Mark Shortland is a comedic magician who auditioned for both Series 10 & Series 14 of Britain's Got Talent. He was aged 51 at the time of his second audition. He has two passions in life which are Magic and Art.
Series 10[]
In his audition, Shortland had Ant & Dec join him upon the stage in order to perform magic, which impressed the judges, and saw him advance onto the following round, however he failed to reach the Semi-Finals. His performance was never televised however he was seen upon a card that the judges used in the second round whilst deliberating.
Series 14[]
Shortland's second audition was televised. In his second audition, he tasked each judge with choosing a numbered Lanyard from 1-4, and a colour, and to switch seats with one another in accordance with their number and colour, as David had taken Number 3 and Yellow he had to swap seats with Amanda who picked 4 and Blue, and as Alesha had taken Number 2 and Red she had to swap seats with Simon who picked Number 1 and Green. It was then revealed that a message was written on the back of a piece of paper on the back of each chair, which stated who would be sat in which chair by the end of the performance, alongside a shape beside each message which were also at the bottom of the lanyards the judges had chosen earlier. Mark then opened his jacket and revealed that he knew the judges would sit in that order as his T-shirt had their initial in their shape in the order that he had moved them to sit within. He proceeded to advance onwards to the following round, however he failed to reach the Semi-Finals.
Before BGT[]
In June 2011, Shortland appeared upon an episode of the first season of Penn & Teller Fool Us, however he failed to fool the duo. He has also performed at The Magic Castle as to which is located in Hollywood. He has also been a headlining act on cruise lines and performed at The London Palladium.
Shortland has eleven awards in magic which include The Fellowship of Christian Magicians Stage Magician of the Year which he received in 1997, the ‘Tom Harris Cup’ IBM Comedy Award which he received four times in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004, The “Ken Dodd Award” Best New Comedy Act, and the IBM British Stage Magician of the Year both in 2001.
Shortland also won the IBMBritish Close-up Magician of the Year award in 2002, the European Close-up 3rd place Champion in 2007, the British Magical Comedy Champion and the British Magical Grand Prix Champion as to which he held both of between 2005 and 2007, the Magic Circle Carlton Award Winner which he received in 2014, and the Peter McCahon Award for Comedy which he won in 2015. Atop of this Shortland has been a Member of the Inner Magic Circle since 2005.
After BGT[]
In 2019, Shortland appeared on the Christmas Special episode of the sixth season of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, however he once again failed to fool the duo.
Trivia[]
- He is one of only two Untelevised Acts to later audition on More Talent or Unseen, with the other being The Headless Men.