22 January 1999 Bristol-based illusionist Derren Brown was bent on trouble when he visited Bristol Grammar School to talk stage-magic with a GCSE MacBeth class. When the pupils invited him to the School cafeteria, the cutlery started to take on a life of its own.

Is this a spoon that I see before me?' quipped Derren, pictured here with enchanted pupils Rose Sadowski and Angus Lewis, who tried in vain to imitate his magical feats.

'Derren came in to talk about Banquo's ghost,' said Rohanna Dow (15), who has just played the lead part in the BGS Year 10 production of Living with Lady MacBeth. 'But in fact everything about him is totally theatrical. Having seen him demonstrate telepathy, I'm determined to become a professional magician myself.'

'His sense of humour is just as enthralling as his mystifying tricks,' said Rose Sadowski (14, from Keynsham), who admitted that she found Derren 'gorgeous to look at' as well!

'I'm bewildered,' said 15 year-old Angus Lewis, from Churchill. 'He stopped my watch just by pointing at it. I'm looking forward to his late-night television series, Quantum Magic.'

'Bristol Grammar School is a great place to go mind-reading,' joked Derren, who lives in Clifton and has just won an award at the International Magic Convention in London. 'The stuff I found in these pupils' brains was quite amazing! It must be something they eat!'

Kitchen manager John Rowles, whose company, Chartwells, caters for some 900 staff and pupils daily at the Grammar School, looked on in amused disbelief.

'New regulations mean I have to start the day with a complete set of cutlery for each customer,' he grumbled. 'So I'm hoping this spoon-bending lark won't catch on!'

Pictured are John Rowles, Carole Gould, Derren Brown, Rose Sadowski and Angus Lewis
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