IF you go along to see magician Ali Cook tonight expecting the usual card tricks and pulling rabbits out of hats you’re in for a big surprise.

The 28-year-old, who originally hails from Yorkshire, has something completely different up his sleeve - a selection of surreal and unusual tricks that he has invented himself.

“If you want to see magic that you have never seen before then this is the evening for you,” said Ali, who has starred in a number of TV magic shows including Monkey Magic and The Secret World of Magic.

“You’ll see the weirdest and wildest tricks imaginable, and there will be a few laughs along the way too.

“And it helps if you have a sick sense of humour.”

One of the tricks he performs in the show is more than three centuries old.

“I ‘pull the head off’ of a chicken, then ‘pull the head off’ a duck. I then take the heads and put them on the opposite body,” he said.

“I found it when I was looking in a history of magic book and it’s not something anyone else performs today.

“It’s a silly effect but it’s fantastical. I’m sure when this trick was first performed they must have been burnt at the stake for being a witch!”

As well as “decapitating” fowl, Ali will also be reading minds and astounding the crowd with his latest tricks.

Magic is something that he has been interested in since he was a boy and his mum owned a New Age shop in Harrogate.

“I wanted to find out whether it was real or just trickery,” he said.

“Then I learnt how to cheat at cards and how people pick pockets and that just led on to me becoming a magician.”

Ali has teamed up with the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre for the tour. The two met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

“I’m really looking forward to it, it should be great fun and hopefully Swindon will enjoy it as much as us.”