In his York days, you could often find Hamill wowing audiences at Jacs or the Orange Snail doing his famous straitjacket escape stunt, or the whole-then-torn-up-then-whole newspaper trick.

   Hamill's self-taught interest in magic isn't purely mercenary, he also employs it as a teaching tool. "I use magic to get the attention of my students. It helps them in learning math." For instance, he illustrates fractions using rope tricks.

   I hold up a rope and tell them it represents a `whole.' Then I get one of the kids to cut it into three pieces. I tell them each piece is one-third of the whole, and then I magically reassemble it back into the original rope! It fascinates them."