THE first time I ever saw Derren Brown was on the tv show where he predicted what a poster ad designed by an ad agency would look like, having cleverly manipulated their subconscious by planting words and images in various locations throughout their day.

It was jaw dropping, and that blend of magic and mentalism has fascinated me ever since.

If you've ever seen him live, you'll understand when I say that I can't actually tell you about anything that happened last night.

But I can say there were gasps, shocks, a lot of laughs and a whacking great dollop of " but.. how... No. What?"

In many ways it's a very retro tour, this one, lower key than previous affairs and built round the premise that people are predictable - giving Derren the chance to show off his cold reading and mind manipulation skills to truly astonishing effect.

What's truly brilliant about him is how seamlessly he blends his mentalist skills with magic tricks until you can't tell if he's superhuman or just really good at sleight of hand.

We're still debating how he pulled off some of last night's show stoppers, but the chances are none of our elaborate theories come even close.

In a world where the Internet can tell you everything about everything, that really is magic.