Keelan Leyser and Richard Reed are part of a new generation of magicians.

No longer is the Paul Daniels catchphrase, Now you see it, now you don't' enough to satisfy an audience hungry for increasingly more challenging illusions.

Instead, the public are hankering for something new.

The success of illusionists David Blaine and Derren Brown has made magic hip once again and Keelan and Richard are keen to capitalise on the new found popularity of their art.

Once arch rivals, the pair now bill themselves as the Ant and Dec of the magic world.

They have performed at clubs throughout Croydon as well as at celebrity parties.

But their profile was raised after they were featured in Playing Tricks, a 10-part television series showcasing the talents of seven of the country's youngest illusionists.

Keelan, a former John Fisher pupil from Coulsdon, was inspired to become a magician at the tender age of four.

He recalls how he saw magician Lance Burton perform on the cult 80s TV show Knightrider and knew that was what he wanted to do.

It took Richard a few more years to catch up. He was 13 when he asked his parents for a Paul Daniels magic set for Christmas.

The friends have known each other since they were four years old, but it wasn't until they decided to work as a double act that their career really took off.

"I met Keelan on a dark, stormy night in Wallington High Street, and he took me to a magic club nearby," says Richard.

"At first we were enemies. We were the same age and trying to get into magic but we went from competing against each other to working together."

When asked about their favourite magic trick the pair cannot make up their minds up.

Richard, who lives in Wallington, favours a trick the pair played on a couple in a sports hall in which they changed from a suit and tie to tennis whites in 30 seconds.

But Keelan favours a trick they played on a queue of unwitting people waiting at a cash dispenser in Leicester Square.

He says: "We went to the front and asked to push in, and when they said no' we just shrugged, turned to the wall and inserted a card, withdrawing a £20 note. That was a good one."

Keelan recommends that aspiring magicians should watch as many live shows as possible as well as reading magic books.

But Richard says: "I would tell anyone wanting to be a magician to learn sleight of hand, that's the real art in magic."