Barry Walls was one of the most intriguing and versatile of circus performers in Great Britain in a career spanning many decades. He was a fakir, illusionist, fire-eater of great talent, a master of disguise and a sign-writer par excellence for the fairground and the circus industry.
Barry Walls, fire-eater and illusionist: born Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1 July 1937; married (two sons); died Grantham, Lincolnshire 25 June 2004.
Barry Walls was one of the most intriguing and versatile of circus performers in Great Britain in a career spanning over three decades. He was a fakir, illusionist, fire-eater of great talent, a master of disguise and a sign-writer par excellence for the fairground and the circus industry.
Above is quoted from - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/barry-walls-550081.html
I was fortunate to know Barry Walls from me being very young as my dad Keith Smith aka Tizzy the Clown who in his other guise as “The Amazing Etna” was the only speciality act in the world to ever do three consecutive seasons at The World Famous Belle Vue Circus in Manchester and had known Barry for many years before I was even born.
My Dad pictured above and below had from an early age billed himself as Britain’s Youngest Fire Eater and Yogi.
I understand that around the time my dad was performing at Belle Vue Circus he sold one of his Bed of Nails to Barry Walls who then proceeded to sharpen the nails as he said they were not sharp enough for his liking!
In any event my dad and Barry remained friends for decades and due to that friendship I met Barry on many, many occasions from an early age.
I always found his acts enchanting to watch as he was a master of Stage Make-Up and disguise as illustrated by one of his characters Chief Otaki the Fire Eater
I recall him also doing Knife Throwing in this character guise on one of the Circus Shows I saw him perform in when I was very young.
I also clearly recall seeing Barry perform in his guise of El Hakim when I was young
From Fire Eating & Bed of Nails to climbing up a ladder of swords and piercing his body with multiple needles, Barry liked to do things for real even when there was a way to fake things so they looked dangerous with less risk.
Instead he would sharpen nails when most performers would round them off as he did when he bought one of my dads bed of nails during his Belle Vue Years.
Obituary: Illusionist and fire-eater Barry Walls, 66
HUDDERSFIELD-born illusionist and fire-eater Barry Walls has died aged 66.
https://granthammatters.co.uk/walls-barry-versatile-circus-performer-and-master-of-disguise/
I don’t remember exactly which year it was but I do recall that it was definitely some years before I became a teenager which as I was born on 13th August 1975 occurred in August 1988.
I recall visiting Barry in his trailer between shows and as he knew I was by that time heavily into Magic & Illusion he gave me a present of The full colour hardbacked Chu’s Magic Company of China Catalogue as pictured above and below
I can clearly recall flicking through it and as I did one of the pages that fell open showed a set of Six Chinese Linking Rings for sale
When Barry saw me looking at that page and reading the description in the catalogue his eyes lit up and he started to lift up the seating in his trailer to get into the inbuilt storage areas.
A few minutes later and Hey Presto he pulled out a set of Six Linking Rings the exact set advertised in the Chu’s Magic Catalogue which is where he told me he had bought them from whilst he was visiting China.
(Above an artists impression of how I looked when younger performing this trick)
Barry then proceeded to give me a rapid master class in how to perform the Linking Rings and then kindly gifted the set to me in addition to the Chu’s Catalogue that he had already kindly given to me!
In later years I upgraded my Linking Rings to set of eight and swapped my Chu’s set which Barry had kindly given to me with a Hobbyist Magician friend of mine called Steve Harwood who went to Oulder Hill School in Rochdale whilst I was living in Heywood.
Incidentally Steve introduced me to another student from Oulder Hill 6th Form who was also heavily interested in magic called Robin Dobson who now runs a Website Design & Consultancy business in Stockport.
I mention this as I did a deal with Steve Harwood and swapped my Chu’s Linking Ring set for his Ken Brooke Style Chop Cup in the exact same design as being used by Paul Daniels in the photograph above.
And then I know a few years later Steve passed on the Chu’s Linking rings he had got from me to Robin Dobson.
In the video above Victor Voitko can be seen presenting a little of his award-winning Floating Linking Rings routine which was performed at FISM in Japan in 1994. A later FISM report specifically describes Voitko performing his “award-winning floating linking rings from FISM 1994.
As a matter of interest, back in 1990 (when I was aged 15) I started putting together a Floating Linking Rings routine and was going to enter it into the Magic Circle’s Young Magician of The year, but for various work commitments with my families Circus Show this did not occur.
Anyhow the point is anything that can be seen in Luna Shimadas routine on the video above and anything I have seen on videos of people doing Victor Voitkos rings I was pretty much doing back in 1990/1991/1992 and in actual fact my version used Normal Solid Heavy Rings (not hollow light ones)..
Indeed in 1992 I contacted Simon Drake of Channel 4’s “Secret Cabaret” fame whom myself, Jamie Allan & David Arkay had supplied our version of the Impaled Illusion to for his UK Tour as per info at: https://www.magicalguru.com/royle-magician-magic-shows-lectures/ and asked him for advice on how best to make a set of glow in the dark UV linking rings as I had by that time decided I wanted to do part of my floating linking rings routine in the dark whilst wearing white gloves and using glow in the dark rings!
And some years ago I contacted Victor Voitko to clarify matters and he kindly responded as per the images below which are just a few about this subject which appear as just one of the many comments on this thread here:
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10160196764482806&id=673582805
Sadly I’ve still not got around to writing up and/or filming the routine I put together when I was 15, perhaps I will one day?
Anyhow I only mention it here as my linking rings journey on a professional level properly started with that kind gift from Barry Wall’s years earlier for which I shall always be extremely greatful.
RESUME FOR MIND MAGICIAN ALEX SMITH aka CELEBRITY HYPNOTIST JONATHAN ROYLE – UPDATED 22nd APRIL 2026
RESUME FOR MIND MAGICIAN ALEX SMITH aka CELEBRITY HYPNOTIST JONATHAN ROYLE – UPDATED 22nd APRIL 2026
