Tony Corinda
Encyclopedia
Tony Corinda was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 mentalist, magic dealer, magic inventor and businessman who wrote the book Thirteen Steps To Mentalism
Thirteen Steps To Mentalism
Thirteen Steps to Mentalism is a book on mentalism by Tony Corinda. It was originally published as thirteen smaller booklets as a course in mentalism, and was later, in 1961, republished as a book...

. Corinda did not make his birthdate or birthplace public, but his birth year is believed to be about 1931.

Born Thomas William Simpson, he took the name Tony Corinda (a variation on the name Conradi
Conradi
Conradi is a surname. It comes from the Germanic Konrad: kuoni and rad meaning happy or laughing or rat meaning daring/experienced counsel.* Kåre Conradi Norwegian actor* Leif Conradi Norwegian junior ski-jump champion...

) when he began working as a mentalist in the UK. In 1950, he opened a magic studio where he sold all types of magic, but catered especially to mentalists. Later, he took over The Magic Shop in Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road is a major road in central London, United Kingdom, running from St Giles Circus north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The Magic Shop in Tottenham Court Road was originally run by Dick Chavel, and later taken over by Corinda. This store was at street level so catered mainly to the lay public, so many of the items sold were either practical jokes or beginners' tricks, but other items and small illusions for semi-professional magicians and hobbyists were also sold over the counter. Around the same period, Corinda had the magic concession in Hamleys
Hamleys
Hamleys is one of the world's largest toy shops. Its flagship store is in Regent Street, London. Major stores worldwide are in Dublin, Dubai, Amman, Glasgow, Mumbai and Chennai....

 Toy Shop in Regent Street
Regent Street
Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...

.

From 1956-1958, Corinda wrote a series of thirteen booklets on mentalism, each one dealing with a different aspect of mentalism or an allied art. The booklets were originally published as 13 individual 'courses', and first compiled as the encyclopedic "Corinda's Thirteen Steps to Mentalism," and published in 1964 as a complete volume by D. Robbins and Co. From then the book went on to be regarded as the essential 'mentalism' read/reference book bar none. Thirteen Steps to Mentalism was later produced as a hardcover bound volume by Harry Clarke, a printer who produced many other books for magic studios at that time. Jon Tremaine and Eric Mason did much of the artwork.

The book was later adapted into video format by mentalist and magician, Richard Osterlind
Richard Osterlind
Richard Osterlind is a mentalist who has been performing for major corporations for more than 35 years. He has appeared at the Sheraton Great Wall in Beijing, the Hotel De Paris in Monte Carlo, the Casa De Campo in the Dominican Republic and many other luxury resorts around the world...

.

His inventions are mainly from that book.

He lived out his retirement in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and died on July 1, 2010.
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