MAGIC

TOON CURSE? with paranormal investigator, author & broadcaster Dan Green

/ Alikivi

On the last day of a successful season for the Toon and qualification for more European football next season, paranormal investigator and lifelong Newcastle United fan Dan Green, got in touch with his take on Newcastle finally lifting a trophy and perhaps a curse?

‘Born in 1956 I became 69 years old this year. I noticed this rang a bell somewhere. Oh yes, Newcastle United last won a trophy – the Fairs Cup, defeating a Hungarian team without knowing they’d be left hungry for another trophy for 69 years – 56 years ago’.

‘Was this an omen sent me direct from the footy Gods? Were Newcastle actually going to win a trophy in 2025? And heaven knows they did. One of the top clubs in British soccer with the most loyal fans asking why had it taken so embarrassingly long? Were the whispers that the club had been cursed, actually true?’

‘It’s folklore that 1920’s club legend Hughie Gallagher who had fell out with the club said ‘Newcastle United, you’re doomed’ – allegedly his bad vibe last words before committing suicide. Ruud Gullit, coach of the club during seasons 1998/9 experienced his own difficulties in a short space of time declared ‘There must be some sort of curse on this club’. Even down to earth Kevin Keegan spoke of a ‘jinx’. In our modern day scientific world of technology, can curses be real?’

‘St James Park was built on the former site of Gallows Gate, part of the Town Moor. Hence the title of the famous Gallowgate end. It’s said that in 1650 alleged ‘witches’ – likely just innocent women – were hung there in one of the largest mass executions ever held in the country by lunatic ‘witch hunters’. Nearby St James Park is now clearly visible in the distance from the spot.’

‘Apparently modern day witches along with priests had taken the proposition serious enough to try and lift the curse. Obviously, it hadn’t worked. Local newspaper the Evening Chronicle even tried to end a 29 game losing streak of  matches in London. In a game at Arsenal renowned psychic Uri Geller was called in for the occasion. When the Magpies won Gunners coach Arsene Wenger said ‘There must be a sorcerer at work’.

‘Found in many religious faiths and ritualistic practices do emotional curses work? Many believe they do, so let us assume then that a curse was placed on the ground, the consequent stadium and therefore team.‘

‘In 2023 Newcastle made the Carabou cup final at Wembley and an estimated 50,000 fans invaded London, assembling at Trafalgar Square. The team lost the game. In 2025, making Wembley again, it wasn’t possible to recreate this wild scene as preparations for St Patrick meant that Trafalgar was going to be sealed off. Again, tens of thousands this time invaded the city, meeting up and assembling throughout the Covent Garden area. The following day, this time they won the cup’.

‘I couldn’t help the almost duplicate sounding of ‘Covent Garden’ with ‘Coven garden’, a coven being a group or gathering of witches, from Anglo-Norman ‘Convent’ and ’Cuvent’ from Old French ‘Covent’. By placing the fans at a re-arranged assembly point, was fate playing a part here in overdue fortune of the club?’

‘I looked into the history of Covent Garden, and yes, it does have something of both a religious and occult history especially with the star shaped junction of Seven Dials where seven streets converge at a Doric obelisk topped by six sundials, the column itself serving to cast the shadow of a 7th dial’.

‘Centuries ago, diviners, psychics, mystics, astrologers and the like would congregate there. The ancient fields were owned by Westminster Abbey and Convent – there’s that word again – and the neighbourhood was built on the site of an ancient settlement founded by Pagan Anglo-Saxons in the 7th century.’

‘Was the arrival of up to 50,000 positively charged Geordies somehow transforming a negative energy, a curse, tracing back to 1650? Was this spot the very area – possibly what pseudoscientists call a ley line or an ‘energy highway’ that can connect various historic structures – that needed the timely injection? Could such a ley line connect all the way back up North to Newcastle’s Town Moor?’

‘Initially, to celebrate the win, an open top bus tour was sidestepped and a celebration planned at the city’s Town Moor. However, the open top tour did go ahead leading the team to the Town Moor – to return the scene of the crime, the very place where centuries ago witches were hung and placed their curse’.

‘The Heavens appear to have played their part too. On March 14th the day before the Toon Army headed for London there was a total lunar eclipse and full moon, and on 29th the day of the Town Moor celebration – a partial solar eclipse!’

‘By lifting up a trophy it may well be that Newcastle United were also, after 375 years, finally lifting an ancient curse too’.

Words: Dan Green

Edit: Alikivi  May 2025

Link to previous Dan Green posts >>>

GLASTONBURY TOR – More than just a Hill by author, Dan Green | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #5

/ Alikivi

Since starting in February 2017 hundreds of stories have been posted on this site. The last few months has seen a mix from the navy, radio, folk singers and a magician. Here’s a taste.

First up is Tyneside comedian & magician Robert Reed…

‘Being an outcast gave me more time to focus on myself, to perfect my act. I’m glad I never fitted in at school, cos this has worked out well for me in the long run’.

‘A person to take me under his wing was a teacher called Mr Obee at St Joseph’s. Every break time we would talk about magic and jokes, he would loan me magic books, then he would show me a different trick each time which I would perform for the other kids’.

‘His motto was ‘work hard and be nice’ which I’ve always followed. It was helpful propaganda about putting the hard work in. He told me that every hour you aren’t working on your dream someone else out there is’.

‘I stopped sleeping 8 hours a day and cut it to 6 so I could get extra hours at work. It became all about maximising the time I could work it out. I became obsessed with it, it’s the most important thing in my life – I want to be entertaining people’.

Full interview > READ ALL ABOUT IT – in conversation with Tyneside comedian & magician Robert Reed | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Northumberland Radio presenter Keith Newman talked about his passion for music…

‘The show not only gives me the chance to play the music I love but to meet my heroes. The one that got me really nervous was with Marky Ramone. I first saw the Ramones in 1980 at Newcastle City Hall and bought the t-shirt from the gig which I never took off’.

‘Next day I was going to a corner shop to get me ma’s tabs – yep we could in those days – and I could see a coach outside. As I got near it pulled away. I went in the shop and the assistant said ‘eeh see those lads on your t-shirt – they’ve just been in here. They were Americans asking for milk and cookies’. I couldn’t believe it I ran outside but the coach was away up the street’.

‘For years I wondered if it really was them so when I talked to Marky I asked him about it and he told me Johnny Ramone had OCD and after every gig he had to have milk and cookies’.

Full interview >  HEY HO LETS GO RADIO – in conversation with radio presenter Keith Newman | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Another story came from Tyneside based Karen Taylor who remembers her time in the Royal Navy…

’The Falklands war was on when I was based at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth in 1982. I remember when the first ship was hit on 4th May. We were in a disco and everybody was up dancing when the music suddenly stopped and an announcement was made’.

‘I knew one of the chef’s whose ship was one of the first hit and sunk. He told me afterwards they were getting in the lifeboat and someone shouted ‘that’s typical, it was a really good scran tonight’. The Navy use humour to get out of any situation’.

‘The fact of not knowing who was alive or dead brought on a lot of mental health problems after that war. It must have been really scary what they went through’.

Full interview > IN THE NAVY – in conversation with former WREN Karen Taylor | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

This from Wearside folk song collector Eileen Richardson…

‘The first song I found was The Old Wife’s Lament to the Keel Men of the Wear and it was all around historical events about the keel men and it was written in dialect. That set me on the road to researching the history that went with the song’.

‘There a lot of songs about death and tragedy, mining disasters and shipwrecks but there are songs that tell light hearted stories. The Durham Militia pokes fun at things, it’s like the 1800s version of Dad’s Army, with lyrics like ‘You’ll march away like heroes – just to make the lasses stare’ and suggesting that the only battles they will fight will be in the pub’.

Full interview > FOLK GATHERING in conversation with Wearside folk song collector Eileen Richardson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Tyneside songwriter Rosie Anderson dropped in to tell a few stories. Here’s one…

‘I can’t just decide to sit down and write a song – some people do and I applaud them for the discipline but I have to wait until they come’.

‘When I was a kid I lived at Chapel House Estate in the west end of Newcastle. One night me, my mother and a friend went for a walk. This woman came out of her house in her dressing gown, she wasn’t in control of herself, didn’t know what time or day it was. I had never seen that behaviour in an adult before. Now I believe she was having a nervous breakdown’.

‘That always stayed in my head and another one was about 30 years ago I went on a blind date in Newcastle with this very nice bloke. He said I need to tell you something before we go any further… ‘When I was working in Canada I had a nervous breakdown in the car park of a Burger King’. It was hard to concentrate on anything else after that’.

‘But I remembered those incidents and those people are lodged in my heart for their own traumas. They gave me the song’.

Full interview >  LISTEN TO YOUR HEART in conversation with Tyneside songwriter Rosie Anderson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Tyneside storyteller & folk singer Tony Wilson talked being a professional musician and how far it’s taken him…

‘Around 2009 I got an email. The message was ‘would you like to tell stories in Argentina?’ I wasn’t sure it was kosher at first but I received a phone call a few weeks later confirming it was. I was given contacts of previous storytellers who recommended it’.

‘Me and my wife went out and ended up over the years going to about 15 countries for six weeks at a time. They were international schools where the kids had already learnt English but mostly from American cartoon shows and they wanted them to hear colloquial language, more English. With my accent, I knew I would have to speak a bit slower – and there’s nothing worse than a posh Geordie!’

‘To accompany the lessons it was helpful to use British sign language or borrow a guitar. I always took a banjo with me as it was such a different instrument for them to hear. Once the banjo was broken en-route but we found the only banjo repairman in Bogota in Colombia’.

‘We’ve been to Uruguay, China, South Korea, all over – loved it. Sometimes I look back and think how did that happen – you’ve got to seize every opportunity’.

Full interview > BANJO IN BOGOTA – in conversation with Tyneside storyteller & folk musician Tony Wilson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Got a story to add to the site? Just get in touch.

Full list of hundreds of interviews >

About | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   November 2024

READ ALL ABOUT IT – in conversation with Tyneside comedian & magician Robert Reed

/ Alikivi / 1 Comment

‘Being an outcast gave me more time to focus on myself, to perfect my act. I’m glad I never fitted in at school, cos this has worked out well for me in the long run’.

Born in South Shields, Robert Reed is a multi-award winning comedian and professional magician, at 25 I think he’s the youngest contributor to this site.

‘Well, I’m honoured (laughs). I’m a solo performer, my ego wouldn’t stand sharing the stage with anyone else. When I’m on stage I can take the mick out of myself and get the crowd on my side by exploiting my weak points, it shows my vulnerable side and the crowd give me more of a chance. Hecklers? I take them on. I use one-liners to my advantage’.

‘I can be rude but I’m not offensive as say Jimmy Carr. I do find their acts funny but to be honest I haven’t got the bollocks to go down the route of the Jimmy Carr’s or Frankie Boyles. I’m still young for this career so wouldn’t like to shorten it by rubbing people up the wrong way’.

‘I would say I’m like a modern and ruder version of Tommy Cooper (1970s comedian). My magic is more to a professional standard but it’s masked by the silliness and immaturity of the jokes’.

‘I started doing magic as a hobby when I was 10 then started in comedy when I was 17. I was always into one liners and silly dad jokes so I give it a go and came up with 30 one liners and tried them at stand-up gigs – they went down well’.

‘In rehearsal I figure out the magic trick first and the jokes come as I work it out and script the show. I’ll have hundreds of ideas but it’s finding the right seven or eight which will get the audience onside, then engaged, then the final kicker’.

‘After performing the routine around 20 times at restaurants, weddings or corporate events more jokes come along so you perfect the show. Some of the best jokes aren’t scripted they happen on the night’.

‘The end of the show there is a kicker where actually the crowd see a good magic trick. They leave the show having seen a good balance of magic and comedy – hopefully’.

(I never get a telephone call on my landline so was surprised when it started ringing at this point in the interview. We both looked at the phone then back to each other. Robert remarked ‘That’s me, good trick yeh?’)

‘I wouldn’t be around without the help of family, fellow magicians, fellow comedians and some closely trusted friends. But the hour or two on stage has got to be made all about you. There is plenty of time afterwards to thank people. I never forget who helped me get where I am. You’ve got to be respectful and I’m lucky to get assistance from many people in the industry’.

‘There were two people who inspired me – first was Uncle Joe who lived on the Whiteleas estate, South Shields. He wasn’t an entertainer but worked in the Docks. He was well known for his card tricks down the pub. When I visited with my mam he showed me how to play cards, every week would be a new coin trick or a brainteaser. Then I would go to school and show my friends’.

‘The second person to take me under his wing was a physics teacher called Mr Obee at St Joseph’s school. Every break time we would talk about magic and jokes, he would loan me magic books, then he would show me a different trick each time which I would perform for the other kids at dinner time. Now I don’t go anywhere without a deck of cards – you feel naked without one’.

‘We’re still in contact and he came to see my recent show at Durhan Fringe. His motto was ‘work hard and be nice’ which I’ve always followed. It was helpful propaganda about putting the hard work in. He told me that every hour you aren’t working on your dream someone else out there is. I’m very grateful to him’.

‘I stopped sleeping 8 hours a day and cut it to 6 so I could get extra hours at work. It became all about maximising the time I could work it out. I became obsessed with it, it’s the most important thing in my life – I want to be entertaining people’.

‘When I meet fellow professionals, I ask them about their working day and how they structure it. Get up at a certain time, start work, have a break, go back to work and repeat the next day. I recently met author Terry Deary who is noted for the Horrible Histories books and he talked about a similar structure that he was doing so I thought I’m on the right path here’.

‘For new ideas I always have a notebook and pen with me or record on the phone. They can be there for days or months. Sometimes it’s a name of a shop that I can twist around or just talking to myself in the shower and imagining being on stage that sparks off something which I then try out on friends’.

‘If you want it enough you will sacrifice holidays, relationships even sleep. Sometimes you can think of an idea and work through the night to get it. Then when you wake up you have the punchline’.

‘The toughest crowd you ever get is when you perform a new routine. In July I was at the Durham Fringe for five nights on an hour slot. All new material. Over the nights I done rewrites, shaped things, it got there. But looking back it was my first gigs that were the toughest. It was for 300 people in dickie bow ties going round the venue performing magic on tables’.

‘But then I was thrown in at the deep end and asked to perform for 10 minutes on the stage, I didn’t have a routine ready – that was sweaty and scary. Hopefully I got away with it being just a kid. The 10 minutes felt longer than the two hours going round the tables’.

‘I’m heavily involved in the South Tyneside International Magic Festival event which we hold every year at The Customs House, South Shields. This year it’s the 20th anniversary so we have an impressive bill lined up. We get magicians from around the world to come to Shields. The Customs House have been responsible for a lot of creative talent coming out of the area. Ray Spencer (former Director) was pivotal in a lot of this’.

‘After the shows the performers all meet up in the bar of the Littlehaven Hotel down at Shields beach, some stay over there as well. Are we competitive? No, we’re open and all get on really well – honest we do. We are happy to get together. We have midnight shows, plenty drinking and get in some take aways’.

‘I look forward to the socialising because it’s with people you only see a few times a year and you share the same loves, passions and interests. And you spend time with people you’ve looked up to and admired. We’ve always been the kid at school who never fit in, or was odd, or bullied, not the cool one, or never done sports, just desperate to show off their humour or talent’.

‘Don’t think any performer will truly retire, your brains still working you’ve still got the urge to do something. Once you do one gig you’re hooked it’s like a drug. I’m trying to get as many gigs under my belt as I can’.

‘I’m happy doing what I do now entertaining a crowd telling silly dirty one-liners and doing magic tricks. I’m looking to work hard for that TV break, or entertaining at bigger venues for more people where they think I’m worth spending money on a ticket for the show – that’s my measure of success’.

‘We all need money to keep going but the amount isn’t a motivator, it’s hearing the crowd laughter walking off stage, thinking they were entertained tonight – that’s my goal. This is a reason why I don’t want to slow down. I’m programmed to work every day and I love it’.

Alikivi   September 2024

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