YOU could say he was born to do it.

Ben Hart's life has always been filled with magic.

"I've been doing magic for as long as I can remember, I can't remember a time when I wasn't doing magic.

"One of my earliest memories was at a children's birthday party when I was about four or five. The magician invited someone on stage with him and a friend said don't ask Ben he's already a magician.

"I was a terror at school. The teacher would be talking about homework and I'd be working on a card trick.

"I was eight when I first went to a magic shop. I never wanted to do anything else."

The 24-year-old grew up in Winchester and attended Kings School. He was 16 when he was named Magic Circle’s Young magician of the Year.

His one-man show The Outsider played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to rave reviews and the follow up The Vanishing Boy sold out completely.

Now performing, writing and inventing magic, he starred in the West End magic show Impossible at the Noel Coward Theatre last year.

The hit show is going out on the road, visiting Southampton next week.

"It's the biggest magic show to ever tour the country and it's got some of the world's top performers in it. It's our own spin on magic and there's something in it for everybody.

"It's a very fast moving show. You can't get bored. And you'll see things that have never been done before on stage.

"We haven't just taken the West End show on the road. It's bigger and better.

"I've seen all sort of things at the Mayflower in the past and I can't wait to come back down to the South. I

"It's really nice that friends and family and people I know who have never seen me performing before will be able to come along. Plus it's a fantastic theatre."

Also now a TV star with a regular slot on Killer Magic on BBC3, does Ben prefer the stage or screen?

"I really enjoy both. They are very different, but I think one informs the other.

"When you go out on a big show there could be 2,000 people in the audience as opposed to one unblinking eye of the camera. I think if you can fool 2,000 people, you can probably fool a camera and if you can fool one unblinking eye, you can fool 2,000 sets of blinking ones."

Find out at Mayflower Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday.

Tickets: 023 8071 1811 or visit mayflower.org.uk