TO celebrate the Year of Young People, every week in 2018 The National is giving a platform to young Scots. This week, 21-year-old Scottish Comedy Magician of the Year Elliot Bibby

IF you were to tell 10-year-old Elliot Bibby that in 11 years time he would be standing in the wings of a sell-out solo Edinburgh Fringe show, I would have told you you were mad!

I saw my first ever magic trick at the age of 10 at Hamleys Toy Shop in London. After spending my pocket money on this simple trick I was hooked. Over the years I took a keen interest in magic and practiced at every opportunity I had.

My first show at the Fringe wasn’t my first encounter with Edinburgh though. I moved here in 2010 to study Sports Engineering at Edinburgh Napier University. After successfully graduating four years later I was then ready to display my skills... in magic.

After the success of my first run of shows in the Liquid Rooms in 2014 – I had the Fringe bug. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world during August now. This is my fifth year performing at the Edinburgh Fringe and this year I’m performing in the beautiful Ballroom at the Voodoo Rooms – my dream venue.

I’ve worked hard over the last five years and putting on a show has taught me numerous valuable skills including:

Marketing: I’ve learnt how to promote and sell my shows by coming up with different, wacky ways to encourage punters into my performances.

These included writing my show details on wooden clothes pegs and pegging them around town for people to find; proposing to random individuals on the street with flyers; and ordering 10,000 pin badges to entice people in.

This year I attempted to cover every Virgin Money poster tower on the Royal Mile with my posters at 4am one morning. “The early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese”, as these posters were visible for approximately four hours before early morning posterers covered about 75% of them. (Check out the instagram video of that at @elliotbibby__ )

Logistics and planning: This year, as well as my solo show, McMagic Moments, at the Voodoo Rooms, I’m also hosting the Edinburgh Fringe Magic Gala Show at Gilded Balloon. Facing the logistics of travelling through a city that’s population has trebled is a challenge. Working out the best routes to get to different venues and shows is interesting.

Not only am I proud of what I have achieved in such a short space of time, the most incredible thing has been inspiring crowds and spearheading the next generation of talent.

I’ll leave you with one final thought. An Edinburgh Fringe show is like an iceberg – the public sees the finished article above the water, but don’t see the long nights, months of work and blood, sweat and tears that are put in to create the finished show. So if someone offers you a flyer to their show, just take it and smile!

Elliot Bibby’s McMagic Moments is on daily until Aug 26 (except Aug 13, 20) at 6.30pm at The Voodoo Rooms