'll do this."

Because I wasn't very good at anything else at school,

because I had learning problems and so suddenly,

I discovered magic and that really helped me.

And the trick that got Dom into magic

just involved a humble ballpoint pen.

Right, I'm going to throw it like a dart, OK?

I'm going to throw it towards Dick's head. Ready? Don't try this at home.

-One, two, three, gone.

-Shazam!

It's disappeared. Not up my sleeve. Nowhere.

-Where's it gone?

-Where is it?!

And now, he's going to tell you

what his magician's name was when he was 12!

-There's no need for that!

-It's a classic!

What we can do is, we can go to the next question...

If you don't tell them, I'll tell them.

Dominic Dubois!

-HE LAUGHS

-Oh, magnifique!

I remember going to London and seeing a magician demonstrate a trick,

and I remember on the drive home learning this trick

out of this little book and doing that one trick,

and I think that's where it started.

I then decided, "Oh, I can get a few more tricks or a few books,"

and it just went from there, really.

Here's one of the first tricks I learned.

Keep your eye on the king.

Give it a rub and a little flick.

And the king...

..turned into an ace.

-Magic!

-That is totes ace!

I got into magic a weird way, to be honest.

I was getting picked on at school by two guys.

They used to pick me up and put me inside a bin.

My grandpa kind of caught 'em doing it one day,

and he showed me this technique to take away their strength.

I can actually show you. I'll need a bit of help.

Well, we've not got any bullies,

but we do have one half of Johnny and Inel.

-I just want you to lift me up as high as you can.

-OK.

This time, do the same thing,

but I'm going to take away your strength.

-Right.

-So just get ready to lift me. Look at me.

Lift me again.

Looks great! But did your granddad's technique keep the bullies at bay?

I tried it, and they couldn't lift me up,

-so I didn't get put in the bin any more.

-Thanks, Dynamo!

That's WHEELIE BIN the best story so far!

Get it? Wheelie bin! I'm amazing!

So, the first trick I ever learned that truly amazed me

was when I was 12 years old, and my friend showed me a coin trick.

In fact, I'll show it to you right now.

All you need is one coin

and I'm going to rub that coin on my leg, on my arm.

On my leg, on my arm.

And the third time that I rub it on my arm, it completely...

..vanishes.

Amazing! But instead of making money disappear,

I need a magician who can make it grow.

All I've got here is a £5 note

and it's a little bit like origami, but much more useful.

So you just fold the £5 note like this into a tiny square,

and then when you unfold it, it stops looking like a £5 note

and looks like a much healthier-looking £20 note.

Oh, Katherine, you wizard!

So, those are just some of the tricks

our 12-year-old sorcerers were conjuring up.

But what music were they listening to?

When I was 12, I really got into hip-hop music.

Like, one of the biggest songs was Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise.

It was the coolest tune EVER!

# As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

# I take a look at my life and realise there's nothing left... #

Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise was an absolute huge hit in 1995.

It was number one in over a dozen countries,

and at the time, and you couldn't go anywhere without hearing it.

Dynamo grew up on an estate in Bradford and thought his life

was not too dissimilar to the story the LA rapper was telling.

# Been spending most their lives living in a gangsta's paradise... #

I grew up in an area that was almost like a gangster's paradise.

You know, I think it's a bit different

from Coolio's life experience and the American gangs.

It was just lots of crime, lots of dodgy stuff going on,

but the Coolio song was kind of talking about

how you can kind of try to break out of that,

while still being in it and having to survive it.

But Coolio can't be credited

with having done all the work on the song.

Like most rappers, Coolio used samples from older records,

putting his own twist on Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit,

Pastime Paradise.

# Who of them

# Will come to be

# That the ones we hurt are you and me... #

See what we did there?

Anyway, 12-year-old Dynamo loved this song

and thought that Coolio's hair was something else.

I'd never seen anybody with dreadlocks like that. I wanted them.

I wanted to, you know, I wanted to be

a 12-year-old kid with dreadlocks.

I was literally getting my mum's...

She's got this, like, wax stuff,

and I was twisting my hair and going to school,

and people were laughing at me.

But...I thought I was Coolio.

Aw, bless!

Now, let's fast forward three years to when Ben was 12,

and a different kind of music entirely.

When I was 12, me and my friends thought we were kind of skaters

and we'd have the hoodies, the baggy jeans, the skateboards.

I didn't really skateboard, so I used to just run around near them.

The music was all part of that, and the big band,

the one that all of us had to listen to, was Green Day.

# I heard you cryin' loud... #

Yep, if you wanted to be a rebellious youth in the '90s,

you HAD to listen to Green Day.

They formed in 1987 and went on to sell a gazillion -

well, more than 65 million - records.

All of us thought we were super cool by listening to Green Day.

And we thought we were really cool

by knowing all the words to Basket Case.

HE SINGS ALONG # Do you have the time

# To listen to me whine?

# About nothing and everything all... #

Oh, what is it?

# I am one of those

# Melodramatic fools

# Neurotic to the bone No doubt about it... #

Ben, you're very talented man, but never sing.

# Sometimes I give myself the creeps... #

-Like, EVER sing. Never sing, mate.

-Oh, what's the next bit?!

# Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me... #

Oh, I've lost it! Oh, dear! I've lost it!

You never had it. You never had it.

# I think I'm cracking up

# Am I just paranoid?

# Yeah, yeah, yeah. #

Basket Case was released in 1995, a few years before he was 12.

But for Ben, the music is timeless.

It just makes you feel good

and it kind of sums up what it's like to be a teenager.

It was the kind of music that you would listen to

that your parents wouldn't like,

just because they didn't get the kind of sound, and it was great.

Now, when Stephen was 12, in 1989,

there was a new kid on the music scene.

Quite literally.

The big boy band of the time when I was 12 was New Kids On The Block.

# The right stuff... #

For many music fans, New Kids On The Block were the original boy band.

They took the world by storm.

They set the mould for boy bands that you see now, without question.

New Kids On The Block were a manufactured band from Boston.

The members of the band were only aged between 12 and 16

when they were discovered by a music producer

who set about creating a pop juggernaut.

They were Donnie Wahlberg,

brothers Jordan and Jon Knight,

Danny Wood, and Joe McIntyre.

Joey, the only reason I remember him is that he looked like my brother,

and all the girls just swooned over my brother.

Lucky!

They were talented guys who could fix a car,

pull off a dodgy haircut,

and they were a formidable force on the pop scene in the '80s.

# Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh... #

But for Stephen, there's one New Kids song in particular

that sticks in his mind.

# Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh... #

Anyone that was 12, the same age as me,

at that time, will remember Hangin' Tough.

# Hangin' tough

# Hangin' tough... #

# Hang tough... #

I'm really giving it some, aren't I?

That...makes me look really cool.

Er...let's move on!

Still to come, our celebs reveal their favourite TV shows

from when they were 12.

My favourite was the pink Power Ranger.

She was my favourite, because I fancied her.

It was, like, my world the time. I just loved it.

You'll like this. Not a lot, but you'll like it.

What you looked forward to was Badger

just making a massive mess with mashed potato.

He-he-he!

Well, I'm glad you think it's funny!

But first, let's see what news stories

were having an impact on our 12-year-old magicians.

I think one of the biggest things in the news when I was 12

was the National Lottery kind of being unveiled.

On 19 November, 1994, lottery fever swept the nation,

as tickets for the first ever UK National Lottery went on sale.

There's been an enthusiastic response

to the launch of the National Lottery,

with five million tickets sold in just eight hours.

People who had bought tickets had a chance,

albeit a very small one, of winning the jackpot prize.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think you might win?

If I didn't think I was going to win, I wouldn't buy a lottery ticket!

It was a dream, you know?

For £1, you could win £1 million.

You know, and especially for people in my area, you know...

I think it was the busiest Omar's,

the local corner shop, had ever been.

People queueing up to buy these lottery tickets.

Over 49 million tickets were sold,

and on the evening of the first draw,

millions watched the live lottery show.

Five, four, three,

two, one, go!

Lottery millionaires hit the news,

but in fact, you only had

a one in 40 million chance of striking lucky

and guessing correctly the winning six out of 49 numbers.

I never won £1 million from the lottery,

and I think, over the years,

I realised that the chances of winning are pretty slim.

In September 2000, when Fergus was 12,

Britain was almost brought to a standstill

by protests over the price of fuel.

When I was 12, there was a HUGE petrol crisis.

Now, not just, like, your little stand. It was MASSIVE.

At the time, British people were paying

the highest prices for fuel in Europe.

Much of the cost was, and still is, made up of tax

which the government collects from garages.

As the cost of fuel rose, patience ran thin,

and those most affected, like truckers and farmers,

protested by blockading fuel refineries.

HORNS TOOT

They argued that the government should help

by cutting the amount of tax included in the price.

The blockade meant that garages ran out of petrol.

-NEWS REPORT:

-All but a few hundred petrol stations are now dry,

but limited supplies are on sale to the public in some places.

Everyone just suddenly panicking, rushing out to the supermarket,

buying as much food as possible,

because, of course, with a fuel crisis,

that meant things weren't getting to the supermarket in time,

which means supermarkets couldn't restock.

So it affected, like, everyone and everything.

He's not wrong!

Britain was crippled by the protests

and people queued to buy fuel and other essential supplies.

I think it's absolutely disgusting with this petrol situation

that people have got to suffer with milk, bread, sugar...

The funniest thing was, the whole "crisis" actually only lasted a week.

So there was all this panic and hysteria,

and I was just sitting back at 12 years old,

not really that bothered.

Just thinking everyone was going crazy for no reason,

and I was proved right. So...

Mmm, aren't you a clever one?!

Anyway, in 1999, when Ben was 12,

a cool new magician was hitting the headlines.

When I was 12, David Blaine burst on the scene.

Say stop whenever you want.

Stop.

He's this American magician that was taking to the streets,

doing magic, and it was the first time I'd seen magic done cool.

So let's say you bent the card a little bit,

cos then I couldn't really control it,

-because you've put a little bend in it, right?

-Mmm-hmm.

Then it's hard for me to cheat.

But let's say I did that... HE CLICKS HIS FINGERS

..and see, that's it.

That's how you get it to go there.

In the late 1990s, David Blaine was famous across the world

for his street magic.

THEY LAUGH

But not content with a TV magic show,

he was also causing a stir and keeping news crews busy.

He also did more than just go out on the streets and do magic.

He started to do endurance stunts,

and I was watching thinking, "This guy is unbelievable!"

David Blaine mesmerised audiences with incredible stunts,

like being encased in ice for over 60 hours.

He spent 44 days locked inside a transparent cube,

and survived seven days submerged in a water-filled sphere.

It was when Ben was 12, in April 1999,

that David Blaine embarked on one of his most memorable public stunts.

He was shut in a cramped, underground plastic coffin

underneath a three-ton water tank for seven days.

He couldn't move, he had no food, and people were just watching him.

-NEWS REPORT:

-But while some people admire the magician's courage,

others think he's mad.

I think he's weird to do something like that.

I don't know who else would do such a thing.

It was a huge spectacle that attracted

an estimated 75,000 people,

who visited the site to see where he was buried.

They pulled him our, seven days later, and he walked away from it.

CHEERING

You could really see people's reactions,

and how people used to freak out, and I remember watching, thinking,

"I want to make people freak out, just like that."

Still to come, we ask the all-important question -

what would our magical megastars do if they became 12 again?

I'd say, firstly, don't worry about the height thing, get over it.

It is going to be a potentially difficult time.

The only thing I might do differently

is not let people take advantage of me.

But first let's get back to business

and find out what our 12-year-old magicians were loving on the telly.

There was a show when I was 12 years old which was on TV

called The Queen's Nose.

The Queen's Nose was a hugely popular show

that ran for seven series

between 1995 and 2003 on Children's BBC.

What did you say?

Nothing. I just said maybe the Queen knows.

The Queen NOSE. Her nose, get it?

No.

The main girl in it was a girl called Harmony,

and she had a 50p piece that she could rub

and she could make wishes and they'd come true.

I wish for an animal of my very own.

I would've absolutely loved a 50p piece that I could rub

and make my dreams come true.

-I think everyone wants that, don't they?

-Tell me about it, sister.

Anyone got two 50s for a pound?

At the same time as Katherine was wishing for a magical coin,

12-year-old Dynamo was watching some very colourful superheroes.

My favourite TV show when I was 12 was the Power Rangers.

Go, go, Power Rangers.

# Go, go, Power Rangers. #

It was awesome.

They're still going strong today but when Dynamo was 12,

the Power Rangers were just starting to entertain

12-year-olds across the globe.

There was a pink Ranger, a blue ranger,

all different coloured Power Rangers.

I think my favourite was the pink Power Ranger.

She was called Kimberley. She was my favourite because I fancied her.

But liking the Power Rangers wasn't enough for 12-year-old Dynamo.

He went the whole hog and got himself an outfit.

I had the pink Power Rangers suit that I wore.

That were not such a good idea. I should've gone for the blue one.

Maybe I wouldn't have got picked on as much at fancy dress day.

I'm sure you looked very pretty in pink, Dynamo.

Now, when Fergus was approaching 12, a badger with a healthy appetite

for heaps of mashed potato was keeping him tuned in to CBBC.

Bodger and Badger was just a great show.

# Everybody knows Badger loves mashed potato

# Makes them into shapes and eats them every day

# Bodger and Badger

# Bodger and Badger

# La la la la la...#

Fergus, let's not give up the magic just yet.

Badger lived with odd job man Simon Bodger.

Stop! Just stop it!

OK.

But his love of mashed potato meant he wasn't an ideal housemate.

Each and every episode, what you looked forward to was Badger

just making a massive mess of mashed potato.

Get a big sloppy spoonful.

-Big sloppy spoonful, yes.

-And then you splat it.

Oh!

It was great.

I say! Mash in the mosh and no mistake!

'Poor old Bodger got stitched up.'

His cleaning bills must have been enormous.

I'm glad you think it's funny. Come on. Let's get it washed off.

I'd have just kicked Badger out. I'd have said, "I've had enough.

"Pay your last month's rent and leave."

What's this? Argh!

That's a bit harsh, Fergus.

But for many of our celebs, one of Britain's most famous magicians

kept them and their families glued to the goggle box.

My favourite Saturday night show by far was the Paul Daniels Magic Show.

I still appreciate how good Paul Daniels is.

'You must have watched Paul Daniels with your family.'

The Paul Daniels Magic Show was like the X Factor is now.

It was on a Saturday night.

It was one of the biggest shows you could watch.

Paul Daniels - the legend of the British magic scene.

His show ran on the BBC for 15 years from 1979 to 1994.

Amazing audiences with incredible feats, helped by his glamorous

assistant and wife, Debbie McGee.

It's the wife again!

Paul had some catchy catchphrases.

Like the timeless, "Say 'Yes, Paul'".

-Say "Yes, Paul".

-Yes, Paul.

And who could forget?

Now that's magic.

And Dick remembers his most famous catchphrase of all.

"Do you like it? Not a lot." That was my best Paul Daniels impression.

-That's not even the right catch phrase!

-What is it then?

YOU'LL like it.

-You'll?

-You'll. You'll like it. Not a lot.

You'll like this. Not a lot, but you'll like it.

The Paul Daniels Show had a lasting impact on our magical celebs.

'It was like my world at the time. I just loved it.'

We'd watch it as a family but it was a very special show for me.

And why not?

So those were the TV memories of our magical 12-year-olds,

but what do they remember most about being 12?

I think being 12 is a really difficult time

cos it's a huge change in your own life and you're going through

a lot of change, so I think it's important for yourself to realise

at 12 going into 13 that it is going to be a potentially

difficult time - but you'll pull through.

12 is a time where you can properly find yourself

and realise what sort of person that you want to be.

If you do work hard and you just be confident in what you do,

12 could be the start of everything for you.

There's no point worrying about it.

If you haven't got a couple of best-best friends,

you can't force it to happen. It will just happen naturally.

Suddenly you meet someone, whether it be at school or a neighbour,

youth club, wherever, and you'll suddenly click with someone

and have the same interests and connected by a little wire,

it suddenly happens like that.

If I could meet my 12-year-old self I'd say,

firstly, don't worry about the height thing. Get over it.

Just go shoe shopping, find big shoes, you'll be fine.

No-one will notice.

If I was 12 again, the only thing I might do differently is

not let people take advantage of me. And not be afraid to speak up.

My advice to 12-year-olds is have as much fun as you possibly can

because this is your last year that you can really be

a child in some ways, so milk it for all it's worth.

So what have we learned then? "Not a lot" from these two.

-Maybe the Queen knows.

-The Queen NOSE. Her nose, get it?

-No.

If you don't like mash, steer clear of the Badger.

I'm glad you think it's funny.

And not everyone appreciates a death-defying stunt.

I think he's weird to do something like that.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd