Fringe young magician shares inspirational story of how magic saved his life, in new book
It marks a return to The Fringe for Angus who was last year awarded The Derek Award for standout acts at the festival.
Bullied, excluded, expelled from three schools, Angus grew up feeling like he didn't belong. Diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD at 15, he finally had a name for the chaos he had always felt.
Now aged 29, he is enjoying huge national success with a magic career that includes a return to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, on the back of a sell-out summer one-man show, Hidden Powers, and series of big ticket event performances.
Despite a packed schedule, Angus, from Warwickshire, is still finding time to stay true to his pledge to 'pay it forward' by helping others overcome the challenges of neurodiversity through workshops, holiday camps, mentoring and public speaking.
He recalls: 'School was a major challenge for me. Teachers didn't understand me because I was behaving very differently to the other students, and I was always known by everyone as the 'naughty one.' I spent so much time in the naughty corner, at one school the teacher even named it after me!
'Lack of understanding of Asperger's Syndrome, when everyone thinks you're being odd or naughty when in actual fact it's something you can't help, can be a first-class ticket to serious mental health problems and it's why I urge people to fight to get their diagnosis as soon as possible.'
'It wasn't until I found magic that I was able to make friends for the very first time. My social skills improved a lot.'
As a Christmas gift in 2014 Angus' parents Neil and Kate enrolled him on a magic course at the famous Davenport's in London, bolstered by which he went on to compete in – and win - his sixth form talent contest. He earned money through his talent for the first time, performing tricks for tips in his local pub.
At 19, Angus joined Leamington and Warwick Magic Society and, in 2020 he was accepted as a member of the prestigious Magic Circle. Today, he is in high demand among the magic and public speaking circuits, performing to a who's who list of rich and famous at prestigious venues across the country, including Windsor Castle, The Grosvenor Hotel Park Lane and Greenwich Theatre in London.
He's now looking forward to mesmerising Edinburgh audiences once again throughout August with his all-new show on the famous Royal Mile.
He said: 'Edinburgh Fringe has been a massive highlight of my career that created a lot of opportunities for me. It is known to be the third biggest ticketed event in the world behind The Olympics and The World Cup so I feel extremely privileged.'
Angus is also a regular keynote speaker at autism conferences, conventions and workshops around the country, and a proud neurodiversity ambassador for numerous charities and bodies.
'I think if I had been diagnosed earlier things would have been different,' he said. 'I just felt like I was a bad person and the whole world was against me. I just didn't want to be here,' he said.
His mental health battles suffered another setback in 2022 when, while waiting for a train at Warwick Parkway Station, he was witness to a suicide. This traumatic incident eventually led him to train in mental health first aid and suicide and self-harm awareness and prevention and, for the past two years, Angus has found solace in his volunteer work on Stamp Out Suicide's charity helpline.
'I've learned so much about mental health and other people and about autism and how you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it. There's always hope.'
After 13 years in the making, Angus now hopes his book will help others not only come to terms with, but embrace their diagnosis.
He said: 'I have written this book to show people what it's like to grow up with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I want to share what helped me and what didn't. I also want people to understand how being different isn't bad – it's powerful. I believe the people with autism have amazing gifts to offer the world.
'I've always been different. Not naughty. Not worse, not broken. Just different. Some people see autism as a disability, others see it as a gift. There are challenges – lots of them – but there are also strengths.
'This book is my way of giving back. I want to help people find out what autism looks like from the inside. I want to help parents, teachers and kids find hope and practical ideas. I want neurodivergent people of all ages to know they're not alone.
He added: 'This book is such a proud moment for me. There were countless times when I thought about giving up and considered just deleting the whole thing! But it's always been my dream to share my story with the world and the feedback so far has been positive.
'Life on the spectrum can be tough but with support, self-awareness and the right environment, it can also be joyful, meaningful and full of magic. If even one person reads it and feels seen, understood or inspired, then it's all been worth it.'
'Naughty Or Neurodiverse: An Aspie's Road To Magic' is available as a Kindle edition for £6.99 or in paperback for £17.99 from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naughty-Neurodiverse-Aspies-Road-Magic/dp/1068257709/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FZYB2VJNBBF7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wNopFuZ5aHoZZpyM6wMZ7g.0qngEdIIGc2nl5-tw_gSj203uhjsEyUHcIWUQmB6k5s&dib_tag=se&keywords=Naughty+or+Neurodiverse+Angus+Baskerville&qid=1753285585&sprefix=naughty+or+neurodiverse+angus+baskerville%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-1
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Angus has just published the book of his life. Photo: Submitted Photo Sales
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Does she like any other Scottish delicacies, haggis or tablet for instance? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Tablet! My God, I mustn't eat tablet, because I never stop. Some people can take one piece,' and [the Scottish accent is back], 'forget that! I just scoff the lot!' 'And what's that wonderful fish soup? Cullen Skink. I love that. Years ago I was in a play written by a Scottish Jewish writer Jack Ronda, directed by Tom Cotter, called The Lost Tribe. And it was a kind of fiction that there was a lost tribe of the Jews of Scotland and Billy Paterson was in it and Phylis Logan and we were on location in a sweet wee house near Fordyce and Billy and I bought the location and did it up and it's still there. 'Billy played my father. And you know, I'm older than he is. And Phyllis was wonderful too. We had such fun. And that's where I first came across Cullen Skink. And they did high teas.' Why doesn't she reconnect with her roots and split her time between Scotland as well as England and Australia? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Oh, I'd love to live in Scotland. I'd love to live in the sort of house that my father grew up in after his parents made money. I love Glasgow. I think it's a magnificent city. It's got heart and soul. And it's real and I've always loved it. 'And there are terrific people in Scotland. You know, one of my joys last year, when I did the show in Edinburgh, was to meet Janey Godley. I'd admired and loved her for a long time. And I rang her up one day and say 'can we meet? I just think you're fabulous.' And said, 'Oh, God, I'd love to. You know, I've got cancer and I don't know how long I'm going to live', but she got her husband to drive her to Edinburgh and we spent a magical day together. We talked all day, and a couple of times we both had a nap, because we were exhausted. It was very special for me, to get to know her and she was a great lady. And she was a moralist, you know? I think that the great artists are moralists. She was a great comedian.' On the agenda for Margolyes after the Fringe is making a podcast and the follow up to her BBC documentary series, Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian, this time round exploring New Zealand. 'Oh, gosh, it's an extraordinary country. It's actually more impressive than Australia in many ways. It has a strong Scottish influence - I have quite a few relatives there because people emigrated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'But I think it is the relationship with the Maori people that really impressed me. They've been on a journey together and it's impressive. The Australians are still fractious about the First Nation. And actually, there are elements in New Zealand that are too, that are trying to overturn the Treaty of Waitangi, which was the treaty that cemented the respect that the white people must have for the First Nation.' At this point in the interview, which I'm conducting from home, I realise my daughter has been perched on a chair listening, drawn like a moth to a flame from another room by the sound of Margolyes' hilarity and profanity, the voices of the stream of characters she inhabits and the tales of people she has met in the places she's visited. 'Oh, can I have a look at her?' says Margolyes, more curious about other people than talking about herself, but worried about how she sounds (not the swearing of course, but the voice). 'What do I sound like? Very posh, I suppose. I think my voice puts people off, that's the trouble. You know, if I want to talk to somebody I don't know, I put on Scottish, like this [and we're back to her Glasgow accent]. 'Because I think my own voice is a bit too English and I want to try to reach people. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'My dad was from The Gorbals in Glasgow so the accent is part of the world that I grew up in. I didn't grow up in the Gorbals, but my father did. And it was a very nice place in some ways but it was the worst slums of Europe. The people were friendly. And his family went from the Gorbals, first to Govan, then Pollockshields when they made a bit of money and bought a lovely sandstone house and he became a doctor. I went and called once. I rang the bell and the lady opened the door and looked at me and said, 'what are you doing here?' And I said, "Well, I'm in Vagina Monologues, and as soon as I said the word 'vagina', she looked round to see if anyone had heard. She was sweet and invited me in.' For the rest of the interview and chat with my daughter [who tells Margolyes she finds her 'refreshing'], the actor keeps up the accent seamlessly. Will she use it when she's in Scotland to avoid being recognised, which is unlikely but she hopes won't happen. 'I hope people won't recognise me because they get overexcited when they see me.' What do they say to her? 'Harry Potter, that kind of stuff, you know.' Do they ask her about JK Rowling? 'Yeah, all the time. I've never met JK Rowling. I mean, I like her detective stories, but I've never read The Harry Potter books. Because science fiction, I go to sleep because it's all about gadgets and stuff like that.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'And in the show if people ask me what I think about things, I will absolutely say. And I will certainly make a comment about Gaza. Because it's not acceptable. I reject it completely. That the Jewish people can do what they're doing, it's wrong. No question about it. I do think what Hamas did was terrible. I don't support that. But my God, the retaliation. It's really shocking. 'And people ask about the trans issue so I will say things about that. I just want people to be a bit kinder. People should be able to be what they want to be. I think it's awfully sad to find that you're in the wrong body. So I'm very sympathetic to trans people. But if somebody was trying to rape me and were pretending they were changing sex and still had a p**** and were doing damage, well, I'd f***ing kill them. But let's get realistic. The number of people who cause trouble is very, very small. Violence is a crime. If trans people commit crime, they're to be treated like anybody else. But because you want to change your sex, that's not a crime. It's not a crime to want to be called 'them'. It's ungrammatical, but it's not a crime.' Margolyes has plenty to say and will continue to do so as long as she's alive and kicking, which we've established that she is. Is it true that Queen Elizabeth II once told her to be quiet? 'Oh, yes. It was a rather uncomfortable moment because when you meet the royals, you slightly lose your marbles. Anyway, I met her at this British Book Week event and she came over and she said, 'what do you do?' And instead of saying, 'I'm an actress' or 'I record books', I said, 'Your Majesty, I am the best reader of stories in the world'. She looked at me, rolled her eyes and sighed, and obviously thought this woman is barking mad. And then she turned to the next person and said, 'what do you do?' and ignored me. He said, 'Mam, I published books for children and we've discovered that if the pages and the ink for the various letters is different colours it helps children absorb the information more quickly and easily,' and I said, 'good heavens, that's extraordinary. I didn't know that. What an amazing thing.' And Her Majesty turned to me and said, "Be quiet." With a very crisp tea on the end of 'quiet'. Never to be forgotten.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Never to be forgotten, but heeded and obeyed? Nae chance. Her audience will expect nothing less. Margolyes & Dickens: More Best Bits, Pleasance @ The EICC – Pentland, 9-24 Aug (except 18th & 21st), 6pm (show runs for 70 minutes)
Metro
4 days ago
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