People say Sir Alex Ferguson is the king of mind games but Croydon based magician Lewis Swires is giving him a run for his money.

Swires, 25, from Purley, is getting ready to tour south east England this summer as he looks to follow in the footsteps of Derren Brown.

The magician has been performing professionally for the last six years and has completed a couple of mini tours over the last two years.

Some of Swires tricks include mind reading and hypnosis. One example, he explains, is walking up to someone giving them an envelope and asking what their favourite holiday destination is.

That person then opens the envelope and finds their destination written inside.

He has already had some good reaction from reviewers and he sold out every venue in his tour last year.

Swires got into magic when he was 18 and started off doing card tricks before moving on to t more complex ones.

He says: “I was at a party and saw a magician and I thought I could do that. It has pretty much taken over everything I do and very quickly I was absorbing as much information as I could.

“I got into the whole mind reading style as I was getting bored of the other stuff. I wanted to do something that resonates more with people, I want to see genuine reactions.”

He adds: “A lot of magicians try and pass it off as psychic ability and but it really is just a trick.

“It will be great to do the tour and it will good to finish at the Charles Cryer Theatre in Carshalton in September.”

Swires will be appearing at several venues in Croydon and Sutton over the next few months.

Visit lewisswires.co.uk or facebook.com/lewisswiresmagician for more information. You can follow Lewis Swires on twitter @swiresmagic1.